I noticed on an old rerun of “Three’s Company” how short Jacks short pants were. They only went down to mid-thigh. I also looked a pictures of the old show “The Love Boat” and they were mid-thigh too.
I also saw Larry Bird form the early 80s and the basketball players were wearing shorts to mid-thigh.
Does anyone know when shorts for men went from mid-thigh to below the knee. Actually shorts just past the knee were the kind Wally “Leave it to Beaver” Cleaver wore.
I don’t know but all I can say is thank god. Short shorts are men were a travesty. And I think describing most of the shorts Jack wore as “mid-thigh” is being a little generous, that man’s clothing (and much of the shorts of the time) were borderline daisy dukes.
No no, later than '85. Heck, Three’s Company had just gone off the air at that time and short shorts were still the norm.
I remember the switch to “Bermuda Shorts” coming around the time wide stripes were in. Hmm… I was wearing Chuck Taylors and sk8boarding at the time, so I’ll peg it at 1989-90?
It was a quick switch, too. Suddenly you were a total dork if you dare wear “gym short” style shorts instead of the cool at-your-knee bermuda shorts.
As a gay man who enjoys his eye candy, can I just note that two of the 90s biggest men’s casual fashion trends were extremely regrettable from my point of view? “Shorts” that reach to somewhere like mid-CALF and baggy, baggy clothing worn to produce as shapeless a silhouette as possible. My god, how am I expected to leer at 20-somethings when I can’t even tell if they HAVE an ass?
Definitely later than '85. I seem to remember '86 as being when jams were big, and they were long at the time.
Backing up a bit: most shorts for both sexes were fairly short in the '80s. Jogging shorts, for instance, covered the underwear and not much more. Most ordinary shorts were a few inches longer. Bermuda shorts were considered less casual; they came down to at least mid-thigh, often to the top of the knee, and were more tailored, generally in white or a dark solid. Then for a little while there was a fad for Jamaica shorts, a.k.a. jams, which were as long as Bermudas but looser, and typically in bright colors and loud patterns.
The idea that anything that shows a guy’s knees is “short shorts” was definitely well after that - sometime in the '90s, I think, though I don’t remember exactly when it happened. Look, I’m not calling for a return of the bright blue shiny polyester jogging shorts, but can we please bring back men’s shorts that are actually, y’know, short? Pants and shorts should be distinguished by more than three inches of fabric.
I must be a minority in this, because i’m really annoyed at not being able to find shorts that are the proper length, i.e. halfway down the thigh. I have to wear swim trunks to workout just to have some properly fitting clothing. When did the rodeo-clown look become so fashionable?
I would have to say that the appearance to the music scene of the hip hop/prison culture look took over the world in the early 90’s and looks to finally and possibly be on its way out.
I hate those baggie shorts and pants. It is such a stupid look. As stupid as the short shorts of the 70’s ( gah) or the tight pants in the 80’s. Men’s fashions are almost as stupid as womens.
I also detest the baggie mens and boys bathing suits. It is impossible to find something of a reasonable length for a boy to learn to swim in and the insane length of makes the boys spend all their time out of water picking at their suits. Very distracting. ( My son wears a speedo, TYVM.)
True. Dat. I’ve bitched about these ridiculously long “shorts” before, mostly from the perspective of my own fashion sensibilities (if I wanted to wear floods I’d buy long pants with a 28" inseam) but yeah, dammit, when it gets to be summertime I wanna see the boys kick out the gams. And I seriously don’t understand and have never understood the baggy pants thing. Wearing pants belted at approximately mid-thigh? Looks stupid. Not to mention that it leads to too many guys wearing truly ugly, truly saggy boxers which just looks awful.
I’m not a particularly tall guy and while I can find swim suits to train in (basically cycling shorts without the padding) I’m not going to lounge around the pool or on the beach in those. Neither will I wear a tiny speedo. But the only other option seems to be those ridiculous board shorts. I love the low rise and the unelastisized waist that just sits on your hips but why do they have to be so damn long? My legs happen to be one of my best features and I like to get a bit of sun on them. Plus, wet shorts down to my knees really don’t feel all that pleasant and take a long damn time to dry.
Conversely, I don’t mind the longer cargo/bermuda look in casual dress for men when not at the beach or pool.
For workouts at the gym… I wear running shorts which are fairly short and not at all baggy offering plenty of range of motion for running and doing weights.
I agree it was 1986. That was the first time I saw or heard of “jams,” which are what I think of when I think “long shorts.” They hit just above, at, or just below the knee. 1986 was the first time I heard of jams and the first time I heard the phrase, “Dude, no way!” I know it was 1986, because two guys in my HS journalism class came back from spring break wearing jams and “dude, no way!”-ing at everyone. The shorts and the phrase may have been in scattered use before then, but I think that’s when they became more widespread.
Darn you to heck! Life was fair back then; if it was hot out and you were a guy, you could get away with wearing short shorts and be comfortable. Who wants all that billowy fabric around their knees? I sure don’t. And don’t even get me started on swim trunks.
I do, but that’s because my trying to wear mid-thigh shorts should be a crime against nature. I can get away with it if I wear shorts that come down to the knee, not that I wear shorts all that often anyway.
When I was in High School (75-77), guys wore shorts with legs only long enough that their balls &/or underwear didn’t hang out through the leg openings when they sat down cross-legged: maybe 4-5 inches. Not much longer in the legs than what the girls wore.
Mid-thigh would’ve gotten you laughed at; folks would’ve asked you if those were your grand-dad’s, and whether you wore striped undershirts to the old swimming hole.
(Regional differences may be relevant: this was New Mexico)
The trend was definitely towards far frumpier & more concealing leg lengths before '85, but then it got really ridiculous.
Try the international male catalog, Internationalmale.com They have a good selection of styles, might have something that works for you in the swimwear department.
Length-taste aside, what’s really galling about this is that the passage of time has been kind to me, yet change in fashion won’t allow me enjoy that fact: I can still fit the same size UDT shorts I wore 20 years ago in the navy, but would look like a “Magnum PI” version of a Trekkie geek if I did
But, they do have good stuff and a decent selection.