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I notice that when shopping for men's jeans, I've got to visit several stores before I find one that sells "normal" jeans for smaller men instead of those silly waist-around-the-knees waddlers (like, where a "size 30" waist would easily fit on a full-grown elephant).
try being tall and skinny - only one company makes jeans that are size 28/36, and to get them you have to call the magazines an have them look up the numbers because they "don't fit on the page"
Good Lord! Sorry guys, should have proof read before posting. Once again, English is next trimester, I promise :)
If I see an overweight man with a half shirt on, I generally think "okay, not for me, but maybe his wife really digs it."
Thanks for giving me the benefit of the doubt, but my wife doesn't dig it either. I'm just too cheap to buy a new shirt ;)
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I agree with you Lady Lena and think you should write a book for me to give to my two girls when they hit there teens. The way I look at it is like this:
High school is a place to learn how to deal with other people that tend to be different from you. You may not like them, they may not like you Deal with it. There is nobody on this earth that is worth degrading yourself over or for. I am very specific around my little girl as never to say the word "fat" when referring to my saggy belly, but rather that my belly shows just how much she grew in there. She always wants to play with makeup (thanks to my little sister) and I tell her that she is already beautiful and makeup will not change that. I know the importances of ensuring that as a mom of two little girls I teach them to respect themselves and to be proud of who they are and to never feel like they are not good enough. As for the whole goth thing, let them be, if they are happy good kids than what harm are they doing by dressing differently than the norm. Quite honestly I would be glad if my daughters decided to dress goth, at least I would know that they realize the way they dress doesn't change the way they are on the inside. Or rather that they don't need to get tied up with all the "celebrity" crap and just be who they are.
Ok Ok I now see how this thread has taken off so quickly and why I need to stop now or I will go on for ever.
Two words:
Britney Spears.
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The two little girls I know don't want to dress like Lindsay Lohan or Britney Spears. That's sooo two years ago ;)
They all want to look the the girls on The Hills, Highschool the Musical or Rhianna. When I can drag them to vintage stores, they go nuts and look pretty decent (if a little bizarre), but at the mall or Target they kind of flounder and end up with some really tacky, inappropriate outfits. They just don't have many options: it's either sping break hoochie or the girl-everyone-makes-fun-of.
I think most of the problem will go away when the midriff/lowrise look finally goes away.
*stares at the Pathfinder character artwork*
Any day now.
I just got back from a two week break in Thailand.
I spent a bit of time in Bangkok in the area around Soi Rambutri and Khao San Road. The area is thick with prostitutes and sex workers including the notorious ladyboys, or transgender prostitutes.
On the whole, the prostitutes dressed well, with clothing that was sexy without being lewd or revealing. Dresses were the norm, stockings were sheer, heels were midsize and shoulders were often exposed, but not cleavage or midriffs. Make up was more an enhancement than a mask.
The teenage American girls out with their families were (with exceptions)made up heavily, with thongs showing, high heels, garish nails and other tasteless attire, often very tacky and uncomfortable.
I think it is simply a matter of poor taste in clothing and lack of skill at make up.
I grew up among hippies. make up and high heels seem contrived and unneccesary to me. There are, however, signals and designs in grooming that can send powerful, subtle and erotic signals to others.
The tourist girls just seemed out of their depth and like they were attempting a language and guise they were poorly equippped for. Flaunting what they have not got, and overcompensating as a result.
try being tall and skinny - only one company makes jeans that are size 28/36, and to get them you have to call the magazines an have them look up the numbers because they "don't fit on the page"
I´m tall and not quite skinny - but looking for jeans size 36-38/36 is difficult also - especially as I only wear black jeans. If I look for jeans, they are either for short,fat people - e.g., L30, W40, or somewhat tall and slender folks L 34, W 30 or something like that. To find one that 1. is black, 2. fits, 3. costs less than, say, 50€, can be quite difficult. Not to mention if I buy shirts to go with a suit - the sleeves are too short, and the collar too tight. *sigh* Sometimes I wish I had a more average size.
