Mason Says

First time for everything. This entry marks the first guest post on Mason Says. And I can't imagine a better post to do it with. In this piece by Uppity Negro, originally posted on AverageBro, the topic of black men wearing fitted jeans vs. baggier jeans is examined and how labels of homosexuality and metro-sexuality are myopically attached to the trend. Like Uppity, I've also taken to the fitted look. I've grown real tired of my legs feeling like they're swimming in an ocean of fabric. But if that wasn't enough to tackle, Uppity suggests we delve even deeper into the issues of stereotypes and black masculinity as he ponders the newest fad of young black men wearing 'skinny jeans', which is an entirely different ball game. It's a great post. Click Here to Read


FITTED JEANS & MISFITTED IDEAS OF MASCULINITY
Guest Post from Uppity Negro

Last week was my birthday and since I couldn’t make my trip to Washington, D.C. for Howard’s Homecoming as I had planned (because I just got my refund check) I settled for heading out to see a homeboy in Birmingham. Given that this was my birthday week I had done a bit of mall shopping and as a result I had bought some fitted tees from Abercrombie and Fitch and some fitted jeans at this spot in Little Five Points here in Atlanta. When I got out the car, my friend busted out laughing when he saw what I had on.

Don’t get me twisted. He knows how to dress. His style is the typical sophisticated urban wear, but still most of his clothes are loose fitting. His close fit—that is to say you’d NEVER see him wearing the XXXL type stuff and wearing jeans sagging down to his knees. Nonetheless he busted out laughing and simply said “I guess I aint been to Atlanta lately.”

Now any black male knows what that comment really meant.

No, my friend wasn’t questioning my sexuality, but that was an under girding sentiment of the statement.

Here in Atlanta, and other parts of the northern Atlantic seaboard, what I had on wouldn’t even go part and parcel with my sexuality because we’ve come that far with fashion in the black community. Since the late 80s and the 1990s blacks have gone through various stages of clothes that fit versus clothes that were over sized and didn’t fit. In the 2000s, and actually more recently since I’ve graduated from high school, I’ve noticed a shift at least among black males who classify as the “pretty boys” to this metrosexual style. Metrosexual is generally associated with clothes that actually fit your measurements.

I’m all for it. AverageBro and some of the AverageCommunity are aware of how I really was digging Andre 3000’s Benjamin Bixby clothing line, and I’ve been known to rock a bowtie often enough. I rather enjoy the fall because it gives me an excuse to rock the sweater/shirt and tie combos.

Don’t get me wrong, I can be biased as well when it comes to appearance. People need to look in the mirror when they put on clothes and see if certain outfits accent their figures—and that goes for males as well. And no this is not some underhanded dig at “thick chicks” or “big boys” but it goes for everyone. We all have different shapes. And even for me as a black male **clears throat* I discovered that just because I figured I was a certain jean size in Sean Jean or Girbaud that that size didn’t always transfer into jeans I bought at Abercrombie and Fitch or American Eagle.

Howsoever….

…the question remains, are black males allowed to wear fitted or skinny jeans without their sexuality being in question?

I guess you could extend that question to all ideas of black male metrosexuals as far as having to defend their sexuality. As I see it, it’s partially the fault of some black females—and some from the older generation as well. They (some black females and elders) said that they didn’t like us (young black males) always wearing the baggy white tees and pants “hangin’ off ya ass.” But, when the fashions adapt, they question your sexuality.

I remember the first time I wore a pair of slim fitting slacks to church back in 2005. My parents looked at me like I had lost my mind and suggested that I go back and change clothes and started praying for me out loud. I walked out of the door. It took the consoling of some female friends who kinda gave me the look up and down and said I actually looked nice. Suffice it to say, there are some who are attracted to the look—then there are those who aren’t.

I was in Jacksonville this summer and I got looks just from wearing fitted jeans (not skinny jeans because there is a difference). I thought it was interesting because of what I heard from the tween girls I had been going to see twice a week at a summer camp. By the end of the summer they felt comfortable enough to tell me they thought I was “fruity” (their words not mine) because of how I dressed, but then when I asked them about the clothes that the teen summer hit sensation New Boyz wore in the music video “You A Jerk” they had no real answer.

The way I see it, it boils down to our ideas of masculinity in this country. Still in the microcosm of the black community we have broad ideas of what masculinity is and how it should manifest itself. Never mind the fact that I’m in grad school working on a dual masters degree with the hope and intent of obtaining another one year masters degree before going on to Ph.D. work, or never mind the fact that I have my own car, got my own hustle more or less am independent enough from my parents that I don’t have to call every two weeks for an allowance like I used to. Never mind the fact that I do well in school. No. For America, my masculinity is heavily enraptured in my appearance.

Aside from homophobia that runs rampant in our community why are black males having to catch flack on this type of clothing? I mean there’s a young rapper out there who has titled song “Skinny Jeans Are Gay” and maybe this is where my uppity Negro status kicks in full time, but—ARE YOU SERIOUS?!!?!? Out of all the things to be worried about, you’re worried about someone who took their own money and decided to buy their own clothes. I guess it would be different if every black male you saw with skinny or fitted jeans on was a self-professed homosexual—but that’s not the case.



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