Many years ago a man would wear his trousers with the bottom of the leg (often with a neat cuff) just touching the laces of his shoes and we think it looked so much neater like that:
I bought Phil a couple of pair of trousers (new) on eBay and they were of course too long. He has actually (we both have) lost 2 inches to age so possibly any trousers may be a tad too long but instead of me shortening the new pants he had the lady at the dry cleaners do it for him. The do a lot of clothing alterations which is very handy. He told them a certain measurement for the 'inside leg' and would you believe when he got them home they had added 2 inches to the measurement they were given!! Were they taking into account the fact that men wear their trousers far too long these days? Surely not. He didn't bother taking them back and I will get out my sewing machine and do the job myself. He can cut off the surplus as my hands are rather too painful to use scissors these days but I can do the sewing...a combined effort.
I would truly like to know your opinion on this subject. Do you think men look sloppy these days with their trousers so wrinkled around their ankles or do you just accept it as the current fashion and not really care? I like my husband to look neat when he is dressed to go out and so does he although he is and never has been a fashion plate.
Pants that hang half way to the knees with underwear showing, rips in the legs, bunched up over the shoes...just generally sloppy looking. Shirts hanging out and half done up...just more sloppiness. I think this sloppiness in appearance is a reflection of society as a whole...sloppy thinking, sloppy behaviour ... it has to show up on the outside too.
ReplyDeleteDelores I think you've summed it up exceptionally well. Society is obviously going backward rather than progressing. Too many minds focused on technology these days and very little else pehaps?
DeleteI am not a fan - but it is trousers which hang so low on the behind that underwear is on display which really irk me. Really, really irk me.
ReplyDeleteYes I am certainly with you on that one and I feel many young men in particular do it on purpose, and sometimes more than underwear unfortunately. Yuk!!
DeleteI accept it as the current fashion, but it does look sloppy, as if the wearer doesn't care. I think though, that cuffs just touching the shoelaces is a little too short. I'd like to see them an inch longer, but if the pants are narrow, that would look silly.
ReplyDeleteWhat's worse is the current baggy fashion of wearing pants buckled (or not) below the buttocks or halfway, so the crotch is dragging around the knees. The young men wearing these cannot walk without holding onto their pants in case they drop right down. So, So, STUPID!!!
Perhaps by putting more fabric into the trousers they can charge a higher price?
DeleteI think women have the advantage over men if they are big. We can wear looser fitting clothing whereas men seem to have to wear more fitted shirts etc which shows their belly bulge much more and we have pants with elastic waists which stay up whereas they either rely on braces (which Phil doesn't like) or you see their trousers droop below their belly bulge which also look awful. My first hubby's 4 uncles were all like that. We used to say "it isn't the beer it's the bulge!" whatever that meant.
Hari OM
ReplyDeleteEC was on the money - in general historians will tell you that fashion reflects an image of the society mores; a classic example of this is the massive shoulder pads of the 1980s, demonstrating "power"... an echo of similar 'square' shaped fashion from Tudor and Elizabethan times. Then, fashion was driven by the royal court; now it is driven by celebrity and money-hungry fashion stores determined to fit the world into 'one size'.
For suit pants the excess leg-length does look like they just haven't bothered to get proper measurement. However I must say that the other day I saw a fellow in 'trews' fitted as you mention (to laces) and I found myself looking because they did seem too short to this modern eye! Think there must be a happy medium. I noted once that my brother made a thing about his pants having to 'brush the floor' at the heel; this (apparently) allowed for 'lift' but also prevented 'drift'.
I didn't ask further... YAM xx
Much food for thought in your comments which is always good.
DeleteIt's definitely the money hungry proprietors of stores that push constant fashion changes so those that want to keep up with the Joneses will spend more money.
I am not surprised you didn't ask further about the way your brother preferred to wear his pants. Not perhaps for we mere females to understand?
Oh I love a well fitting pant with a crease but never see that very much anymore. Hug B
ReplyDeleteMore's the pity Buttons. People today seem to follow fashion faithfully whatever the trend and I can't say I think much of some of today's styles.
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