Mr. S, who works at a high school, told me about a strange “fashion” he’s seen around the school. Apparently the kids (I don’t recall whether he specified boys or girls, but it sounds like a girl thing to me) will wear just the sleeves of a sweatshirt or jacket. In other words, imagine holding a sweatshirt (open front, like a hoodie? that’s how he demonstrated it, with his own jacket) in front of you, with the inside of it facing you, and then put your arms in the sleeves (right arm in left sleeve, left arm in right sleeve). Then you just kind of bunch the thing up against your body. Or something.
This is a small rural high school, so I have no idea if it’s a local thing or not. Has anyone else seen this? If so, what’s the (bizarre teenage) logic? Or the origin?
(It’d be an interesting combination with the pants-on-backwards thing from a few years ago . . .)
I think they do it just to annoy the adults. I remember one short-lived fad at one school I taught at. The kids wore their winter coats upside down and backwards.
So, basically, the collar fell about rib level and the rest of the jacket bunched up under the chin. I think even the kids realized they looked like idiots and gave that one up.
I saw a young woman do that with her jacket tonight on the subway in D.C. It struck me as odd, but none of her companions did it, so I din’t get the fashion trend vibe. Weird.
My students do that in class. It’s something you see when they get cold in their seats and want to cover their arms without being disruptive. They will just pull their jacket up over thier arms so they don’t have to stand up to put it on. I don’t think it’s really a fashiod statement. Just a kinda goofy looking convenience.
No, the backpacks-on-backwards was popular for about a year four years ago. THAT looked goofy.
When I was in High School, (way back in 2000) we did this during track meets between heats. It was simply a matter of convenience. No point in fully putting on a sweatshirt if I was going to take it off in a few minutes anyway.
It’s a convenience thing. Teenagers these days are incredibly lazy (I should know, I am one - and I’m really lazy) so the easy way is the way we’ll take.
Respectfully and in all seriousness . . . so what? Who cares if (generic) you quietly pull a sweatshirt over your head? It’s not like you’re standing on the desk singing “I’m a Yankee Doodle Dandy” while you do it; just put it on, takes five seconds. Is it the teenage thing of “OMG I must not stand out at all in any way or I’ll be ostracized forever?”
I mean, I was the school ubergeek (not in a good way) and I did as little as possible to draw attention to myself and give my tormentors ammo, but I think I wouldn’t have had any problem with just putting on a sweater in class.
Besides, Mr. S says he sees kids walking around the halls like that. Who are they going to disrupt by putting on a sweatshirt in the hallway? He says he’s asked a couple of the kids he knows and talks to occasionally, and they just shrugged.
I dunno, guess I’m an old fart at the ripe old age of 39.
Well, for one thing, pulling a hoodie over your head can mess up your hair. Even if it’s just in a ponytail or something, it makes it all fuzzy.
Also, while pulling a sweatshirt over your head in’t likely to get you bitched at by any sane teacher, it is just easier to put it on your arms.
Honestly- we’re teenagers. Not everything we do has a complicated thought process behind it. I usually just wear my sweatshirt all the time because I live in a state of freezing. But I will occasionally take it off and then put just my arms in while I’m in class. I’m not thinking “I want to wear my sweatshirt, but I don’t want to go to all the trouble of lifting my back from the backrest, pulling it over my head, adjusting the back to make sure it isn’t bunched up, smoothing my hair out, and all that… and what if I disrupt class! oh god, I could make the person behind me mad! I could annoy the whole world!” It’s more like, “I’m cold.” then I put my arms in my shirt and keep listening to what’s going on in class.
Also, if you put your backpack on and then get cold, taking your backpack off really can be a hassle. Especially if you’re walking and have a purse-across-the-chest on at the same time.
Also: they see one person do it, and therefore it must be copied. Teenagers are so funny; they claim to crave individuality, yet they might as well be wearing uniforms they dress so alike.
Ok, I don’t get it. It not the fashion part I don’t get, its the logistics. Since I’m of the generation that thought it was cool to tight-roll your pants, I have to room to question fashion. If I were to just put my arms in a hoodie, I don’t think I’d be able to walk around without it falling off. Is the scrunched up part in front of or behind you?
I’m still not over the falling-down pants thing. I’m not ready for arms-only sweatshirts.
And yet, I remember carefully pulling up my socks as high as they could go, and then rolling them down to little doughnuts around my ankles, and wearing them that way with pegged pants. Who am I to judge?
IIRC there was also a fad of wearing jeans backwards in the early 1990s. At least, it was enough of a fad to appear in a Rolling Stone Magazine fashion layout that I remember seeing back then.
The scrunched part goes in front. If you are sitting at a desk, you don’t have to worry about it falling off. If you’re standing up, you adopt a nonchelant pose, leaning against the wall with folded arms. If you’re walking, you just wrap your arms around yourself.
Back when I did this it was an easy way to keep warm, not a fashion statement. I liked that it didn’t wreck my hair, and I would mostly wear the sleeves when I was cold, but putting on a jacket or sweatshirt all the way would mean I was too hot.
