By Chiagoziem Onyekwena
Never mind what my ex-girlfriend(s) might tell you, I actually know a thing or two about fashion. No, seriously I do. Well, enough to know not to ignore a budding fad before it exacerbates into a full-blown fashion epidemic, so I won’t. But wait, maybe it’s too late for that already…
In the land of young Nigeria, 2009 heralded the full return of many long forgotten trends; one of such was the skinny jean movement. Form-fitting jean bottoms were initially made popular in the 80’s and early 90’s by punk rockers and hipsters but then they slowly went away, or maybe they just grew old with their patrons. Whatever might be the case, fast forward to 2010 and slight variants of those trousers have made a strong resurgence and are now the bottoms of choice amongst fashion-forward young Nigerian men from our (more ‘privileged’) primary schools all the way up to our universities.
You couldn’t possibly miss them! With tapered legs, narrow-peg ankles and available in more hues than the primary, secondary and tertiary colours combined, it’s almost like putting on a slim rainbow in the African sun. I don’t know exactly when it all happened but all of a sudden, fitted boot cut jeans weren’t slender enough for brothers anymore and as far as baggy jeans go, if you’re still wearing any of those, you probably still have some music from MC Hammer in your IPod as well.
But unlike their predecessors, these new jeans are styled slightly differently. Rather than being merely fitted, the trouser’s inseams became criminally tight, the cuffs hug the ankles with a vice-like grip and even though brothers that swear by the jeans assure me otherwise, I’m curious to find out if there’s enough room in there for even the least endowed of men to fit their ‘tools’ in.
Men further compound the issue by buying trousers that are one or two sizes smaller than they actually are. The result is that skinny jeans are often worn very loosely around the waist or in street terms, ‘sagged’ to expose a pair of boxers, clean or otherwise; but that’s another issue entirely. And then there are those bright colours, I’m sorry but I tried to get over a man wearing two fluorescent tubes around his legs – I just couldn’t.
So who started this trend? Justin Timberlake is generally credited for reviving the look but it was Hip Hop megastars Kanye West and Lil Wayne that officially made it seem okay for us black folks to leave the house with our younger sister’s tights on. Africa was watching attentively and while no particular Nigerian artiste has made the look his trademark yet, they’ve certainly flirted heavily with it. The pants have made more than enough cameos in videos, performances at shows and appearances at parties to be ignored.
Fashion evolves but men’s fashion is notoriously stagnant, boring if you will; apparently there are only so many ways one can wear a shirt and a pair of trousers. So in that regard, I guess a break from the monotony is welcome. To redress this monotonous situation, men get passes for a lot of fashion misgivings; but should a pair of jeans that hug your body so tight that it leaves next to nothing to the imagination really be one of them? At what point do we stop making excuses for the way we young men choose to dress sometimes? If there’s an indecent way for women to wear their clothing, why are young men treated differently? A simple case of what’s good for the goose, if you ask me.
Another thing young people need to understand is that there’s a difference between what a celebrity can get away with and what us regular folk would do and look like we are from another planet entirely. They live for television, for glamour, for recognition while the rest of us are expected to live our lives. Don’t get me wrong though, there’s absolutely nothing wrong in emulating the way your favourite artiste looks, but not every fashion trend that looks ‘fly’ on TV or in magazines is necessarily practical in real life. Take Eedris’ towels for instance or Ruggedman’s tropical heat-defying head warmers.
Many analysts agree that season after season, trends in men’s fashion progressively blur the line between what was previously associated with homosexual communities and what would pass off as ‘metro sexual tendencies’ today; skinny jeans are right up there with the rest of such trends. In 2010, just like the trousers, that line will only get thinner and thinner and in a deeply homophobic society like ours, it should be interesting to see how this all pans out.
So are skinny jeans here to stay? They certainly are! That is, until this current fad fades away (sorry bruvs, but they ALL do go away eventually) and/or Kanye West says it’s okay for us to do something new and ‘fun’, like grow a black man’s mullet for instance. Oh wait, that’s already happened. My bad!
Now, I personally wouldn’t even test them on but I certainly don’t condemn any young man with enough balls, no pun intended, to do so. I guess at the very end of the day; to each his own.
19 comments
Waoh datz a 9ce articule bt datz d fact anyway,only tym wil tel 2 c hw far it in 9ja.
well written and very interesting!i personally think thatguys that were skinny guys are tethering between being metro and being gay…and can very eaisly slip to the extreme side of it.
ok i hav 2 say wondaful piece of writing…i feel u.
but bro,i luv slims,i were ’em and i dnt have small ‘tools’;
yes d ‘rly tyt’ ones require a bit of a sag…&myt b a lil uncmfrtabl,
but man i jst luv ’em cos dey make me look&fil gud,obviously cos d stars above were ’em.lol
Dey defnitli dnt min i’m gay…i bloody wer my tightest 2 church and its not a celebrity church…strict 2 d core!
