Much has been said about how jeans are plunging lower and lower the past few seasons. By "much has been said" I pretty much mean an item appeared on the Drudge Report earlier this week which means it must be news.
But with these on-going culture wars going on things like this just add fuel to the fire.
The daring duo at Dolce & Gabbana has dropped the boundaries several inches. Their fall 2005 menswear line, which debuted on the Milan runway in January and now appears in print ads and stores near you, includes jeans that plunge so low that they've been dubbed "pubic pants."
Mmmm "pubic pants." I don't know about you but pubes do offend me. There's nothing like finding a disembodied pube on a toilet seat after you use it to prompt a heart attack. But are these "pubic pants" so new? Methinks not.
For as long as I can remember, I've heard of the phenomena known as "plumber butt" or "plumber's crack." In the late 80's and early 90's, hip-hop artists started wearing their pants well below the waistline. Then there was The Thong Song which prompted the global village of women to display their stringy undergarments. Now, I can't walk anywhere in New York without seeing some woman's butt crack as she reaches for a newspaper or her iPod.
Is the ad that bad? Take a look for yourself. Hmmm ... Good taste? Not so much.
Krista Olofsson, a Fashion Institute of Technology student sporting multiple piercings, thought the ad went too far below the belt."That's a little gross," said Olofsson, 18. "I don't want to see someone's private hair falling out of their pants."
Olofsson thought men's low-riders might briefly catch on in New York, but "then people will say, 'Let's pull our pants up and move on to the next thing.'" [emphasis mine]
Come on people, say it with me — "pubic hair" not private hair. We're all adults here.
It's no secret that sex sells, said Jill M. Sundie who teaches marketing at the University of Houston."I think that this particular one is something that we haven't seen all that often," she said. "(Let's say) you ask women what's your favorite part of a man's body? They will not name the part below their waistline and right above their penis."
Article comments
— go to most recent comments1 - Jones Violet
The ad is not that bad at all, especially compared to some of the ads out there today - but I'd really rather not have to see a stranger's pubic hair sticking out of their pants when I'm out.
Maybe I'm just weird.
2 - Nancy
"Sex appeal" doesn't necessarily mean pushing it all in everyone's face. Sexy actually depends more on a sense of titillation (so to speak) and hints, not gross indulgence & exposure, altho it could be argued that's in the eye (or mind) of the beholder. But what is 'sexier': a totally nude woman, or one in a lacy peek-a-boo type thingy? A guy waving his pubes in your face, or one dressed nicely but just snugly enough to delineate the musculature beneath? I think perhaps these marketers are just reaching: having already dropped the fashion bar as low as they have previously, they don't feel they have anywhere to go but lower, which is a real problem when you've pretty much bottomed out.
3 - Jones Violet
"Sex appeal" doesn't necessarily mean pushing it all in everyone's face.
I completely agree, Nancy, and sadly, that seems to be the direction that a lot of places (and people) are going.
4 - albanesse
Click on the Secret music video... and enjoy. Just curious.. do those pants even need a zipper. The Ad is a bit much for me, but I can undestand the visual. It is almost Davidesque with the lines of the torso. Maybe we are going for that perfection.. I mean it is about time men get an eating disorder also and have random operatations to fit the perfect image of a man.. well, maybe a teen who works out every day for 3-4 hours and gets his picture air brushed so he looks like the perfect image of a man.
5 - albanesse
click on my name for the web page and play the "Secret" video
6 - Victor Plenty
Metrosexuals shave down there. Real men pluck.
7 - Matthew T. Sussman
I just reach down and pull. Whatever comes out gets thrown away. Whatever stays put, well, it was meant to be there.
I call it "destiny grooming"
8 - Victor Plenty
Nice try, Matt, but true manhood takes tweezers.
9 - Nancy
Why not go for mass pain: try waxing.
10 - Bob A. Booey
You can't pluck that shit. I shave, proudly, all the way down.
Those jeans are disgusting unless you shave. It looks painful to have a hairy bush hanging out of your pants like that.
