I don’t get it

~ beetleypete

When I was young, I often damaged my clothes. Climbing over walls and fences, trying to get across gaps that were too wide, or playing rough games and sports. If I returned home with scuffed shoes, I would be told that I should be more careful. If I tore my trousers or shorts, my Mum would wash them, then repair or patch the tear. I would also be told that clothes were expensive, and had to be taken better care of. Wearing those heavily-sewn or patched items soon became embarrassing, and I slowly began to learn my lesson.

When I got into my teens, I took pride in my appearance. My shoes were polished, clothes clean and pressed, and I wouldn’t have been seen dead in something stained, or torn. I took this to be part of the growing-up process, and welcomed the change in my attitude.

Just recently, I have seen many examples of women (and some men) wearing clothes that are deliberately damaged before they even buy them. Ripped jeans, torn leggings, and some items that look like they have more rips and holes than material. This is not the niche fashion of the Punk era, nor something reserved for some inner-city ‘smart set’. It is ubiquitous, even in places as small and rural as our local town of Dereham, and the nearby village of Beetley. Out and about earlier today, it seemed to me that every female between the ages of 14 and 40 was wearing some version of a garment like the one shown in the above photo.

Someone was clever enough to persuade a huge chunk of the population to part with good money for something that others might well have thrown into a bin. I salute that person, for their business acumen, and sharp thinking.

But why they buy them is a mystery to me.

85 thoughts on “I don’t get it”

  1. Great post, Pete. There is so much humor in fashion if we can appreciate it—the Emperor has no clothes! Whoever knew that young men wearing sagging pants would become a thing? Ha-ha!

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  3. Hm, there was this one time when someone in the household wore my denim jeans because mine looked so similar to theirs, same waistline too. That was my only available pair of jeans because the other one was in the laundry so yeah, I had no jeans for a week because my two pairs had to go to the laundry. I was so infuriated that I bought ripped jeans because no one in the household wore them, which means they would never confuse it for theirs. I bought those for a practical reason but they never really were my style so I kind of regretted it. If I like, shared my dresser with three other people and we keep confusing our jeans, then maybe it serves a purpose because we can tell the difference by the rips, but other than that, I don’t have a use for them.

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    1. I agree. There are so many countries where having some decent clothes will actually mean you can find employment. Not just tear them up for a fashion trend.
      Best wishes, Pete.

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  5. Count me in as “no” vote to ripped clothing. I have never been trendy, anyway, even in my youth. I really prefer classic, vintage clothing. Even buttons used to be cute! Oh well, One more indication, that the world is mad! haha!

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  6. I have a pair of ripped jeans. I can only blame fashion. I guess some of it is also the allure of a little bit of cheeky skin. Anyway, whenever I wear them Little O wants to get his screwdriver to fix them!

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  9. We went to Philadelphia last week and my son-in-law had jeans splattered with paint. I asked if he was painting and he said, no. He bought them that way. I was dazzled. Most are my clothes are well-used but not ragged,

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  11. In they hearts they want to be workers. 😉 Wait some months and we all will wear old fashioned clothes again. Unbelievable but you only need to propagate climate change, and the people will not stop using airplanes and car. No they will wear used clothes. Michael

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  12. You are definitely not alone with your thoughts on ripped jeans Pete…My dear father when he was alive just could not understand it and on a visit to see my parents with our youngest in tow proudly sporting her new ripped jeans…My father was absolutely aghast he asked her if she was hard up and she said ‘No grandad…Why?” She then had a lecture on her jeans and what it portrayed to people followed by some money to get herself a proper pair of trousers…I had to be the peacemaker there or it could have turned out different …But she never wore them when visiting him again as there was no way he would be swayed in his views on the wearing of ripped jeans 🙂

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  13. I am suspicious it is fashion for fashion’s sake. I can remember a time in the 70’s when I spent hours taking the hems out of my jeans and fringing the bottom. In a way, I suppose I was doing the same thing. I also remember lightly bleaching jeans and adorning them with patches where there were no holes. Of course I was old enough to be paying my own way.

