Fashion statement?! You have not obtained an unbiased sample of America.
I don’t see much debate on that point.
Bolding mine.
That must be SO uncomfortable.
Remember the ‘un-tied shoe’ style about 8-10 years ago?
We all grow up, some styles are sillyer than others, some are just darn right dumb.
That’s exactly how both myself and my Grandma feel about this fashion… and I’m 21.
I’m just extremely glad my younger brother hasn’t taken to this fashion. He just wears a lot of Nike 
On the other hand though I would never go up to some strange person and berate them for their fashion choices. If they want to spend their money on that, and dress that way, they have that choice.
What a cranky old bitch! How would she feel if someone came up to her and said, “Those horizontal stripes make your ass look huge! That’s so repulsive!”?
Don’t get me wrong, I agree that what the women did was rude.
I don’t usually find clowns funny. But if the next fashion is big floppy shoes and a red nose because it’s supposed to make you look like a tough guy, I may not be able to surpress myself.
Ha ha ha, ho… man. That made me laugh out loud.
I like all the reponses even the ones that I completely disagreed with. My only regret about that incident was that I was wearing a school uniform looking all neat and proper and not some low riding jeans and a T-Shirt with words written in Graffiti, the crazier I could have looked the better.
Here here! I agree whole-heartedly with everything you said.
I don’t much care for the baggy-pants look, but it’s remarkably rude to criticize a stranger’s choice of fashion. Hey, I don’t go around telling guys wearing neckties how ridiculous and impractical they look. (Although I’ve been tempted.)
I agree with everyone else, it was very rude of this woman to say anything to the kid. I don’t know where she gets off doing that.
I may laugh inwardly at the way some people dress, but it’s not that huge of a deal for me that I’d go out of my way to say something to them. That’s just silly. And I wouldn’t avoid saying something because I’d fear being rude (though that’s part of it), it’s just that I don’t think it’s worth the effort.
One thing that several of you have pointed out with the baggy pants thing is that not only is it goofy-looking, but it’s downright impractical. Sure, other extreme fads have been somewhat impractical (clog shoes, low-cut pants, super-tight jeans, etc.) but the fashion victims of these particular styles didn’t go around “waddling,” which obviously is what some of these young men have to do in order to wear these pants.
I’m sorry, but “waddling” just adds so much more flavor to a silly-to-begin-with fashion. I can far more easily keep a straight face when someone’s wearing a goofy tank top or silly shoes or a bizarre cut of trouser, but if the fashion forces them to waddle and/or shuffle also, well, that’s freakin’ hilarious. I’ll try not to laugh, but really, it’s hard not to. 
One funny side-tangent: a few years ago I was wearing some ill-fitting, too-big jeans to work and I kept on having to hitch them up. My underwear wasn’t showing, but they were just too loose and saggy. I apologized to my 19-year-old coworker for my baggy pants, and he said, “Actually, I was just going to compliment you on them.”
By the way, how long has this baggy pants style been in? I remember seeing it as far back as 10 years ago in L.A. That’s quite a long while.
Actually, according to what I heard, they don’t allow you to wear a belt in prison, so many inmates’ trousers sag.
You might be wrong about rolling up one side of their pants. I heard that was for safe bicycle riding.
We did wear some goofy things in the 70s, but–they fitted, for the most part.
I’m so going to date myself now, but in the 1970s, when EVERYBODY wore flares–you could hardly ever see a guy wearing straight jeans–you could buy little clamps to fit over your lower pants legs, so they wouldn’t get mixed up with the bicycle.
Oh yeah:
I still think the woman was rude, and making such remarks to strangers in public is unacceptable.
No. They don’t just *think * it…
Whoever would like to believe that the unfortunate choices teens make regarding attire are the parents fault probably does not understand what it’s like to be the parent of a teen who wants to express him through his clothing.
My son at 13 has partially succumbed to baggy pants fad. Of course, being a fad I know it will blow over eventually because the thought of seeing his tuxedo pants sagging at the altar makes me want to cry. Since I see it as a fad and its not terribly obscene in its unattractiveness, I try not to make much of a fuss about it. Our compromise is that he gets to wear his pants riding low (about 3 inches lower than his boxer’s waistline) provided nobody else is subjected to it meaning he wears long tshirts over them. Surely, I’ve got worse things to worry about. I have tried to discourage it, but it’s really not worth fighting over. So what is a reasonable mother to do?
We were at the mall, DroopyPants, his little sister, and I. Droopy is wearing low-slung shorts over his boxers and a long tshirt. Walking down the center, the little one starts to run ahead toward some interesting distraction. Droopy, apparently deciding that chasing-little-sister is preferable to walking-with-mom-through-mall, proceeds to chase her breaking out into a run. As they get several stores ahead of me, Droopy’s shorts drop to the ground directly in front of an older couple he’s just breezed by. They stop dead in their tracks, turning around to look for whomever he belongs to, if anyone. On their faces is a look of horror mixed with righteous indignation. Instantly realizing that there’s not a damn shred of evidence the kid is mine, I bust out in uncontrollable laughter as I watch Droopy look around in embarassment to see if anyone else noticed that his pants are around his ankles and his tshirt now appears to be a dress. Sheepishly, and to my even further amusement, he attempts to pull up his offending shorts as he CONTINUES to run/hobble/shuffle away from the scene of the crime and all those damn eyewitnesses.
I figure sometimes good parenting means allowing your kids to realize the folly of their wayward ideas on their own. And if you can laugh at your kid and they don’t hate you, maybe they’ll realize that they can laugh at themselves too because it was pretty damn funny.
Incidently, Droopy doesn’t hate me, can laugh at himself, still wears his pants slung low, and is much more careful about hanging on to them when he runs through malls. Whatever became of Mr. and Mrs. Indignation, we really could care less.
My take: (a) baggy pants are stupid; and (b) not getting over the fact that some people like to look stupid regardless of the opinion of others is even more stupid and not worth the time it takes to tell them to get a life. Although a bronx cheer is worthwhile for the entertainment alone. 
I just have to ask:
Do you have any idea how uncomfortable it is to a macaroni suddenly lodged in your nasal passage above your throat? Stop that, damn it!
Who’s wrong here? Both of 'em. He’s rude to walk around in public with his ass hanging out, and she’s rude to tell him off about walking around with his ass hanging out.
Ummm, YES. They’re the same styles that have made a comeback and are now being worn today.
I hated the polyester shirts and clunky shoes when I WAS a teen, (in the 70s), and I hate them now.
Some things are dorky no matter WHY they’re being worn.
What exactly is rude about that? Bad taste, maybe, but rude?