Which is how the Material Girl look came to be, Madonna shopped at thrift stores because she was broke and then some. Or at least that’s what vague memories from the mists of time tell me (I was in my teens when Desperately Seeking Susan came out; the vague memory is from stories about that movie).
I’ve noticed this too. Jeans and tees that show every bump and bulge. Even girls who are not in any way fat look like sausages in clothes two sizes to small. And each one of them thinks they look hawt! It also helps the hotness if, when they bend over, the tee rolls up and exposes haunches.
Around here this look started out with the many Central and South American teens. They love, love, love to wear synthetic material pants (think pertroleum based shiny) that are stretched to the breaking point at the seams. The look seems to emphasize moderate love handles on purpose.
At least the baggy jeans that show underwear are finally going out of style. Even the black guys are wearing skinny jeans these days.
Not around here. What they do now is sag their skinny jeans. Looks exactly how you would imagine.
Some of them are like that, but some are a shorter, narrower, girlie version - like a scaled-down lightweight pashmina.
What’s to get? It’s supposed to look ugly. Apparently it does to you. Though I am surprised you are seeing it where you are, even sven…
I’m in Cape Town right now, which is hands down the hippest and most vibrant city I’ve ever been in. I keep trying to shop at all the trendy botiques, but I keep finding clothes from this look. I still don’t quite get it.
A prime example- walking down the street were two girls. One was in mid-calf leggings, flats, and a giant shapeless grey-brown crocheted sleeved square shaped shit that hung limply to her knees. The other had black leggings, an oddly fitted brown mini skirt that kind of flared out over the hips in an unflattering way, and a cream and yellow floral print (like something you’d find on grandma’s sheets) racer-back sleeveless turtleneck.
I can see the thrift store aspect, but it still seems odd. In my thrifting days, we picked out the stuff that was neat in a retro way, not just randomly inflattering stuff.
I’m beginning to suspect the look is actually about saying “I’m young enough that I look hot even in a drab sack.”
My kid has gone so far as to beg her grandma for some of her old cotton blouses, with tiny floral prints, the kind K-Mart used to sell for $5. Then cinch it with a 6" wide belt over leggings, etc. Everytime I see her in one of those things, I think: that’s the blouse Mom wore the time we went out to buy fertilizer for the shrubs.
I thought fashion shows were supposed to showcase clothes that were ridiculous but attention-grabbing, since the clothes themselves were a loss leader to the merchandise and accessories (purses, perfumes, shoes) with the company’s logo.
I used to catch the occasional televised fashion show with my girlfriend (who is a graphic designer and thus has a professional interest in fashion and architecture and advertising etc.) and the only designer who presented outfits that looked attractive and wearable was Armani. Everyone else was just… silly.
This has been puzzling to me for years – not that the sagging jeans fashion exists, because there’s really no logic to fashion trends, but that it’s lasted as long as it has. This was a dress code issue back when I was in middle school, circa 1992, and I was not living in a really fashion-forward part of the country. I would assume this look first appeared in NY/LA at least a couple of years earlier. Other early '90s fashions eventually passed so far out of style that they’re coming back in again, but for some reason boxer-revealing jeans on guys was the look that hung around for roughly two decades.
The OP is talking about clothes she actually sees regular people wearing out in public, not things presented in fashion shows.
Huh, I stand corrected.
I think you have nailed it.
I noticed this for the first time IRL just this evening. On my drive home I was behind a guy on a moped who was wearing skinny jeans sagged so low that in his sitting position he was exposing not only his boxers but an inch or so of his bare legs.
I’m glad that I’m not crazy, but sad that this trend isn’t localized. I’m also frightened that they could possibly think that they look good.
Sometimes it is just fun to be young and sloppy. Even if it took you a while to pull together the look, you want to be cool and look like you don’t care. When I was a young man in the 80’s, it was fun to go to thrift stores and find weird t-shirts and jackets for a buck or two each then show up at parties with a different look every time. When I first met my wife, she would wear baggy boy clothes from thrift stores and Sears and somehow she still looked pretty damn hot. Then we had to grow up and start shopping at Banana Republic and Ann Taylor and wear stylish but sensible shoes so that we can walk around the office all day. Ahh youth, dress as stupid as you want to because someday soon you will have to sign in your kids at preschool and you can’t look like an idiot.
The goal of most fashions that appeal to the young isn’t to look good. It’s that you look good despite the fact that your sunglasses are too big, or your shirt looks like it was mangled by a bear, or whatever else.
As an example, if you find a picture of Brad Pitt in a 70s style lounge suit (probably in Ocean’s 11), he looks pretty good and the suit seems sort of hip and cool. Now you put Paul Giamatti in that same suit, and he looks like a low-rent mafioso who sidelines as a used car salesman. The poorly shaped suit just makes everything worse.
If you’re young and/or beautiful, you can get away with wearing just about anything. Things which should, by all logic, look stupid end up looking cool and quirky.