    I don’t get the ripped jeans but my daughter buys them that way… I suppose every generation has their thing.

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    1. Very true, Maggie. I remember people bleaching jeans, and covering them in flower patches too. But this ‘ripped’ thing seems to have crossed into a much wider age group. Many older people wear them, and I suppose I am old-fashioned enough to believe that they ‘should know better’. 🙂
      Best wishes, Pete.

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  14. I knew you post about this one day, Pete. I was sitting on the floor with children, and my wonderful assistant teacher walked over. She is 40-something, and always well dressed. She had a rip in her new jeans! Of course I put my hand on her rip and said, “Naomi, you have a tear in your new pants. I’m so sorry. I thought you’d want to know.” Of course she replied, “Jennie, they’re supposed to be like that.” We laughed. I just don’t get it either, Pete. This ‘fashion’ has nothing to do with kids. It is popular everywhere… but not with me. I still want to crease my pants with an iron. And, I dress fairly well for a preschool teacher. This is one I will take a stand on. Best to you, Pete.

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    1. As I said, Jennie “14 to 40”. And many much older too. I usually understand fashion, even though I am past bothering about it, but the ripped clothes thing is beyond me. 🙂
      Best wishes, Pete.

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  15. I often wonder what the workers in the places these are manufactured make of the Western world. They would be right in thinking we are crazy to pay good money for ripped clothing. Can you imagine being paid to rip clothes?

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  17. I like the trend as long as it doesn’t go overboard. I liked it in the 80s and wore it. I also had some ripped jeans as recently as a couple of years ago but around here, anyway, the trend has come and gone. My favorite pair of ripped jeans was late 80s designer jeans that I wore the knees out. They were ripped naturally. Otherwise, I let the designers do it. There’s a method to there madness.

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  20. By contrast, this reminded me that once it was trendy to sew patches on our clothes even when they weren’t torn. You could buy patches by mail order from the classified pages of music papers like NME or Melody Maker. It might be a Union Flag or Stars and Stripes or a Peace logo or Ban the Bomb.
    It’s true, now if I tear my knees I set my jeans aside for gardening.

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  23. Its playing havoc with the second hand market that I rely on for my attire, once they are disposed of and sold onto the ‘rag trade’ they are discarded rather than sold onto second hand resellers in in the East, as they have no resale value. What am I to do 🙂

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  24. I assume the torn items are a part of the devoted world of fashion. To fit in one follows the fashionista trend. Personally I’d never waste precious $$ on clothing I consider damaged goods before I’d had even the opportunity to wear them. It makes no sense to pay top dollar void of normal amount of fabric. Crazy world 🙂

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  29. I’ve looked like a bum most of my life, starting in early childhood. Always a mess, except on Sundays and Wednesday nights, when I stopped going regularly to church. Haven’t actually purchased an article of clothing since 1987, the year I met my second wife. She does that for me. But one thing she would never do is buy me britches that come ruined and torn to hell. This is something I can do for myself! 🙂

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      1. This world and these young people have gone to hell in a hand basket! The nonsense and the tattoos, the non stop looking at phones! The incredibly bad diets or the over focus on healthy diets! The day I stop consuming dairy products and wheat bread will be my last day on the once green earth! 🙂

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            1. I just don’t like them, Roland. At least not the type that cover full arms, are all over necks and faces, or the whole length of legs. I have never liked them much, and since the trend has exploded, I just wonder what they think they will look like when they are much older, and resemble faded blobs. I wote something sympathetic about a tattoo once, perhaps I will reblog it today.
              Best wishes, Pete.

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  33. Maybe because the trend got to be to wear jeans so tight that they could no longer move easily without cutting some slack? Just an observation from a like-minded small town American.

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      1. Most definitely! Cut out shirts skirts, dress and even swimsuits – like they aren’t already tiny enough? Good Lord the nudity is really out of control everywhere I think. LOL

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