Arden Fair mall's recent decision to ban sagging pants and heads covered with "hoodies" was the talk of our editorial board the other day.
Because none of us is likely to be a target of the mall's new dress code, I decided that, before opining, we should interview customers who might be.
Unfortunately, I visited Arden Fair on a broiling afternoon. I saw no sweat shirts, hooded or otherwise, but I did see sagging pants.
I spotted a young man "saggin' " in the food court. I could see a good 12 inches of his blue plaid boxer shorts. I gave him my business card, told him what I was after, and he graciously consented to be interviewed. He said his name was Roy McGowan, age 19.
"Explain your pants," I began.
"They've Levi's," he said. "They're denim and they cost a lot of money ... $65."
"Why do you wear them so low?"
"They're more comfortable sittin' just below my waist."
But how do you keep them from falling off?
"See, look. There's a trick," he said, tilting his belt back to reveal a thin red string under it.
"See that shoelace? That's what's keeping them up - the shoelace right underneath the belt."
His parents, he said, were not bothered by his pants: "They let me express myself."
Then he launched into a fascinating ethnic explanation. "I'm black, white and Indian, and I got a white side of my family and some of my white aunties, they don't really understand it."
I didn't tell Roy this, but I know a black auntie - me - who doesn't understand or approve of her nephew's sagging pants, either. The nephew graduated from medical school this past spring - proof, I suppose, that sagging pants aren't the beginning of the road to ruin.
Revealing a wisdom and sensitivity to real-world sensibilities, McGowan admitted that he does not sag at work.
"When I'm dealing with people professionally, I have my pants pulled up because I know that makes them more at ease."
I didn't tell him this, but as an old lady, set in her ways, I think he should pull up his pants every time he leaves the house.
As for the mall's hood ban - McGowan raised no objections.
"It's like a hat," he told me. "When you come in the house, you should take off your hat. When you come in the mall, you should put your hood down."
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