News

MEN GET GIRLY

PINK FOR GIRLS, blue for boys. Not anymore. The lines of fashion for both sexes have blurred and more men are finding women's clothes trendy.

Boot cut jeans, straight pants, pink shirts and generally bright coloured clothing is the rave among some men. However a shortage of some men's styles particularly the boot cut jeans and sometimes the pricing of these pants has seen some men turning to women's fashion for the solution to both problems. The boot cut jeans cost from $1,800 upwards, THE STAR understands.

One man who did not give the news team his name said he buys his boot cut jeans during sales. "A Go- West and dem place deh wi buy wi tings, you know inna sale and dem tings deh," he said.

Several other men with whom THE STAR spoke did not admit that they bought the women's clothing but said men sometimes went to the female stalls and purchased bell foot jeans and altered them. "Some a dem go a women's store and buy it and den stitch een di foot," one vendor at the Pearnel Charles Arcade in downtown Kingston told THE STAR.

Stitched in the foot

One man who chose to remain anonymous admitted that he sometimes purchased the female pants and stitched in the foot. "Mi buy it because when yuh stitch it een it fit neat ova di shoes while it tight up a top like di boot cut jeans," he said.

The vendor also added that the men also bought the women's jeans to get the low rider styles, popularly known as hipsters among women. "Some a dem a wear low riders to, suh dem buy di ooman pants fi get dat to," the vendor said.

Bubba, a pants vendor for the past six years and a vendor at the Pearnel Charles Arcade told THE STAR that boot cut jeans are the latest fad and he imported those he sold from overseas. He noted that these jeans were the rave in the European market where he purchased his goods. One man told THE STAR that they have become more fashion conscious because they want as much attention as the females. "Wi waan look betta dan di woman dem," he said.

One man who THE STAR spoke to who was sporting a pink converse sneakers did not seem to be put off by the pink which is traditionally a favoured colour amoung females. While the news team was present, he even got into an argument with another man about whose pink suit was 'hotter' than the other.

"Mi have a full suit a pink, a just thru mi nuh waan wear it come a town," he said. "Nuh sah fi yuh suit nuh badda dan mine," the other retorted.

But even as the men altered the women's bell foot pants to suit their purposes, some of them have been altering straight pants to make them fit tighter. "The 15-25 year old dem, a bare tights dem wear," Bubba said.

He said most of the men in that age group were buying the straight jeans pants and having them taken in. One man told THE STAR that his friend bought a straight jeans the other day and although it practically stuck to his body he said it was too big and was having it altered to fit him closer.

Some women, however, find the new men's styles fashionable. "Some nuh look too, bad but some over do it," one woman said.

But not all women feel the same. "It nuh look good, di tight pants mek dem look gay," Deneca another woman said. "All some a dem a buy di ooman boot cut pants and a wear dem, dat sick," she said.