The Baggy Look : Dress Fad Causes Trouble for Campus, Police Officials

Ventura school board President John Walker did a double take recently when he saw a fashion photo showing a Ventura High School student in a thigh-length white T-shirt and oversized shorts.

Wasn’t this “gang attire?”

“Six months ago, we considered that gang attire,” said a befuddled Walker, president of the board of the Ventura Unified High School District.

Like most adults, Walker is a step or two behind teen fashion.

Gang attire--or what used to be attire associated with gang members--is now a countywide teen-age fad, with such mainstream manufacturers as Levi Strauss selling baggy clothing at major retail outlets.

“It outsells normal stuff,” said Sherri Dominguez, a saleswoman in the boys department at the Broadway department store in Buenaventura Plaza in Ventura. “A lot of gang-related guys wear it, but so do the casual kids who don’t belong to gangs.”

Robinson’s-May at The Oaks mall in Thousand Oaks has been carrying baggy clothes for only about six months, but it’s a top seller among high school boys, said Johanna Versace, an assistant manager in the boys department.

Although rebellious teen-agers have always imitated fictional anti-heroes--James Dean in “Rebel Without a Cause” inspired some teen-age rebels to buy red Windbreakers--today’s fashion trend supposedly originated with real gangbangers who wore baggy clothes to conceal weapons.

Some educators aren’t sure why good kids are emulating bad kids, “but it’s kind of frightening,” said Rio Mesa High Assistant Principal James Nielsen.

Aside from confounding adults with its ungainly appearance, the baggy look is causing problems for school and law enforcement officials: No longer can they rely on the clothes to help them identify gang members.

“Is it gang attire or is it fashion, or is it fashionable gang attire?” asked Maxine Mitchell, a crime analyst for the Ventura Police Department.

As a deterrent to gangs, many county schools have outlawed baseball caps and bandannas. T-shirts with gang references are also taboo. So are boxer shorts exposed at the waist and pants pockets pulled inside out.

Rio Mesa High doesn’t allow baggy cutoffs worn with knee-length socks and Moorpark High forbids long white T-shirts. But in most places, the baggy look has not been ordered into the closet at county schools. According to school officials, the fad overcame them before they even began dealing with gang members who wore baggy clothes.

“Now it’s pretty hard to ban stuff that you can go down to every store in town and buy,” said Keith Wilson, the principal at Thousand Oaks High School.

Some high schools, however, are considering a baggy ban.

“We’re looking into baggy clothing to see if it creates problems on campus,” said Bob Collins, Ventura High summer school principal. “We’re concerned about how the clothing affects a student. Does it turn him into a macho guy and crank up his behavior? Is his clothing intimidating to other students. Does it make them more afraid?”

The baggy fad not only creates the perception that the school is overrun by gangbangers, but the clothes are seen by school officials as a way to smuggle contraband onto campus, including weapons and spray-paint cans.

“Since last spring, the baggy look has been the dress of choice for taggers,” Collins said.

Shifting teen-age fashions are part of American culture and parents should not take them too seriously, said Michael Pelman, a Thousand Oaks child psychologist.

“It’s part of adolescence,” Pelman said. “They are still dependent on their parents for support and basic needs, but are trying to develop their own personal identity and individuality.”

A former gang member is bemused by the popularity of gang attire. “Some kids do it to pull in girls and get more attention,” said 18-year-old Alfred Sega of Oxnard. “Maybe they want to be known as gangsters. That’s their prerogative, but they’re followers instead of leaders.”

Graco Hernandez, a 14-year-old freshman at Ventura High, agrees that some students dress like gang members to create an aura of bravado.

“Their whole attire tells people who are dogging (staring at) them, ‘I’m a gangster--don’t mess with me,’ ” said Graco, who wears the loose-fitting clothing to dance to hip-hop music.

Sega issued a warning to gang wanna-bes: Gang attire may be cool, but it could be dangerous.

“You’re looking for trouble,” Sega said. “These kids don’t realize that gangs could hit them up.’

Skateboarding and music--hip-hop and grunge--have also influenced the baggy craze, with followers of both groups claiming it originated with them before gangs discovered it.

“The skaters started wearing baggies two or three years ago,” said a Ventura skateboarder who only wanted to be known as Paul. “The homeboys picked it up after us.”

With average teen-agers looking more like gang members, authorities have to look carefully to pick out the real thing. Hairstyles and bright colors are often giveaways when worn with certain clothing, but “the officer also looks at the person’s attitude, his stance and his associates,” Mitchell said.

As parents begin buying back-to-school wardrobes for their children, school officials are urging them to be aware of the baggy look’s gang connotation.

“Especially if your child is in middle or high school,” said Walker, the Ventura school board president. “Be cognizant of what gang attire looks like.”

Someday, of course, the fad will burn out and baggy clothes will join leisure suits on thrift-store racks.

“In 15 or 20 years,” said Lt. Steve Bowman, Ventura police gang expert, “I hope they’re aware of how stupid they look and are as embarrassed as I was to have worn love beads.”