Back to topic, one poster stated rightly that it is inappropriate to call the girls dressing in this supposedly sexy style whores. I posted some time ago that they look like whores or something to that effect. I would never call a 12-year-old a whore, but this was meant to criticize the style and the impression it has on me.
But it is either fashion slave or geek as a teen - I was a geek at that time, but I didn´t care. I guess that most, if not all, teenagers have trouble with their self-perception and have to develop a new feeling for their body, which is not that easy. So, the image they convey to their peers is important as well, as it reflects on their self-esteem. Developing their identity and finding out what they really want is no easy process, and there are of course wrong turns and dead ends on that way. This is no new problem, but made obvious all the more due to this fashion. It can be amended somewhat by making some kind of school uniform mandatory - I remember seeing some report on TV about that in a german school, and it has helped a lot in that case. It was´t the classic "british" style school uniform, but rather polo shirts, t-shirts, sweaters and the like.
Stefan
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I notice that when shopping for men's jeans, I've got to visit several stores before I find one that sells "normal" jeans for smaller men instead of those silly waist-around-the-knees waddlers (like, where a "size 30" waist would easily fit on a full-grown elephant).try being tall and skinny - only one company makes jeans that are size 28/36, and to get them you have to call the magazines an have them look up the numbers because they "don't fit on the page"
My friend Jon has that happen all the time (he's 6'5", 150 lbs).
Me? Just call me Captain Tightpants. [/firefly]
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I just got back from a two week break in Thailand. I spent a bit of time in Bangkok in the area around Soi Rambutri and Khao San Road. The area is thick with prostitutes and sex workers including the notorious ladyboys, or transgender prostitutes.
On the whole, the prostitutes dressed well, with clothing that was sexy without being lewd or revealing. Dresses were the norm, stockings were sheer, heels were midsize and shoulders were often exposed, but not cleavage or midriffs. Make up was more an enhancement than a mask.
Well, that is probably Thai culture for you. They tend to be relatively modest and somewhat conservative about what they wear, even the working girls. Flashing flesh is much more of a Western thing.
I am very specific around my little girl as never to say the word "fat" when referring to my saggy belly, but rather that my belly shows just how much she grew in there.
It's a kangaroo pouch, all mommies have them :)
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RPG Superstar 2011 Top 32
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None of my friends dress like that (We're all khaki and T-shirt types with a few jeans/buttondown types and a semi-goth thrown in for spice), but it's a hard act to keep up. I stopped wearing jeans a while ago and moved to khakis because I simply couldn't find any that fit me properly (It's hard to do martial arts when your pants are tighter than a dwarf's purse). I'm ordering all my back-to-school clothes from magazines instead of buying them in the mall, and not everyone's up to that. Some kids dress that way because it's hard to find other clothes easily.
Have you tried stores like J.C. Penny or Kohl's? I'm pretty sure they have some regular jeans in stock.
Alternatively, you COULD just buy Men's jeans... though I'm not sure how you'll feel about that.
Of course, what do I know? I'm twenty, which means I'm no longer hip, and I'm not even in the flippin' country.
Alternatively, you COULD just buy Men's jeans... though I'm not sure how you'll feel about that.
The problem when buying men's jeans and you're a chick is that if you have anything resembling hips or butt, they fit really really badly. Of course, they also last twice as long as women's jeans... >.<
Hey! What's that supposed to mean?
Of course, what do I know? I'm twenty, which means I'm no longer hip...
It means you are over the hill man, make way for the next generation ;) *said in jocklike voice*
As I said before, I think the problem with my generation is the lack of parental involvment with their children. Im not saying that every parent lacks involvment, just that society seems to lean towards perpetually-working parents leaving their children home-alone or with their peers for long periods of time. The removal of a stable, mature influence and the innundation of largely immature lack of experience can lead teens and tweens down very sad paths.
