Explaining the cultural history of menswearfrom @gsnwilliams

Transcript

You believe me if I told you that this was one of the manliest outfits that you could wear? Crop tops had existed in Better fashion for decades, but in the late nineteen seventies, they took on a completely different meaning through American football. You see, players wore tearaway jerseys that were designed to rip when which meant their stomachs would constantly rank up exposed during games. But, eventually, players started doing this on purpose. They'd cut, roll, or tie their jerseys up, so there was less fabric for defenders to grab. So the crop top became closely associated with athleticism and masculinity. Weight lifters were wearing them too, especially in gyms where they weren't allowed to train shirtless. So by the late eighties, this wasn't some weird one off football look anymore. Sportswear brands were literally selling crop tops for men. But by then, the look had already started escaping sport. In the late seventies, crop shirts were showing up in dance clubs and counterculture movements like punk and rock. Then you get into the eighties, which was basically the golden age of the male crop top. Guys were wearing them casually with jeans and shorts, and celebrities were pushing the silhouette even further. Printers were wearing cropped jackets and tiny cropped shirts without any connection to sports wear. Johnny Depp wore one in A Nightmare on Elm Street. Will Smith also wore them in The Fresh Prince. But in the late nineties, menswear itself was also changing pretty drastically. Grunge brought this anti fashion look into menswear, with bands like Nirvana and Pearl Jam popularizing a more oversized, disheveled look. Then hip hop pushed menswear even further towards baggier sportswear, making tracksuits and hoodies a part of everyday style. And that tight, body conscious crop top that had defined the eighties suddenly didn't fit into that picture as naturally anymore. At the same time, the crop top became more associated with club culture and queer fashion, and the way mainstream culture read the silhouette started changing too. So you had this weird reversal. A garment that had once emphasized the physique of America's most masculine athletes was now something a lot of men avoided because they didn't want their masculinity or sexuality question, which makes the history of all this so interesting. The garment had barely changed. It's just a meaning that we attached to it did. If you like videos like this, follow for more stories behind fashion and culture.