Kids’ Klothes

Many years ago, I had a good laugh watching two young men, dressed in faultless gang attire, run for a bus.  The funny part was that, as they ran, their lowrider pants get lower and lower.  One of them eventually ended with his pants around his ankles.  Undaunted, with the bus revving its engine, he yanked his pants up and continued running.  He made the bus, too, although with his dignity severely impaired.  Kevin sent me a story that revived this memory:

Those low-slung, baggy pants worn by many teens and young men may appall fashion purists, but police love them — because it's hard to flee from cops in falling trousers.

Jim Matheny, a police lieutenant in Stamford, Conn., says he gets into foot chases with young men just about every other week, and it's getting easier to nab them because they can't run fast in loose pants.

"It's like: 'Hey dude, buy a belt and save yourself some trouble,'" Matheny said.

In a story humorously headlined "Low-slung, baggy pants often trip up thieves," the Wall Street Journal reports that young suspects wearing the pants "regularly get tripped up in their getaways, a development that has given amused police officers and law-abiding citizens a welcome edge in the fight against crime."

It's hard to be hip. 

By the way, have you noticed that among urban young people, the boys dress like toddlers (hats on backwards, shoes untied, pants falling off), while the girls dress like hookers (chest cleavage, butt cleavage, bared bellies, pierced navels, heavy makeup)?  What's with this bizarre dichotomy?