Oh, and it doesnt help that schools never enforce dress codes.
I’m 22 and I enjoy fashion, but not at the price of personal dignity. The tweens have always had notorious low esteem and lack of individual identity. Let’s face it, what do twelve year olds know? Not enough to really know anything and just enough to get themselves in trouble. Of course that’s where parents should step in, but since I have no kids and don’t plan on any soon (maybe ever) I can’t really comment on that. It’s unfortunate that some of these kids never grow out of that stage, leaving those of us with actual sense of fashion shaking our heads in despair watching the 30 year old teeny bopper jiggling down the street. Don’t misunderstand every age is beautiful but every person should understand how to dress his/her body. It is not nor has it ever been truly fashionable to dress in clothes that don’t fit. Also the unseen is usually much more alluring than the openly advertised.
Ahem. Not quite. lederhosen are a Bavarian thing, and have never been universal to Germany, luckily. Nowadays, it´s a traditional thing.
...and of course with lederhosen comes that lovely women's costume called dirndl (good word for Scrabble), which in most cases looks like something out of Russ Meyer movie. Something I would never wear.
But seriously, you see lederhosen pretty much only in Bavaria, and not that often there either.Jogging back to original topic...I have noticed that idea of using more realistic female body in advertising is coming up slowly, which is great. YeuxAndI does have a good point about huge amount of conflicting messages society, media, peer pressure etc. bombards us with, and most teens don't have strong enough self-image to deal with that, thus generic cluelessness and suckage that is teenage life. Most people get better in time (after all, we could talk about Madonna, or Karen Carpenter, or Twiggy, or Marilyn Monroe, or Marie Antoinette, or numerous other models of their time, many of the not particularly healthy ones). And hopefully they can laugh at their past follies in fashion.
Parents do play a role in that development, but the point is that it isn't enough to say "you are not wearing that". Because that is just an opinion among thousands of opinions.
In a way I do understand the muslim women who insist on wearing the scarves and all, because that at least is rather clear setup how one is supposed to look like, as opposed to conflicting demands of dressing women in Hollywood Porn, while still being empowered...
Personally, I support nudism but way you dress up and look is a message to the world, and different situations call for different looks. And typical teenager is still struggling with this concept or lacks the know-how (and those 40+-year olds who desperately try to look like 19 are just as pathetic as those 12-year olds who try to look like 19...)
Oh, and I have given up on wearing jeans. Don't have the body for those.
A random point of semantics: person who is sexually attracted to 12-year olds who look like 19-year olds is not a pedophile, though of course rationally that person should understand acting on the attracion is A Bad Thing. Pedophile is attracted to kids who look like kids.
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A random point of semantics: person who is sexually attracted to 12-year olds who look like 19-year olds is not a pedophile, though of course rationally that person should understand acting on the attracion is A Bad Thing. Pedophile is attracted to kids who look like kids.
Phew - I'm just an ordinary pervert. Thanks, Magdalena!
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I know it's probably not a good idea to say this on the internet, but I am a teenage girl. A lot of the stuff my classmates wear is inappropriate, and I don't just mean the girls. Most of the guys in my school have their pants riding so low that you can almost see the leg-holes of their underpants. None of my friends dress like that (We're all khaki and T-shirt types with a few jeans/buttondown types and a semi-goth thrown in for spice), but it's a hard act to keep up. I stopped wearing jeans a while ago and moved to khakis because I simply couldn't find any that fit me properly (It's hard to do martial arts when your pants are tighter than a dwarf's purse). I'm ordering all my back-to-school clothes from magazines instead of buying them in the mall, and not everyone's up to that. Some kids dress that way because it's hard to find other clothes easily.
Personally, I blame the over-sexualization of american pop-culture: It's a vicious cycle. Stars looking for shock value cut the cloth smaller and smaller, women (and men) in advertisements show more and more skin and are posed less and less appropriately in an attempt to sell products unrelated to clothing, and clothing manufacturers get the feeling that everyone wants to dress like these highly publicized people. Then the clothes no longer have as much shock value, so the advertisers and celebrities step it up.
