This past weekend I went into the field to do some pant research. I attended a bat mitzvah in Pittsburgh and was able to learn a lot about the pant situation of young men. And let me tell you, the situation is not good.
Boys pants seem to be short and wide, cut with an almost inverse taper. Here are some examples...
As you can see, this is a really horrible pair of pants: too short, too wide, an almost pyramid structure to the pant legs
Because of the angle at which I took this picture and also the darkness, it is more difficult to notice the horrible nature of these pants, although the anatomical right side does reveal the short and wide cut of these trousers. Trust me, though, this is really just a horrible pair of pants.
I am going to make this easy: boy pants should be no different than man pants. If you yourself would not wear a trouser, why in the name of goodness would you allow your son to wear them? Just because boys are generally smaller and cuter doesn't mean they should have short, wide pants. It isn't cute or becoming -- it's just awful.
Also, what type of message are we sending our children? Oh, you're young, it doesn't matter if your pants are silly or don't fit correctly! Oh, I'm going to spend all this time and money getting nice pants for myself, but to hell with you! Do we tell our children that because they are young they can steal or knock people over with baseball bats? Frankly, I am just sick of the hypocrisy of our society, particularly when it comes to male garments of the sub-torso area.
Anyway, here is a graphic illustration of bad pants for boys, of which I saw many examples this weekend, and a good pair.
