Lynn council president among many who dislike fashion trend

LYNN – Lawmakers across the country, including the fashion police, have a message for those who like to wear their pants low slung, leaving their underwear exposed: pull your pants up.Earlier this year, the town council in Delcambre, La., passed an ordinance that carries a fine of up to $500 or six months in jail for exposing underwear in public.Several other municipalities and parish governments in Louisiana have enacted similar laws in recent months to curb the backside exposing trend.City Council President Timothy Phelan said while he wonders why teenagers wear the look to begin with, their style is safe in the city of Lynn, at least for now.”I think that the attire itself looks foolish, just ridiculous,” he said. “But I think this is something more appropriately addressed within the school department dress code.”A similar proposal is stirring up controversy in Atlanta, Ga., where a councilman wants an amendment to the city’s indecency law that would ban people from wearing baggy pants that expose boxer shorts or thongs.And in Stratford, Conn., councilman Alvin O’Neal proposed to issue a $250 fine for those caught wearing the saggy pants that fall down low enough to see their undergarments and backside. The motion was firmly rejected.Civil liberties groups have criticized the proposals, saying they would be unconstitutional and unfairly target minorities and create racial profiling.While the baggy pants look may be considered a fashion faux pas in Connecticut, Georgia and Louisiana, it is also a no-no in the Phelan household.”I understand that sometimes kids wear shorts under their jeans instead of just underwear and they aren’t really exposing themselves,” he said. “But I can definitely say that my wife would throw me in divorce court if I ever wore my pants like that.”While O’Neal said the low-slung pants are becoming an epidemic across the country, Phelan said he believes the look was far more prevalent five years ago and is fading away.”Do I like how it looks?” Phelan asked. “Definitely not, but the issue is much too difficult to police, and it doesn’t seem to be gang related or really causing a problem. Who knows what teenagers will be wearing five years from now?”The look can be traced back to the early 1990s, when rap and hip-hop artists proudly displayed their undergarments to the world and influenced millions of teens to do the same.Aside from baggy pants, low rise and hip hugger trousers also bestow the “plumber effect” that Phelan said his children won’t be sporting any time soon.”I honestly think that the kids are occasionally disrespecting themselves by wearing those clothes and I want to just walk over to them and say, ‘Hey, pull your pants up,” he quipped. “I will tell you, however, that my kids won’t ever be dressing like that.”