Women's jeans have been hanging that low for a whlie already, but they wax and shave much more than men do. It's a much hotter look on chicks than dudes, unless you're really cut and defined.
That is all.
11 - Mark Sahm
Shaving = the appearance of larger package. By decreasing the surrounding area, the central phallus will appear bigger. It could be a big help to some around here.
Btw, I'm shocked that EO let a poster be named 'yourdailycockblock'. I'm jealous. I want a vulgar handle too.
12 - Bob A. Booey
Please, let's not discuss shaving. It's icky.
The reason to do it isn't to make you feel better about your manhood or lack thereof, fellows. No one's fooled and I don't like theories about the appearance of penis size. It just seems more hygenic to me -- once I started shaving, it started to become uncomfortable and even annoying when it grew back to a certain length. That's why I shave every couple of weeks.
For you single or married boys over 35 or so, I'd say it's not worth it. At a certain age, it becomes somewhat creepy because women want you to appear more normal and stable than like a sex porn freak. Maybe a little trim, but don't shave way down or you'll scare off the nice girls. And you can't get the hot, bad girls after 35 unless you're rich, which makes your pubes unimportant. If you're married or seriously committed, your wife or common-law wife is already used to your most unattractive features and sick of your body already, so don't bother.
Feel free to ask me for any other advice on being a modern guy.
That is all.
13 - Jones Violet
Bob, that is seriously funny.
A trim is definitely important for some guys.
What a conversation starter: should guys shave/wax their private bits? I'd much rather guys tend to the lower regions, than say, plucking their eyebrows.
14 - Dave Nalle
Those jeans look like something leatherboys from the 70s would have been wearing.
Dave
15 - Bob A. Booey
Thanks, Violet.
Are you a chick? I remember you were the goth space alien one who likes dead celebrities.
I don't suggest starting this conversation at all. I will say that it's very hard for men to wax -- unless you're a marine and don't mind having your twig and berries ripped raw and losing half your sperm count in the process. I wouldn't suggest shaving if you're squeamish at all either -- I've been doing it since high school and even I slightly knick myself at least once every 2 or 3 times I do. The WORST is shaving your boys down because those bastards just want to retreat and hide and it's just not a natural thing. It's not pleasant and you're likely to knick yourself in a pretty bad place. And don't use a razor -- you'll castrate yourself.
That is all.
16 - Jones Violet
I've never seen a guy discuss their grooming rituals before with such detail. I can't imagine a guy would actually want to put themselves through waxing the manly bits. I mean, ouch?
Yes, Bob, I'm a "chick".
17 - Bob A. Booey
I'm a special kind of guy like that. I love myself and my body.
I suppose it doesn't hurt anymore than chicks waxing their shit, ya know?
Are you hot, Violet? Or like artsy?
That is all.
18 - Dave Nalle
>>I've never seen a guy discuss their grooming rituals before with such detail. <<
Me either, and I hope I never do again.
Dave
19 - Bob A. Booey
And Dave is right about the leatherboys. I can't imagine that ad would appeal to heterosexual men or women.
That is all.
20 - Bob A. Booey
It's a public service so none of the rest of you will talk about shaving :) Your questions and wondering have been answered.
Dave's outraged with his hairy gray bush!
That is all.
21 - Victor Plenty
Advantage of plucking: no blades near "the boys."
22 - Jones Violet
While I don't think the ad is as bad as people are making it out to be, I don't find the ad that appealing at all, as a woman.
That guy needs to get himself to a gym and work on that flabby stomach of his....
23 - Victor Plenty
BTW, kudos to whoever did that alternate text!
24 - DrPat
You know this style will be taken up by 40+ guys with love-handles, don't you?
Think of salt-and-pepper pubes sprouting over the belt, hidden from the wearer's view by his well-developed pot, but clearly visible to everyone else.
Yuck. Just yuck!
25 - Steve S
I'm guessing that ad doesn't run in Field & Stream.