Balenciaga under fire for 'racist' sweatpant design, accused of appropriating 'sagging'

[cinematicdiversions]

Looks like even the dumbest fashions of the nineties are making a comeback.

Also $1,190 for sweatpants???? LOL.

https://news.yahoo.com/balenciaga-under-fire-racist-sweatpant-210757426.html

Jaelen Ogadhoh
Sat, September 11, 2021, 5:07 PM·3 min read
The $1,190 sweatpants have caused a stir on social media, with many critics labeling the design as a form of gentrification

Between lofty prices and notoriously unorthodox designs, Balenciaga garments have raised many an eyebrow in the past — at times for adverse reasons. Now, critics are calling an item from its recent collection “racist.”

Among the U.K. fashion brand’s latest looks for the Fall/Winter 2021 season are sweatpants designed with an exposed boxer short built-in above the waistband, which some have deemed to be an appropriation of the “sagging” pant style popularized in the 90s by Black people.

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[Scrivener7]

1. There are just too many stupid rich people in this world.

[The Unmitigated Gall]

2. Can I get it with the "I Really Don't Care" Coat?

[Blue Owl]

3. Zuckkkerberg's probably already ordered a dozen pairs

Bet he thinks he'd look pretty dope in those ridiculous abominations

[Demovictory9]

8. lol

[Bettie]

20. LOL

Yeah, he probably does.

[Haggard Celine]

4. It's racist to copy black people from 30 years ago?

Wearing those pants would be a fashion crime, but I wouldn't call it racist.

The whole thing with the saggy pants got started in jail. When guys were booked into the jail, their belts were taken away, so their pants sagged and exposed their underwear.

So some of the guys liked that look and they kept letting their pants droop and flashing their underwear, especially if it was an expensive pair of underwear that they wanted to show off.

I guess Balenciaga wanted to give their customers the opportunity to look like Americans who weren't able to evade detection while committing their crimes. And you know what they say about imitation being the sincerest form of flattery!

[Goodheart]

6. "Appropriation" is such a dumb concept.

OF COURSE it's not racist.

[Bucky]

22. Well, it has its place in social dialogs

But yes, it's an easy concept for people to grasp foolishly and misapply.

I once argued that anyone wearing blue jeans who's not French is cultural appropriation. It's right there in the name: denim comes from "de Nimmes", after the town where the material was first fabricated.

Some idiots believed I was being serious.

[Hortensis]

12. Lol, omg?! Copying's usually a form of compliment, but that's so awful

it can only be a joke to the good natured or an insult to others. I could imagine this as an $8 item (discounted from $11) on Amazon, a hopeful offering from a family shop in Bangelore.

BALENCIAGA?!

[Haggard Celine]

17. Yes, who would wear such a thing?

Maybe someone might wear it for Halloween. It might be a something comfortable to wear while you're sitting around the house in the winter, but you wouldn't want anyone else to see you wearing it. I'm not the most fashion-conscious person around, but I could design better clothes. How do these designers keep their jobs?

[Ms. Toad]

5. 1. The fashion never left.

2. They are off by a decade. I left teaching (at an all black school) in 1989. The style was already popular then.

I've never been able to understand the appeal, let alone that it has hung around this long. There have been other fashions that have come and gone - but this one just keeps hanging on.

[Elessar Zappa]

11. It got popular with suburban kids in the 90s

but you’re right that in the young black community it got popular in the late 80s. The prevalence of sagging did go down in around 13 years ago when “skinny” jeans became all the rage but sagging now seems to be making a comeback somewhat.

[Ms. Toad]

18. I haven't noticed much of a change around here

Either a decrease, or a comeback.

[Elessar Zappa]

19. Yeah, it might depend on the area.

Where I live it’s not near as prevelant as it was 20-25 years ago but it’s making a small comeback here. Personally, I hate the style and wish it would just die. Even when I was in high school (98-02), I never wore my pants that way.

[snort]

7. They left out the potato.

[onetexan]

9. Hmmm i would not call this appropriating

Dont see anything racist about the sweats, just that they look atrocious.

[Withywindle]

10. That's not even real sagging

The fashion I remember wasn't just a strip of boxer showing, it was the art of wearing pants BELOW the buttocks, with the ass out in flannel and the jeans below that. Artistically, the pants got lower and lower down the thighs, and the closer to the knees, the more hardcore it was. Had to admire the commitment to the style.

This is just ugly and boring, and the fact that it costs a month's rent even in a cheap city is just laughable. Especially since we've been in a pandemic for a year and a half and let's be real, everyone who's privileged enough to work from home is already wearing the Target version of this from the waist down in Zoom meetings.

[apnu]

13. 'Costs a month's rent' LOL!

That’s great. ‘I could buy these sweat pants or pay rent. Hmmmm’

[tavernier]

14. I think we've been here before...

[Renew Deal]

15. It's racist to suggest this is racist.

Flannel made a small comeback in the last year. This is about as racist as that.

[LanternWaste]

16. I wore a Members Only jacket and acid-washed jeans in the eighties...

and after having worn that hideousness, I'm not really in a place of moral authority to judge contemporary fashion.

But you go right ahead. Sounds virtuous when you do it.

[Bucky]

21. Interesting how one person calling it racist makes us think...

... that there's a public consensus that this is a cultural appropriation, rather than just a stupid fashion design

The hijacking power some words have over us is impressive, even daunting.

[skypilot]

23. As a black man...

Last edited Sun Sep 12, 2021, 01:27 PM - Edit history (1)

...I hate the fact that someone is calling this an appropriation of black culture. This is not part of black culture. If anything, it is a small part of black YOUTH culture. I am apprehensive even about using the word culture when discussing this. Wearing their pants like this is really just something that SOME black kids do. Frankly, if some white kids want to "appropriate" this crap they are welcome to do so. Maybe black kids will see white kids dressing like this and give it up and then, with any luck, the white kids will follow suit and move on to some other trend.

[Bucky]

24. As a teacher, I can assure you

Black, Latino, and white kids still do this when they wanna look tough.

It's almost as lame as the middle aged teachers trying to shame them into hiding their underwear with homophobic "prison" jokes.

[ecstatic]

25. Agreed.

Hopefully this is just manufactured outrage that's limited to one or two people.