Sorry about the rant... It's just when you work as a councilor-in-training at a girl scout camp and see an eight year old girl wearing a string bikini and boasting about being the only girl in the camp with a tube-top... and then find out that four other girls also have tube-tops? I'm sorry, but even I, a teenager, don't think it's right.
Thanks for the contribution. Most of us are old fogeys who probably were unhip when we were young, nevermind now. So it is nice to get a perspective from closer to the coalface, as it were.
I agree that the whole inappropriate dress problem is a combination of poor parenting and amoral societal pressures but it starts alot younger than the tweeners. There's a store in the mall right now with infant onesies hanging in the window that say things like "I'm sexy". When I was working as a kindergarten teacher in the mid-90s, I remember being horrified at the regularity of parents and other care-givers referring to their own children as "sexy". They're 5 years old, you sickos!! Bikinis for toddlers? Why, people, why?! I personally only buy my daughter one-piece swimsuits from Lands End - they are modest and functional which is all any girl under at least 16 needs. I realize some will criticize me as "old-fashioned" and overly conservative but I don't care. But if you (as a parent) think it's cute, funny, and/or harmless when dressing your real little kid inappropriately, what's going to stop your tween-age girl from looking like a tramp when the time comes?
My daughter went to a birthday party recently where the guest-of-honor received such things as a dog-collar necklace, several miniskirts, over-the-knee leather (think Pretty Woman) high-heel boots, several make-up kits and a sweater with a butterfly on it. The birthday girl was six. You wanna guess which gift my daughter brought? The one that was in the trash can five minutes after we left, I'm sure.
The Bratz dolls, the low-rider jeans, the constant sexual innuendo-laden quotes on children's clothing... it all adds up. I don't believe my daughter has ever worn a dress that was her actual size, even as an infant, because I always found them way too short.
But it's people themselves, parents and non-parents alike, that add to problem with their skewed perspectives. Asking early elementary children if they have a girlfriend/boyfriend, like the barber asked my 2nd grader the other day, is not helpful in allowing children to maintain their innocence rather than urging them to act and believe they are somehow so much more mature.
Anyway... I'm rambling. Sorry.
Down with inappropriate clothing!!
Also, as a woman myself, I remember being furious with my mother for not allowing me to wear make-up when I was a tweener and even a teenager. In Junior High I was the only girl in my class who didn't wear make-up. Sometimes my best friend would put make-up on me when I got to school and I'd have to remember to wash my face before going back home. I thought my mother was callous to the impact on my social ranking but now, looking back, I'm thankful for her restrictions. I was still popular in school without the make-up and I learned to appreciate myself for who I am and not who I can pretend to be.
GET OFF MY LAWN!
Gnome hater....
I'm sorry, but even I, a teenager, don't think it's right.
Amen to that. I'm also a female teenager on the interwebz, and I couldn't agree more. Also, I fully agree with Kahoon. It's hard as anything to find clothes that aren't guaranteed to flaunt your chest/mold to your butt.
Anyway, I really, really hate to admit it, but I went through the stage that I like to think of as "Wow, I'm getting boobs, and it gives me power." I have friends who are, unfortunately, still going through this. I got over it after meeting a few important people in my life and some thinking on my part. Luckily, it was pretty soon after I entered the stage, so I came out within a year and without doing anything stupid.
My parents/family were pretty damned cynical when I went through my "Oh, I want to be popular!" stage, and I am infinitely thankful for that. Well, not everyone. My mother was very gentle, but she let me know that she didn't agree with it. She was always sighing and asking aloud why the teens insisted on looking all looking identical with their huge eyes (courtesy of eyeliner) and unnaturally painted faces. I never wore make-up, even if I did just roll my eyes when she said that.