the baggy continuum

[zhao]

been up all night, it's 6AM and just had a brain um... hiccup:

the XXXL tall tees rappers wear that go down to they knees are a contemporary stylistic manifestation of traditional African dress -- which is, I'm no expert but from everything i've seen, always baggy. (has this been talked about before?)

I AM PREPARED TO DEAL WITH THE REALIZATION THAT THIS IS A STUPID POST IN THE MORNING UM... AFTERNOON

 

[nomadthethird]

people wear baggy clothes so they can hide guns and drugs under their clothes.

period.

or maybe to be a little less offensively blunt: people originally started wearing super baggy clothes to hide guns and drugs under them. then it just stuck. now people wear them for practical reasons (drugs, guns) and/or just because it's fashionable in certain neighborhoods/subcultures. the trend definitely took hold on a national (rather than neighborhood-specific) scale only after the ascent of gansta rappers. gangsta rappers proudly hide guns and drugs under their clothes. it just makes sense.

even now i know of a lot of people who wear skinny jeans because they're cool but have to wear something big big on top, usually a hoodie or something with inside pockets.

but, you're not the first one to come up with a more convoluted origin for this, i've heard all kinds of random ideas about why the baggy fashions, included but not limited to:

1) it's a prison thing (sounds slightly plausible)
2) black people are poor, so they had to wear hand-me-downs, so they try to make it look deliberate (sounds like a slightly naive if sometimes inadvertantly true explanation)

but those both seem like stretches.

 

[zhao]

nomad votes no go on ancestral lineage. (not enough imagination IMO) anyone else? i know it's a stretch (ha), but surely someone else thinks it at least SLIGHTLY plausible?

 

[nomadthethird]

if you're right, then I guess my uncles must wear tracksuits with gold chains because they resemble Roman garb

*works hard, imagines a link*

 

[zhao]

if you're right, then I guess my uncles must wear tracksuits with gold chains because they resemble Roman garb

*works hard, imagines a link*

don't be so literal. not saying it's the REASON they do it, or that anyone is consciously thinking along these lines. more like a Jungian, collective deeper roots connection thing.

and i don't think there is right or wrong about it. but i guess if there is I'm probably wrong.

just thoght of the fact that pretty much all traditional garments of all cultures are pretty long and baggy... so yeah i'm prolly full of shit

well not unless one sees it as a larger archaic revival thing.

ok i need to take my ass to bed

 

[Chris]

and here I thought that this thread was going to be about the profound influence of Madchester.



I did read somewhere that sagged pants originally meant you were the prison bitch...? Similar to the origin of the word "punk". Surely it's only a matter of time before there's a super badass, hetero-as-fuck Crunk jam called "I B Droppin dat Soap".

 

[nomadthethird]

and here I thought that this thread was going to be about the profound influence of Madchester.



I did read somewhere that sagged pants originally meant you were the prison bitch...? Similar to the origin of the word "punk". Surely it's only a matter of time before there's a super badass, hetero-as-fuck Crunk jam called "I B Droppin dat Soap".

Hahah, remember when people used to roll up only one pant leg to the mid-calf?

Left leg meant "selling" right leg meant "buying." That's what they claimed in my middle school, anyway. (this was all based on secret prison codes, of course)

 

[Chris]

Hahah, remember when people used to roll up only one pant leg to the mid-calf?

Left leg meant "selling" right leg meant "buying." That's what they claimed in my middle school, anyway.

haha totally. Yeah I know some hipster-ish guys who wear bandanas in their back pockets for some reason... "er, guys, you DO know what that means, right?" hell, maybe they do know and I've just been in the dark about a few things.

 

[nomadthethird]

haha totally. Yeah I know some hipster-ish guys who wear bandanas in their back pockets for some reason... "er, guys, you DO know what that means, right?" hell, maybe they do know and I've just been in the dark about a few things.

HA somehow I doubt that they do

I miss the early 90s sometimes, not just for urban cryptosemiotics.

I remember my babysitters always used to do that special squeeze-then-fold jean cuff thing, and then tuck in huge t-shirts only to pull them out just enough to have a huge puff going on. They were older than me so I knew they were obviously totally hip.

 

[nomadthethird]

Also: brightly colored and/or striped jeans.

 

[Chris]

WAU. I... I almost like those. I have an unsettling feeling those'll start looking pretty good soon, if the local retro-forecast holds up anyway...

 

[nomadthethird]

WAU. I... I almost like those. I have an unsettling feeling those'll start looking pretty good soon, if the local retro-forecast holds up anyway...

I'm way ahead of you on this one, I bought the MJ blue-and-black striped denim miniskirt a few years ago and I've already worn it out and resold it on Ebay at a profit :slanted:

Can you imagine that collegey Afrocentric look from (what was that show about black college students??) A Different World coming back? I think it will. And people will listen to Digible Planets, American Apparel will play them over their PAs.

 

[Chris]

I'm way ahead of you on this one, I bought the MJ blue-and-black striped denim miniskirt a few years ago and I've already worn it out and resold it on Ebay at a profit :slanted:

Damn, well if it's already been redone, I guess I'll just have to catch it on it's third-wave post-ironic simularcra phase, I, I mean not catch it... like, just do it by accident and then quickly discard it in disdain before anyone even catches on.

Can you imagine that collegey Afrocentric look from (what was that show about black college students??) A Different World coming back? I think it will. And people will listen to Digible Planets, American Apparel will play them over their PAs.

OMG, I've totally been wondering what happened to those guys!! I've even been wondering aloud to my friends if Barack Obama is going to bring back that black intellectual archetype that Gangsta kinda killed off. That whole African hat and dashiki-wearing, "have you ever LEARNED ABOUT MALCOM X???!" thing... I miss that shit.

 

[Dunninger]

Hahah, remember when people used to roll up only one pant leg to the mid-calf?

Left leg meant "selling" right leg meant "buying." That's what they claimed in my middle school, anyway. (this was all based on secret prison codes, of course)

I thought that originated from BMX riders to prevent getting their baggy pants into the gear?

 

[droid]

don't be so literal. not saying it's the REASON they do it, or that anyone is consciously thinking along these lines. more like a Jungian, collective deeper roots connection thing.

and i don't think there is right or wrong about it. but i guess if there is I'm probably wrong.

just thoght of the fact that pretty much all traditional garments of all cultures are pretty long and baggy... so yeah i'm prolly full of shit

well not unless one sees it as a larger archaic revival thing.

ok i need to take my ass to bed

There is kind of a link - Shabba and 80s/90s dancehall deejays with their Pantaloons and baggy shirts, obv inspired by africa:

Which 'influenced' this fella:

Who, as we all know was the biggest ever influence on hip-hop fashion..

QED!

 

[Pestario]

ghetto gowns reprasent

The baggy pants theory I heard was that belts were banned in prison to prevent suicide so that's why everyone's pants were falling down...?

 

[zhao]

there is kind of a link - shabba and 80s/90s dancehall deejays with their pantaloons and baggy shirts, obv inspired by africa:

qed!

yes yes dat is wut i"m talkinabout!!!

 

[Blip]

I'll be the village simpleton and say that some fashion maverick started using his 50kg-overweight brother's t-shirt.

 

[swears]

Yeah but black american fashion hasn't always been baggy, has it? This is a relatively recent development (late 80s onwards?) Before then it looks like people's clothes were generally tighter, regardless of race.

 

[STN]

what about zoot suits?