Oh My God Why They Jeans So Tight?

I remember being lost in translation as I sat in the middle of the floor and watched slim little guys romp around a stage in jeans tighter than my leggings...and yet they were sagging. "The world! What was it coming to?" are the words that echoed in my ears to the tune of their performance piece "You're a Jerk." I had to do some reflection on whether or not I really disliked the trend or was I simply in shock at something so radically new. After some months I decided it was the latter.  I've grown to have respect for these young artist and their stylists simply because of what their clothing represents, that being REBELLION.

        However, the hip hop community as a whole has not been as accomodating with it's opinion as I have per Jay-Z who says in "Swagger Like Us" He doesn't wear skinny jeans cause his knots don't fit. That line was basically a reject letter from one of Hip Hop's CEO's serving notice that men in skinny jeans will not be employed around here. Subliminal disses sting worse than direct ones but the New Boyz and all other lovers of the "sagging skinny jeans" trend refuse to care according to their latest single Crickets. They've been indoctrinated by the same tips I reference in my article about [developing style] , going hard in the "DO FOR SELF" paint. There are a few reasons this trend makes sense to me and here it is:

1. It's Not New: Men have dressed in fitted clothing for quite some years now, caucasian and black alike. The practice of men wearing fitted jeans became popular in the 1950's with Elvis Presley which led to a die hard devotion from the Rock and Roll community to straight leg jeans. It was also seen on "cowboy" types such as Cisco Kid and Roy Rogers along with the tucking jeans into boots trend(also recently hot on the runways).  Black men too could be seen in pants that tapered at the leg and were considered fitted. Though the 1970's exploded with the bell bottom trend which featured very wide legs, these jeans were nothing short of tight in the hip and buttox area not to mention meanly high-waisted. For many years, men and women's trends have often intersected.

2. Hip Hop started dating Rock and Roll years ago:

 I would say Run DMC can be the most accredited with helping this skinny leg jean fit to integrate itself into the Hip Hop Nation, which in the 80's was largely black. This group had a craze for fusing Hip Hop with Rock and Roll and Rock and Roll as we know was and still is devoted to skinny jeans. Thus with the marriage Run DMC entered Hip Hop into came not only a mixing of sound but culture as well, seen most visibly by the skinny jeans and the big chains together. As anyone knows with at least one good eye, the 80's have been back in full force for a couple years now.

3. What Goes Around Comes......

Fashion and style always draw from what is popular now and what was once popular to devise something new. How many times have we heard our grandparents or parents say "We used to wear that back in MY day!"? Makes you wish they would've saved all their clothes so your vintage stock could be lethal. Needless to say its true, this is not the first time men have worn tight jeans, nor the first time men have mimicked women's fashion. Oh yes, but the sagging. As stated previously, it's all about a blend of what has been and what is. Sagging hit the urban fashion scene and left a crater so deep, people are still falling in it...even if they have skinny jeans on. Kudos to the New Boyz fortaking what "was" and what is "now" to rock something fresh, even if it causes the rest of us to develop frowning faces wrinkling the aging lines around our mouth which we open to say "I can't believe they are wearing that!" Just remember at some point in your life, someone said the exact same thing about you and you considered them to be what? Old and out of touch...don't let old age get you ;)!

 To everyone still hyperventilating over this trend, take a deep breath and relax because we aren't anywhere we haven't been before.