I used to get angry at the monkey-see-monkey-do fashion trends of the inner-cities. One rapper wears something and soon everyone's gotta have one. A bomber jacket. A hat with the stupid tag still on it. And sweatsuits in public!
But Tuesday took the cake. A coworker is doing a story on these fashionable throwback sports jerseys, so I looked at the price tag of a Willie Mays gray flannel No. 24. The price: $225! I had steam coming out of my ears. Folks, it does not cost anywhere near $225 to affix a few letters and two numbers to a god damn baseball jersey. The people who spend their precious disposable income on such things are just outbidding themselves in a quest to look, ironically, like everyone else.
Should we be surprised? No. Happens every time Jay-Z comes out with a new video. Presenting some of the worst urban fashion trends in recent memory.
Tommy Hilfiger — It was just as inconceivable then, as it is now, that street kids went ga-ga over a clothing line made for the preppiest people on the planet. If the cultural statement was we, too, can afford such luxury items, the irony is that most of the Hilfiger stuff bought in New York was knockoffs emanating from Canal Street.
NASCAR Jackets — OK, I swear this was a trend for a brief period. I was buying a leather jacket once, and this black couple — can I write black on the Internet? — came in to buy a NASCAR jacket adorned with more brand-name patches than one could withstand without getting dizzy. Including those of alcohol and cigarette companies who have been accused of aggressive marketing tactics in predominantly black neighborhoods! Guess the strategy worked.
Fubu — Ah, who could ride the NYC subways around the turn of the millennium without at least one glimpse of the ubiquitous No. 05? Not 5, mind you. Adding the 0 was like adding the extra tackiness to what was clearly the ugliest line of sports clothing in recent memory. I used to work with a guy — half guido, half wigger (guigger?) — who wore these things eight days a week.
Throwback Jerseys — Like a pair of khakis, no wardrobe is complete with the aforementioned $225 throwback jersey. It can go anywhere: school, work, the overcrowded club with metal detectors at the entrance. Choose your hero: Nolan Ryan, Joe Namath, Fran Tarkenton. All the white guys none of these kids cared for when they played the game.
damn. and i really wanted a nolan ryan jersey....
i guess i sort of figured out it was a fashion statement when i started to see a ton of rappers wearing that BEEUUUTIFUL 1986 astro's division championship jersey....it is SO appealing in that ORANGE color and all.
eeek.
more like fashion "victims", i'd say.
Posted by jen at March 12, 2003 1:33 AM