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#1 2011-12-09 15:43:04
- captainpreppy
- Member
- Posts: 1536
Trouser Cuff Height
Can someone explain to me the iGent fondness for extremely high trouser cuffs? There was a photo of Foo posted here recently, and the cuffs on his suit trousers reminded me of the way we used to roll up the cuffs on our blue jeans back in the 1950s. (Sound a bit like Cruiser here, don't I?) I also noticed Will had some very high cuffs on some trousers that appeared on ASW a few days ago.
I had wondered if this were some sort of "Golden Age" nostalgia, but on leafing through the photos and Golden Age illustrations in Flusser's "Dressing," as well as photos of such Old Hollywood icons as Fred Astaire, Cary Grant and Gary Cooper and images of the immortal Dook, I didn't see anything remotely like this. Some of the cuffs were a bit higher than what you'd see in a typical department store suit, but not too much, and most of trouser cuffs looked similar to what they are today--about 1 1/2 or 1 3/4 inches.
So, anybody know what's up with this trend?
#2 2011-12-09 16:00:06
- formby
- Member
- From: Wiseacre
- Posts: 8359
Re: Trouser Cuff Height
Its ala mode.
Italian look. I've always refer to it as the Tom Sawyer look.
What's interesting is; that they always seem to combine huge turnups with skinny pants that are cut to short (half-mast in English parlance) with ostentatious shooery. A quadruple whammy...
Last edited by formby (2011-12-09 16:01:59)
"Dressing, like painting, should have a residual stability, plus punctuation and surprise." - Richard Merkin
Souvent me Souvient
#3 2011-12-09 16:18:26
- Gilgamesh2003
- Member
- Posts: 1383
Re: Trouser Cuff Height
My impression is that it's deluded iGent rule-following, and a way to escape making an actual aesthetic choice. As Formby says it's definitely a fad but the iGents like to pretend that the giant cuff is an eternal and an infallible indicator of class and sartorial distinction rather than the stupid thing du jour. Many of the iGents also seem to think that anyone who wears trousers sans cuff is a Cruiser-level slob; one also often hears the patently ridiculous claim that cuffs weight the trousers so that they hang better (an especially stupid claim when it comes to SF-style skinny pants, which do not hang at all).
As CP's search confirms there is no real historical basis for the big cuff, but that's never stopped the iGents before.
#5 2011-12-09 20:25:14
- captainpreppy
- Member
- Posts: 1536
Re: Trouser Cuff Height
Odd that such a fashionable, trendy thing would be so in vogue with a coterie that usually likes to prattle on endlessly about "timeless style."
#6 2011-12-09 21:05:44
- Chévere
- Member
- From: Baltimore
- Posts: 856
Re: Trouser Cuff Height
Last edited by Chévere (2011-12-09 21:08:46)
Cógelo suave, pero cógelo.
#8 2011-12-10 02:48:13
- Taylor McIntyre
- Son of Ivy...
- Posts: 342
Re: Trouser Cuff Height
/\ Which would suit the stylistic exaggerations of those decades. 'Timeless', or 'Correct', the 2" cuff is not.
#9 2011-12-10 06:53:14
- formby
- Member
- From: Wiseacre
- Posts: 8359
Re: Trouser Cuff Height
"Dressing, like painting, should have a residual stability, plus punctuation and surprise." - Richard Merkin
Souvent me Souvient
#10 2011-12-10 07:18:07
- Big Tony
- Member
- Posts: 5478
Re: Trouser Cuff Height
Thom Browne at least uses tall skinny models and the pants are extra short.
Foo, on the other hand, is extremely poorly served by phat cuffs since they make his already short legs look even shorter and stubbier. He's a great example of the inability of most men, but particularly the iGentry, to actually LOOK at themselves and SEE themselves and wear what suits them, not what suits a fantasy.
"What sort of post-apocalyptic deathscape is this?"
"I don't want to look like a cock hungry sailor after all !!!"
"When it comes to infidelity, broken families, and reckless fatherhood, the underclass are amateurs."
#11 2011-12-10 17:49:39
- fxh
- Big Down Under.
- From: Melbourne
- Posts: 6159
Re: Trouser Cuff Height
Last edited by fxh (2011-12-10 17:50:31)
#12 2011-12-10 18:52:07
- eg
- Member
- From: Burlington, ON
- Posts: 1499
Re: Trouser Cuff Height
It appears to be something of a "look at me, my clothes are custom-made" thing, no?
#15 2011-12-11 07:08:16
- The_Shooman
- A pretty face
- From: AUSTRALIA
- Posts: 13191
Re: Trouser Cuff Height
Last edited by The_Shooman (2011-12-11 07:11:23)
