The March of the Penguins

Work can take you to some interesting places. Europe, China, and in my case, Las Vegas.
Last week I was at a trade show in Vegas for the snow sport industry. SIA 2006 was held at the Mandila Bay hotel and it was totally fun to see the goings on and surround myself with the industries finest. I also got a chance to see some of the fashion trends for the up coming year in ski and snowboard apparel. The fashions were great but it wasn’t the apparel that amazed me the most, it was the choice of pants that almost every male under 25 was wearing.
I don’t know if you remember me telling you in a previous column how much I can’t stand when guys wear their pants down really low on their asses, but I do, and what seems to be emerging now is a morphed version of the baggy pant. A tight baggy pant. Huh? Sounds like a contradiction in terms doesn’t it? It is true though. Time and time again I saw young, and might I add HOT guys wearing, what I like to call the penguin suit. Pants that are so tight, and a crouch that is so low it almost grazes the knee.
The most hilarious part about this whole fashion trend is that the poor gents who submit themselves to this fashion torture are forced to walk like penguins out of lack of function on behalf of the pants. One after the other these guys waddled around the show looking for hot girls, just as penguins would looking for mates.
It wasn’t just one guy here and one guy there either; these penguins are everywhere. I often felt myself getting minor shots of whiplash trying to get photos so you all could see what I am talking about. I managed to get a few for your viewing pleasure.
This particular fellow was hanging around the show, almost like a prop. I thought he was dressed like this as a sort of tongue in cheek joke, but just as I was leaving our hotel to head for the airport, I saw him in full dress, just as he was at the show; in different colors of course.
Men, now like women, are wearing clothing that has no purpose except to make them look trendy and current. For women it’s the high heel; for men it is the penguin suit. The only thing, is that high heels are actually sexy and make women look great. I don’t understand what these pants are doing for men. Perhaps unconsciously they want saggy asses and the pants help in this process. Perhaps they are closeted butt phobics and cannot bear the thought of having anyone see their bums. I am not really sure what the appeal is, but it is definitely a popular piece.
LG thinks it is a youth thing; that the young know the old won’t wear anything like that, so they embrace it as a piece that sets their generation apart.
A pro snowboarder friend of mine says that the whole scene is all about following. One person comes up with something cool, others like it, wear it, and things progress from there, ultimately making the companies that tap into a particular “trend” very rich That is no surprise; fashion has been like that for years. The “tipping point” at work
Sooner or later the cycle of fashion will demand something that is totally different and we will see the end of the penguin suit, but, in the mean time, I am going to get quite a chuckle out of it, and chalk it up to the spirit of youth culture.