Pull Up Those Pants Young Man! | The Silliest Recent Fashion Trend - LADIES OF HIVE CONTEST #123

Hello everyone. Welcome back to my participation in the Ladies of Hive weekly contest. This week's contest topics by @merit.ahama is an interesting one and close to my heart. I have the pleasure of joining in the conversation to give my thoughts on the silliest fashion trend. There are numerous one we could laugh at all day. However, I wanted to address one that I think borders on disrespect.

QUESTION 2: What is the silliest recent fashion trend?

The reason I made my statement above that some fashion trends border on disrespect is that I was born in the Baby Boomer generation. It would have been unheard of for any child in my circle of friends or acquaintances to even come out of the house wearing this fashion trend.

The fashion trend that's a pet peeve of mine is the wearing of jeans not on the waist, but hanging on buttocks. Boys and teens adopted this trend. No belts in the belt loops around the waist to hold the pants in place. Instead, the belts are sometimes attached to a belt loop and pinned inside the shirt and fastened near the chest.

Our children are impressionable. We know this. How impressible I feel depends upon the parents to a certain extent. Children should be taught leadership and not following others just for the sake of trends and following the crowd.

In my opinion, parents are responsible for their children's heath and well being. However, I believe they are responsible also for their children's moral and ethical upbringing. If not then, who else. Therein comes the dilemma.

Children look up to and admire adults. Those adults should be directing them toward paths of understanding and doing what is morally right. Sadly, this is not the case.

Admiration for reality television stars, film stars, athletes, fashion, and music industry representatives, and other influences are all too willing to train your children if their minds are an empty cup waiting to be filled with ideas that often are devoid of moral and ethical values.

Although this fashion trend is not fairly recent, I still find boys and young adults practicing this. Now, they wear color coordinated underwear so that it doesn't look as noticeable.

The first time I saw this was during my teen's school years. Apparently, the trend partly originated from hip hop and skaters in the early 90s. The official term is "sagging". Also it's widely believed that male inmates in prisons and other facilities started the trend. After, the hip hop era of rappers popularized the style. Neither source can be relied upon to validate which one claimed the origin of the trend. ²

The boys would walk with their legs far apart in an attempt to keep the pants from falling down. Others would hold the pants in place with one hand. Seems like hard work for something that should be so simple. Just pull the pants up around your waist, put a belt through the belt loops, and fasten the belt!

I remember once my son asked if I would purchase a pair of jeans, size 38. Confused, I asked why. His response was that he just wanted a pair. Again, I asked what would be the purpose since he could fit a size 28 on a good day after three meals, a snack, and sneaked in junk afterwards.

^Source

After going a few rounds, I finally got to the bottom of this request. The answer was "all the boys at school are wearing them."

Well, that cut short our shopping trip for school clothes. Afterward, I reminded him of being an individual and not following the crowd. Upon arrival home, I then cited reasons why wearing pants down around your buttocks was disrespectful to all others who walked in the rear of him. My version was definitely quieter that what he would have received from his dad. He thanked me for the reminder.

He did say that when he got a job, he'd buy his own. Ironically, when he did get a summer job, he forgot about the pants to follow a trendy style like his friends. His funds was spent on pursuing and impressing a certain young lady that caught his attention. And thank God her idea of a boyfriend was not one who wore pants around their buttocks.

Funny how she got his attention straightaway without the extra justification I felt was necessary!

To some degree, I fault parents for purchasing the pants when their sons don't have the money to buy them. I feel this is enabling a practice instead of discussing why it's not appropriate.

Also schools have stepped up. They're fighting back on this indecent way of wearing pants.

I was extremely proud to hear that numerous school districts in many states put in place regulations addressing this issue and forbidding this fashion trend.