Plenty of fashion is dressing down. There was a time when grunge was the popular look. There have been numerous laments from people (often, but not always older people) about how the “youth of today” don’t dress up. Thought I depends on your definition of fashion. Mine is basically anything “popular” that people wear because it’s “in style” or everyone else is wearing it or whatnot. Bell bottoms in late sixties and seventies weren’t dressy, but would be fashion. Low rise and flare leg jean came in the '90s, and were fashion. Now skinny leg - fashion. Yoga pants. Etc.
The lil’wrekker used to wear them.hood-up when She was feeling ill. She said it comforted her.
I had a hoodie with me to the Clinic today. It was 90°+ today. But it’s like an ice box in that place. I wanted to put the hoodie up and ignore the lectures I got. I refrained.
I can pull a hood over my head without removing my cap. Can’t do that with a winter hat. I rarely leave the house without a cap. And the times I do are usually when it’s warm enough not to worry about hoods or hats.
Sure, but are they really “fashionable”? From the answers I’ve seen thus far, it seems most of the replies have been from people who have worn them for donkey’s years with no regards to fashion whatsoever. Maybe they go in and out of fashion, sure, but those of us who like them don’t wear them because they’re “cool,” but because they are comfortable and practical.
That said, I haven’t really noticed hoodies being any more or less popular than before. My recollection is that hoodies have always been around and worn, so it’s not something that I see as a fashion statement, unlike if I saw multiple popped collars or acid washed jeans or bell bottoms coming back en masse. (You do see some of those, but they’re associated with an era. To me, hoodies aren’t. They’ve always been fine to wear. Wearing a hoodie in the 80s, 90s, 00s, or 10s, it wouldn’t look out of place.)
I am in my 50’s and the hoodie is one of the most comfortable clothing items I have, ranking up there with wool socks and flannel pajamas.
I even have an outdoor hoodie for running around and an indoor hoodie (dirt and pollen free) for lounging indoors. On cool mornings my indoor hoodie is the first thing I put on when I roll out of bed.
Once, a hoodie saved my ass in Paris.
I had spent a few weeks in southern France, where the temps were in the 80s with blue skies. I wore nothing but t-shirts and shorts. Then I went up to Paris for a few days before heading home. Cold, raining, windy, horrible weather. And it was Saturday, when none of the stores were open. Finally I found a Gap, and bought a hoodie and sweat pants to keep warm. I still wear that “GAP PARIS” hoodie.
I only put the hood up when I’m in the hood.
Side note: just now noticing that ‘hood’ is a weird word.
Hood.
Hood.
mmm
Now the well’s been poisoned.
If you are asking about the generic “slug-in-a-hoodie” look, it comes originally from the police sketch of the Unabomber. Which was then co-opted by some poker player.
(To the OP: Good to see you’re back. I now have a sudden urge to play Rhythm Changes on my bass.)
I had a similar experience in Rio de Janeiro–how cold could it get in Brazil?
Well, there was a sudden cold snap that hung in the fifties, forcing us to wrap ourselves in every blanket in the house (brick and concrete homes with no heat mean even mid fifties is really cold).
After a day or two of this we went to the mall and I bought a Brazilian hoodie that says “Stand Up” in weird Gothic letters on the front. And yes, I still wear that “Stand Up” hoodie.
I and just about everyone else in elementary school had a hooded sweatshirt jacket (mine was red, just like the Adam Sandler song!). Somewhere around 9th grade the trend changed to *pullover *hooded sweatshirts, white being the color of choice. That then gave way to the Senor Lopez, but I digress.
I haven’t worn one in over 40 years and wouldn’t consider buying one because there are plenty of other options that suit my style. When I hear the word “hoodie” ,the first thing that comes to mind is poor Trayvon Martin. Then I think, can we (generic “we”) please stop using the word “hoodie”?
Déjà vu all over again.
I enjoy hoodies, they’re a very versatile outer layer in the spring/fall. I don’t consider them anything other than a casual, comfortable wear normally. They are definitely not “dressing up”. I do think they are fashionable in some scenes. One of my favorite activities is snowboarding and a hoodie fits in nicely with the “mountain” scene. I also live in a midwest city and in an urban/gentrifying neighborhood and we have a larger percentage of African American neighbors. I see more hoodies being worn by teenage (and some early-mid 20’s) African Americans, usually black hoodies and almost always with the hood up. Again, probably within the hip-hop scene (I sound so old and white, I know) this is a fashionable trend. Last weekend it was nearly 90 degrees and I thought the guy walking past our house while I was doing yard work and wearing his hoodie (hood up naturally) in that temperature was nuts but hey… fashion and image, right? Haha!
Old white female farmer. In any kind of cool to cold weather, the hoodie is a basic part of work gear; depending on the weather it may be worn over an insulated vest or under a heavier coat or just over a tshirt.
Weather varies, both during the course of a day and sometimes from minute to minute. I can throw the hood back when the sun comes out and pull it up when there’s a chilly wind or a sudden rain: and the hood’s always there with me, I don’t need to go back and forth to fetch it or to tie it onto me or fasten it on to a tractor or tiller.
For similar reasons I’ll often wear one into town.
If it’s too warm for a hoodie I will often wear a hat; but hats are a nuisance; they either strangle you around the throat with ties or blow off in the wind; they may fall off if you bend over, or catch on branches and get pulled off. And the hoodie keeps the rain or wind off the back and sides of my neck as well as off the top of my head, which most hats don’t.
Hoodies don’t obstruct your vision unless you pull the hood far forward.
ETA: unless it’s a waterproof version they’re no good in a heavy sustained rain, no. But they’re a lot of help in a brief shower, or for keeping going for a moderate length of time in a drizzle.
Comfy sweat shirt with a built in pockets & hat that also keeps the back of your neck warm. How about you explain the appeal of having cold hands, neck, and nugget.
They limit your PV a little bit. The rest of one’s ‘field of view’ is unimpaired because a hoodie is not a mask.
Why would you think losing a little bit of peripheral vision = full blindness?
FWIW, regarding “hoodie,” the first usage I see of it in the Chicago Tribune archives is 1999, and by 2000 I see a bunch of ads using the word “hoodie,” as well. Earliest New York Times reference I find is 1996, with the quote from a cop: “so they gave him a hooded pullover sweatshirt – what they call a hoodie – and he wore that into the gas station.”
So by the mid-90s, the word was being used. By 1999/2000, it was mainstream enough to be used in newspaper articles and advertisements without explanation.
The word sounds fine to my ears. Never really thought of the “baby talk” connection with it. It’s just a standard diminutive and is much easier to say that “hooded sweatshirt” or “hooded zip-up sweatshirt/sweat jacket” or whatever.
I like it.
:eek: I bet you’re all moist and steamy like Dixie the Dog.
Oh, I bet you eat your ‘veggies’ too, dontcha? :dubious: 
I haven’t figured out the purpose of the strings on the hood. I don’t want to pull the hood tight around my face like Kenny on South Park.
I removed the strings from mine when I realized I could easily choke myself while working at the lathe wearing a hoodie.