It’s because they have the waist hanging down around their hips so they can show off their dirty undies… Just what us ladies want to see. Sexy!
It has nothing to do with fashion, or at least it shouldn’t. If you are hiking a trail in the summer in the mountains, you want shorts, not short pants.
I seem to recall sales of shorter, old-school gym shorts plummeted in 1993, when President Clinton began his infamous White House jogs.
(The picture is mercifully small, but show the horror in sufficient detail)
Knee-length shorts are annoying. They hang up on my knees when I go to sit down and I have to lift them above my knee to sit comfortably. I’ve even torn a knee on the shorts just by sitting down. And no, my pants don’t sag. I belt them normally around my waistline.
I stand corrected. In cargo shorts that come to just above my hairy knee! 
I hate so-called shorts which practically go down to your ankles. But at the same time, I’m not very fond of the ones which are practically undergarments. I think all shorts should end precisely at the top of the knee, regardless of sex.
Good point. ISTM that GQ would be more about fine suits.
And what’s the deal with pocket squares? Are they some kind of ironic hipster joke, or what?
It’s the whole ensemble that makes the man, though: cargo jorts, wife beater, black socks and trainers, flat cap and Oakleys. Breathtaking.
(nit-pick): I might be wrong but I think Michael Jordan only started wearing longer shorts towards the end of his career. I’ve always heard that those responsible for introducing long shorts into the world of basketball were the Fab Five from the University of Michigan
It’s hard to follow fashion, not that I want to. A couple years ago I was reading that men are not supposed to wear shorts at all. I really don’t have a problem with that. I find all shorts a little ridiculous looking, depending on the length and shoes, socks or no socks, etc. I think very long shorts can look bad but so can short shorts and non-functional shoes with no socks- or whatever is in fashion now. If anything longish shorts and athletic shoes look better to me than any other combination. I try not to dress like Justin Bieber’s dad, but at the same time I did most of my growing in the early 90s and I have certain comforts. I’ll never want to worry about a ball hanging out like Jack Tripper.
ETA: I assume all short-shorts wearers wear briefs? I’ve always worn boxers, though more boxer-brief in the past few years. I bring that up, because if I wore the loose boxers I used most of my life my underwear and other stuff might hang out of the leg of short shorts.
This reminds me of when I was in 6th-9th grade gym class (I was in 8th when Clinton was elected) and we had to purchase gym uniforms that consisted of short shorts with slits up the sides. No one wanted to wear those things. At that point, it was already seen as 10 years out of date to us kids.
Yes.
(bolding mine)
6" and 7" inseams are very fashionable right now. You probably won’t see your average Dad wearing them just yet, but Men’s shorts and bathing trunks are definitely getting shorter.
Chubbies are also becoming more and more popular - quite a few guys I know (all recent college grads, to narrow down the age) have many pairs. They’re a bit fratty for my taste, but sometimes that look works. Personally, I’ve got a ton of Docker’s shorts which, while not as short as the Chubbies, are noticeably shorter than what I wore in middle school and high school.
Now that I think about it, when I’m back home (Midwest), the shorts there are much longer than when I’m back on the East Coast, J. Crew’s/Chubbies’ popularity notwithstanding. I’d be willing to bet there’s a significant geographical/demographic component to what you’re seeing as well.
I agree, although I’m now getting comfortable with short at #2. The first looked to me more like underwear, like the kind I was wearing one time when my college roommate brought a girl over, and he thought I was silly for feeling immodest.
Indulge me for a moment and work through this hypothetical with me. Imagine every woman in America started wearing super-baggy capri pants, like a cropped version of palazzo pants and necklines up to the collarbone. When someone asks what’s up with all that, women say “Oh, lord, nobody wants to look at thigh and cleavage.” Your response would probably be something along the lines of “WTF?! EVERYONE wants to see thighs and cleavage, the more the better!” That’s the situation straight women and gay men are in–guys have been running around in manpris for an eternity and are apparently boggled at the notion that people who are sexually attracted to guys enjoy looking at their bodies.
Also, men’s shorts have been so long for so long that when they started actually exposing the kneecap, it actually felt kind of racy to me. It was like I was a Victorian man getting a glimpse of a woman’s ankle. It’s not a fun feeling.
We wear the long shorts because we do not like being objectified as if we were put here for your ogling pleasure. Stop stifling our personhood!
Shorts in general are not really grown-up clothing. I think they all look kind of sulu and too casual for wear outside the gym.