I went away a year ago. I came back, and all of a sudden everybody under 25 seems to be wearing a big white hoodie with lots of black skulls or text printed on it. I associate this trend, for no particular reason, with the Solja Boy video from last summer. It features both oversized hoodies and busy prints, so maybe somebody just put two and two together.
I think they’re pretty unflattering, but I’m old enough to understand the fleeting yet powerful nature of trend.
I’m also old enough to look back and laugh at some fashion decisions of my youth. Decades later, nearly all trends are inherently laughable. However, some are more ridiculous than others. For example, I regret my decision to wear boat shoes less than I regret my choice to, I don’t know, wear those patent leather shoes with the little tassels. Man, they were slippery on the school linoleum. And don’t get me started on a certain silk, poofy shirt I owned in university.
I fear that printed hoodies will rank high on the fashion embarrassment meter of tomorrow’s adults.
First Placket of the New Millenium
Speaking (in a round-about way) of the eighties, I bought a new shirt last week. It’s the first shirt I’ve owned in twenty years with a placket covering the buttons all the way down the front. It has a gather/plackety kind of thing in the back that echoes the placket. Plus, it’s light grey. In short, it’s 1987 all over again.
I was wearing it on Tuesday night at the NetTuesday event. Rebecca kindly took this photo. I appear to have covered up the entire front of my shirt in shame. That was unintentional.
DarrenBarefoot.com 
Your placket in all its glory:
Hahaha, well… on second thought I suppose it is a little strange not seeing buttons; however, I never noticed the visual lack of buttons until you pointed it out to me afterward. Your personality and voice rise above what you wear, but I thought you looked sharp!
And THANK YOU for this post. I HATE (and I don’t hate much) those hoodies. I keep seeing them everywhere, from 10-year-olds trying to dress tough, to 18-year-olds who just look like dumbasses in those things. Case in point today, actually: very, very poofy hoodie with more subtle print, paired with loud printed pants. Oy. But I think they’re hideous, no matter the print, and are really getting on my 22-year-old nerves 😉 Every time I leave the house I wait for them to be out of fashion.
P.S. The smaller each graphic the worse, especially black on white. Just eye-boggling.
Dustin: Thanks–that is one glorious placket.
I get a little scared when I see the new “gangsta” hoodies though most of the time, I’m sure, guy is more dumbass than dangerous. It is, ultimately, rather lame.
Good grief, you just reminded me of two pairs of slacks I thought were so cool and colourful in high school: one evergreen pair and one violet pair. I think they were out of fashion even when I wore them. 😛
A few weeks ago, one of the American Idol contestants wore a high-waisted white skirt with black stripes and with suspenders. Given I wore that about fifteen years ago and it was some theme night on American Idol, I think I was spot-on on fashion at the time! 😉
oh how weird. I read your post and then I ended up on a medley of transit later that day and those hoodies were everywhere. To me, they are the equivalent to the mc hammer pants of my high school years (I mean, I was surrounded by them – I didn’t own any). I was not, however, immune to the lure of a small amount of fluorescent accenting.