Baggin’ and Saggin’: Parents Wary of a Big Fashion Trend

Thomas Relerford, 15, likes to wear his pants BIG. So big, in fact, that at times even running in them can be a challenge.

Quick movements spell trouble. Because he wears no belt, Relerford must hold onto his pants to keep them from dropping.

“It’s the style,” he said confidently, lifting his T-shirt to give a full view of his floppy, green Size 38 pants. With Relerford’s waist measuring a slim 32 inches, the pants hang low enough on his hips to reveal his underwear. “Wearing baggy pants takes getting use to, but they are much more comfortable.”

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The trend toward baggy clothing was started by some of Los Angeles’ toughest gangs, emulating the garb of prison inmates whose pants perpetually sag because prisoners are not issued belts. White T-shirts and baggy khaki pants, sagging low on the hip, are still the standard uniform for many street toughs. The look was popularized in recent years as hip-hop culture spread across the country.

Even though the style is widely accepted--crossing economic and cultural lines--and sold in major department stores throughout the country, parents initially approach the subject with caution.

“They’re bagging and sagging in Syracuse,” said Frank Dawson, a movie producer who recently returned from a visit. His 14-year-old daughter prefers oversized clothes, which he acknowledges as a fashion statement.

“But the danger for some young people in adopting the sagging look,” he warns, “is that there is also the recognition by others that it is a gang statement.”

Vanita Nicholas, an attorney who lives in View Park in Southwest Los Angeles and is the mother of Thomas Relerford, considers herself an “enlightened parent,” but concedes that “there are times when I wish he would pull his pants up and put on a belt.”

Nicholas, recalling other fads, such as haircuts shaved with intricate designs, takes the long view on such matters. “This too shall pass,” she said.

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For some, this teen-age fashion craze has brought back the nagging question of “Who wears the pants in the family?”

That is what I began asking myself as I watched my 14-year-old son, John, try on pair after pair of oversized jeans--pants that I could fit into. Here is a boy who could easily wear a Size 28, and he was looking at 38s. It was a meeting of the waists, not of the minds.

Finally I said enough is enough. “Put those clown pants back and get something that fits.”

“It’s the style,” he argued, reminding me of some of the odd outfits I told him (foolishly) that I used to wear when I was his age.

“Back then, what you wore was not a life or death decision,” I said, adding that I did not want anyone to mistake him for a gang member.

I thought I had sealed the point. But then he looked at me like I had dropped in from another planet.

“Dad,” he said, “I’m not saggin’, I’m baggin’.”

There was a long pause.

I realized that I had no idea what he was talking about. As it turned out, he meant he would wear a belt.

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Understanding is not the issue at Dublin Avenue Fundamental Magnet School in Leimert Park, where students are required to wear traditional uniforms. “My kids were wearing those balloon pants flying in the air and it was distracting,” said Genevieve Shepherd, the school’s principal. “School is not supposed to focus on what you wear or how much it costs, it’s suppose to focus on learning.”

At nearby Audubon Junior High School, school officials say about 50% of the students wear baggy clothing, and it only presents a problem when they wear their pants too low on their hips. “We are constantly reminding kids to pull up their pants,” said Travis Kiel, Audubon’s principal. “Personally, I don’t like baggy pants. I encourage students not to get into clothing styles because their friends are.”

To understand the fad, Kevin Stennis said, you have to look at it through the eyes of a 14-year-old.

“I think the clothes are nice, just a little too big, that’s all,” said Stennis, the father of a teen-ager. “I figure I’ll let him wear them a little while and then I’ll inherit them when he’s tired of them.”

Stennis said he noticed that his son was wearing oversized clothes about a year ago. “I was checking my closet and I couldn’t find some of my clothes,” he said. “Then I discovered he was wearing them.”

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Ginai Spring Smith, a fashion-conscious 14-year-old student at Hamilton High School, gets agitated every time she hears a connection made between gangs and baggy clothes.

“Wearing baggy clothes has nothing to do with gangs,” she said. “It’s just the way you want to dress.”

But adults just do not seem to understand that, said Smith, recalling the criticism her mother aimed at her clothing.

“Look,” she said. “It’s the same thing with the Afro. If you had an Afro, did that mean you were a militant or a hippy? No! Adults just can’t act like they know.”