Sagging: Stolen Artifact or a New $1,200 trend
The appropriation of black culture is especially prominent in the fashion industry, where products have been commercialized and brought into mainstream culture. This being said, a specific product that has recently been commercialized is sagging. Sagging is simply wearing your pants low enough to where parts of your underwear can be noticeably seen, and is especially prominent in lower income people of color communities. Sagging is merely a cool fashion statement for people in these communities. The origins of sagging are often debated one whether it came from slavery or prison. The slavery origin states that black men that were raped by their slave masters were forced to wear their sagging pants so their masters could then recognize them in the future and do it again (Stillman, n.d. as cited in Deveaux). The more known history of sagging is that it was created as a result of prisons banning belts and shoelaces because they were afraid the inmates would hang themselves, and this was later adapted into a fashion statement (Naik, n.d. as cited in Deveaux). Regardless of where it came from there is a negative association with sagging, it is said to be related with poverty, gangs, and violence in other communities. Politicians in states like Florida and South Carolina have even proposed making sagging illegal and violators would be charged with fines for participating (Smith, 2020). This being said, companies such as Balenciaga are appropriating and capitalizing on sagging. Cultural appropriation is when outside cultural groups take another culture’s artifact’s without proper recognition of where it comes from. This is especially problematic because typically the prime oppressors of these artifacts turn around and try to pass it off as something new when they previously ridicule the originators. Balenciaga (a multi-million dollar clothing company) is selling pre-sagged pants with built-in boxers for one-thousand one hundred ninety dollars ($1,190). Ultimately, appropriation like this in the fashion industry is as a result of “coolhunting” (Gladwell, 1997) and “Regimes of representation” (Hall, 1997).
There is a clear transition between sagging reaching mainstream media. Representation of black men in the 90s and early 2000s were primarily through the sports and entertainment industry. As a result, since sagging was popular amongst the black community black rappers and professional basketball players would participate in this trend, allowing the whole world to see this trend because of the onset of television and the internet. Correspondingly people would admire these men because of their status and displays of masculinity. To understand why black men have been attributed hyper-masculine, we must first define a stereotype. “Stereotyped means ‘reduced to a few essentials, fixed in Nature by a few, simplified characteristics” (Hall, 1997, p. 249). Stereotypes are used by groups to make preconceived notions of others so there is no effort to get to know each other as individuals and allows for the dehumanization of others. The origins of the hypermasculinization of black men originated from slavery, where slave masters would buy the strongest slaves for hard work. The racist conception that black people especially black men were built to do hard physical labor also stemmed from slavery. As a result of these societal expectations black men feel that they have to be masculine all the time. This being said, males of other races began to imitate the style of black men such as the aforementioned rappers and basketball players to reinforce their fragile masculinity. Racist stereotypes like these are perpetuated through regimes of representation (Hall). Regimes of representation is “The whole repertoire of imagery and visual effects through which ‘difference’ is represented at any one historical moment” (Hall, 1997, p. 232). Hall solidifies racial difference through four various types, two being anthropological and psychoanalytic difference. Anthropological difference is structured around the hierarchy of culture, which is seen through society ranking black culture symbolically lower so it’s “okay” to steal from. Psychoanalytic difference describes difference as essential to the understanding of our identity. For example, historically European colonizers solidified their identity in being superior to black people to understand their place in the world in relation to other racial groups. All of these various kinds of racial differences are shown through regimes of representations (Hall). In this case, sagging was brought into mainstream culture through the representation of black masculinity in music videos and television, especially because the hip hop/rap genre became popular during the 90s and 2000s.
Although hypermasculinization is a reason for the appropriation of sagging, another reason is the appropriation of black culture can be seen through coolhunting. Cool is known as what is trendy and popular during a time. “A word that described not only the edgiest trends but also a trajectory of influence predicated upon quick change, flattening social hierarchies, and the ongoing transfer of subcultural capital into economic capital” (Power, 2019, p. 63). Cool has been commodified through capitalism, and companies send these “coolhunters” to go to marginalized communities to look for or test products to see if they’re cool. Through bringing these cultural artifacts to mainstream popular culture and presenting them as “new” products serves to facilitate the mistreatment of the marginalized communities because it allows the oppressive groups to pick and choose parts of which culture they seem worthy and disregard the other parts. The reason why people consider marginalized groups of these hubs of popular cultural trends is because of the subcultural market doctrine. “An increasingly widespread set of assumptions that viewed subcultural groups as trendsetters and thus market leaders” (Power, 2019, p. 65). Since coolness is the result of cultural practices, companies have found a never ending source of product, and since these same companies typically do not proportionately provide these same communities with resources, they essentially just leech and profit off of them unwarranted.
Ultimately, the appropriation of sagging in black culture is a result of being able to “coolhunt” through “regimes of representation” especially when charging $1,190 for a stolen style the originators can't even pay for.
Works Cited
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DeVeaux, M. (2019, July 3). Hurt by sagging. Citizens Against Recidivism. Retrieved
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by Ekaterina Vinnik
ReplyDeleteDear Xian,
I truly enjoyed reading your blog post. I have always been fascinated by people who wear their pants low because I think these people are brave, rebellious and laid back. I know I would never be able to wear my pants like that as it is very unlike me, but people who manage to "pull it off" inspire me to go out of my comfort zone more. Interestingly enough, I never knew that sagging had such dark origins before it was brought into the mainstream culture. It is eye opening to see how something that used to be associated with rape, prisons and poverty, is now associated with coolness and fashion. I thought it was particularly interesting when you mentioned Balenciaga and how it is selling pre-sagged pants as the brand has been accused of various unethical and controversial actions and campaigns in the past few years.
The authors I can connect the concept of sagging to would be Adorno and Horkheimer. Balenciaga’s expensive pre-sagged pants have really reminded me of their notion of false or “bogus” needs. They would argue that sagging works like a distraction for consumers from rebelling against capitalism. Additionally, Balenciaga is trying to differentiate itself so badly, even though all jeans serve the same purpose. Adorno and Horklheimer would argue that “mechanically differentiated products prove to be all alike in the end” (Adorno & Horkheimer, 1944, p. 2). No matter how much Balenciaga tries to stand out, with its prices and somewhat original designs, at the end of the day it is all just clothes. The high price tricks people into thinking it is so much better than for instance a pair of trousers at Zara, while in reality it is made out of the same materials. Finally, I thought it was particularly helpful when you explained and defined Hall’s concepts in detail, specifically anthropological and psychoanalytic differences, as it really enhanced my understanding of your post.
- Ekaterina Vinnik