Its jst a trend dat will eventually die out…so let us rock it plz.
If u dnt lyk it…3rd mainland iz dere…jump in!
@Cross, u r blessed my brother. I dnt c nytin wrong wif skinny pants i luv 'em. its fashion, it has come nd it will go. u dress d way u lik 2, dts y eedris carries his towel nd ruggedman wears his head-warmer nd Wande is always on shades nd Mode9 is always on his baggy nd Big Tee's. nd Charles wears body-fitted shirts. I dnt tink der's a p wif guys wearin slim pants. Girls arent heavily criticised 4 wearin low waist pants dt exposes things but boys shud b criticised for wearing skinny pants dt will nt evn show d size of deir tool(except ur carryin a sledge hammer of course). We all hv our diff. dress styles so we shud dress d way we feel comfortable, if e still dey bite u 4 body as guys dey wear am, mk u try 3rd Mainland lik
I support Cross too. Timberlake wears skinny pants, Weazy wears, but 50cent doesnt. Its not lik he doesnt wnt 2 wear d reigning pants but bcos he prefers nd is more comfortable with his baggy trousers.
Its common sense. U dress d way dat suits u best. I can bet 50 will b vry uncomfortabl in skinny pants cos its nt his style, jst as Tega will be uncomfortabl in baggy trousers. Its all abt ur styl dude. If u dnt lik som1 else's styl, climb nepa pole, only say u no go die bcos light no dey. But thrid mainland dey.
I wouldnt even consider going out with a guy wearing tight trousers let alone date him. Dude’s y’all need to give up d look cos it wouldn’t get u LAID! u either jerk off or go & f ur fellow fags…
Ski[ rouser stinks.
Lovely piece!
My brother, no mind all these faggots way dei commment here jare. There is a BIG PROBLEM with a man who dresses in such a way to expose his boxers & his clothes are so tight that u can see his knees, thighs etc. It's very indecent in my opinion & like he said, many ppl in our country associate them with our small bt growing gay community.
The writer was just trying to be as objective as possible abt the issue, all this talk abt 3rd mainland bridge, its mostly small small girls and d gay men that would be attracted to men who wear skinny jeans, mature women will just say u look silly..
Chiagoziem, u are a very very good writer, my best on this website (so far), don't let the haters make u be less critical of societal trends… Ride on!
If you can pull it off why not! Gay or not gay is not the question. It all comes down to: DO YOU LOOK GOOD IN IT?
Gone are the days when I use to rock skinny, tight fitting jeans and I wish I could rock them again but then my fat a**e and my thighs are totally in the way and it gets really uncomfortable for the "twin brothers".
P.S: Try installing the related posts plug-in as it would give your readers quick access to your past blog posts 😉
Guys who wear skinny jeans are just making it expensive for us women when we go to d market to buy.
@Syleena: ROFLMAO. Sorry oh no vex but I thought skinny jeans for men was different from dat of the women? Abi nigerian dudes don begin to cross dress?
I just saw a guy wearing pink pair of skinny jeans, pls tell me it wasnt originally made for a woman? I dunno abt cross-dressing bt some of these clothes are just awful.
PINK KE? Some peeps just lack taste simple!
great article! its funny but this is how i know i'm getting old– my little brother (who is four years behind me) came to the states for christmas and he was talking about getting a pair. . . i wouldn't be caught dead in those nut-huggers. i guess this is one trend i'm passed. to each his own sha.
@Chukwudi yes, i do think some guys wear women's jeans, the similarities are far too much.
Women do it to accentuate our curves, what do men want to accentuate? Their balls?!
Please, i insist men should leave our trousers for us.
ROFLMAO. Na wa for you Aunty Syleen. All you need to do is walk up to the next guy you see in them and say, "B**ch get outta my skinny jeans! Do you actually think you look good in those?"
dumbasses sayin skinnies r gay wat tha f do u kno bout fashion skinnies r in its called a FAD!!! GOOGLE IT!!! i wear skinnies nd ii get more girls dan u cheap fake ass wearing f'S when baggy's wer in i wore em now its skinny time deal with it or go jump of a bridge HATERS!!!( CUZ U CANT AFFORD EM DONT BEEF)
Do any of you ever go back and read what you write? You’re perpetuating stereotypes… Is being smart ‘uncool’… is using basic grammmar ‘uncool’… come on people. Rise up! And folks wonder why no one takes us seriously!
Fashion is fashion,cums nd goes,dats jus it code,i lyk d skinnies,infact ah luv em cus it meks me luk ril tyt…Fetches me more Gs by d way,wat i like myt b wat u dislike,fellow dudes skinnies meks 1 luk smart(both guys n gals) so jux lt us wear it nw cus soon,it wil be the tin of the past……the writer,i think u should try it,its gonna look good on you…LOL