Taper Legged Blues
As James Joyner intimates, George Will’s contempt for jeans is really stupid. As a self-styled public intellectual unafraid of dripping contempt on other people’s aesthetic choices, I feel relatively safe in being heard in the spirit I’m speaking on this. Not the blue jean but the light-washed, taper-legged blue jean is the real social problem in America — exacerbated gravely by the pairing of said taper-legs with big clunky white ‘athletic’ shoes of the sort routinely worn by our decidedly unathletic.
Yet, notably, this getup was all the rage among girls in the ’80s (cf. Demi Moore in About Last Night…). As hideous as it might have been even in that context, somehow it was less of an issue. What can’t girls pull off? The problem is that men don’t look manly enough in this getup; the question is whether they can in jeans of any kind; and the answer is yes.
The real venom should be sprayed in the general direction of khakis and chinos, especially ones with pleats. A story for another day.
Ah dear James, I’m hearing you – there’s suffering for fashion and then there’s making others suffer for your fashion…
— ell · Apr 16, 03:49 PM · #
Reruns of Seinfeld generally hold up pretty well on the humor front, but Jerry’s white Nikes and jeans are an abomination.
— BrianF · Apr 16, 07:59 PM · #
The real problem with Will’s abhorrence of blue jeans is that he views them solely as some sort of statement of cultural decline and immaturity. It’s fine to argue about which clothes are appropriate and which aren’t, but those are matters of aesthetics (mostly) and social custom (less often these days). I agree that we should direct as much bile as possible toward pleated chinos and khakis, but that’s because they’re detestable and ugly fashion, not because they symbolize anything grand (or even small1!) about our cultural moment.
— Peter Suderman · Apr 16, 09:07 PM · #
As an everyday pleated chinos-wearer who has been made self-conscious by all the bile and venom spewed my way (Hey! That stuff stains!), I’m curious what the alternative is. Do I have to buy suits? I hope so, though I’m not sure how I’ll manage to afford them.
And no, I don’t accept jeans as a legitimate alternative. They’re labor / utility wear. I’ll wear them in the garden of the tool shed, and pretty much nowhere else.
— Ethan C. · Apr 16, 09:23 PM · #
Surely the rise and fall of the tight-whitey is a greater sign of moral decline than the ubiquity of blue jeans.
Second place is men with little dogs.
— JA · Apr 16, 09:41 PM · #
tighty-whitey, dammit
— JA · Apr 16, 09:43 PM · #
Call me when the jeans are slung so low I can see the briefs, boxers or whites. Call me a young old fashioned dude, but if you gotta hold it up with one arm while you walk around, it aint fashionable.
Otherwise, the stonewashed, bell bottomy look doesn’t bother.
— Geoff · Apr 16, 09:49 PM · #
Ethan, I’m not against khakis nearly as much as I am against pleats. There are plenty of options for reasonable flat-front khakis.
— Peter Suderman · Apr 17, 12:24 AM · #
There is nothing reasonable about suggesting that a man wear clothing from Banana Republic.
— jbd · Apr 17, 01:57 AM · #
“…especially ones with pleats.”
Damn skippy! Conservative or liberal, atheist or pious believer, we can all agree to join the Pleatian Jihad.
— James F. Elliott · Apr 17, 05:11 AM · #
Of course, pleated khakis from the old Banana Republic, the one with crazy safari decorations everywhere, are grandfathered in.
— James · Apr 17, 12:25 PM · #
And chinos and khakis are so terrible, why?
— Bill · Apr 17, 12:57 PM · #
“But where do I put my wallet?” — Meggings are the new skinny jeans – be aware that once seen some things cannot be unseen. http://grazia.ninemsn.com.au/blog.aspx?blogentryid=371005&showcomments=true
— ell · Apr 17, 02:13 PM · #
Shudder
— James · Apr 17, 07:34 PM · #
I’ve been wearing “meggings” all Winter long, ‘cept around here we call them long underwear. Have only stumbled out in public that way once or twice. No one seems to mind, but then I live in a notoriously idiosyncratic community.
Also, this is very good and features both ‘meggings’ and jeans with sneakers. I’ve had women look at me that way once or twice in years gone by, but I don’t recall what I was wearing. I do remember liking it very much. I’d happily wear pleated khakis, or meggings, or anything else, if it would (help) draw those sorts of gazes again.
— Tony Comstock · Apr 17, 07:47 PM · #
Pants without pleats are for sexually promiscuous monkeys. No, seriously, according to this ad they are.
Pants with pleats? Oh, those are just for red-blooded American males who enjoy bachelor parties and the like.
The honor of pleats hath been defended.
— Bill · Apr 27, 07:16 AM · #