Fashion Today... Words and Out-Going Trends We Med Students Didn't Know...

Honestly...

Even I didn't know some of these terms existed until I read the Sunday TimesLife! extra in the Times Of India... And curiousity getting the better of me, I took the liberty of taking the paper and cross checking references on the Net... And Woah. Goodness me... This is a new horizon and No Wonder these things never breach our Closed/Close knit community... We're also self sufficient and happy in this place (Vellore), we really don't know or come face to face with these fallacies in fashion and the ingenious lingo... The worst part being the fact that unfortunately, there are a quite a few girls in CMC, in Vellore, In Chennai and Bangalore, in the North like Delhi and India who commit these crime against fashion and who I hope will soon kindly understand that most of this issues mentioned here are rapidly going out of date and they'll stop wearing stuff that make them ridiculous, and their dress out-of-date and out-of-fashion!

So anyone who's into new lingo and wants to act gay and gawk at girls to point out their fashion bloopers because you're oh-so-the-coolest-person/fashion-guru around... Go ahead and learn. But I take no responsibility. If you can't... I couldn't care less...

(Note : For uniformity of definition and meaning I've used Wikipedia and pictures mainly from Google Images.)

Term No. 1 : Muffin Top

Generally pejorative, Muffin Top is a slang term for someone who wears both tight fitting low-rise jeans (or pants) and midriff-baring tops. For people not sufficiently slim, the resulting spillage of flab above the waistline is often said to resemble a muffin top (see picture for comparison).

On an episode of The Oprah Winfrey Show, Stacy London (host of What Not to Wear) noted the muffin top as the number one jeans-related fashion crime.

In an attempt to avoid the Muffin Top, and to comply with the gradual shift away from low-rise, manufacturers have introduced mid-rise jeans which come up higher on the waist and eliminate the Muffin Top. Mid-Rise has proved popular across North America and manufacturers have also introduced new styles of High-Rise jeans.

So Advice... Ladies... Lose Weight before you venture out into the public in those out of fashion low rise jeans...? We can't help but comment about your puppy fat a.k.a love handles... We're Indian and honestly perverted gawkers... Men can get away with it... Ladies can't... Get into shape. Us Medicos can suggest exercise... And exercise.... And exercise... And exercise.... And... Maybe a diet regime.

More Links For Muffin Tops : 1, 2

Term No.2 : Whale Tails

Whale Tails? Hmmm... The first picture that came to my mind was of a majestic whale rising out of the depths of the oceans and splashing into the warmth of the depth with the tail creating that immaculately large splash...

Boy... Was I mistaken with this really "revealing" definition...

Whale tail referring to, more recently, a phrase, created by Gavin Hamilton in 2003 for his site whale-tail.com, refering to the appearance of a thong or g-string above the waistband of low-rise pants, shorts, or a skirt creating a whale's tail shape.

The word was selected by American Dialect Society in 2006 as the "most creative word" of 2005 (beating out "muffin top")

Advice? Stop Bending over too much!!! It's bad for your back and we already know about the purple and red heart shapes spotted yellow underwear you're embarrassed about... Don't "show & tell" to embarrass us. But unless of course you haaaaaaaave to show us the infected lower back Tattoo you got done by your door-to-door tattoo-artist/salesman. We can treat that with antibiotics. I'll be talking more about the tattoo sometime later...

Wanna read more? 1, 2,

Term No. 3 : Tramp Stamp/Slag Tag

Alrighty... What's that you ask? Well... No Surprise... Read on...

Beginning in the early 2000s, this particular type of tattoo became popular, especially among young women. Lower back tattoos are often oblong in shape, following the slope of the back on either side of the woman's spine. Worn almost exclusively by women, the lower back tattoo functions as body decoration, while underlining sexual attractiveness. Generally, a lower back design will be shaped to accentuate the shape and curvature of the female figure. The placement of such tattoos on the lower back may be seen by some as more seductive than other common female tattoo locations such as the ankle or shoulderblade.

There are several attributes of lower back tattoos that have made them popular. While the lower back is not the widest area of the human back, it has abundant space for a large design, and horizontal tattoo designs can be worked easily. Another advantage is that the lower back is less likely to stretch and distort due to minor weight fluctuations, thus avoiding the tattoo's shape becoming warped and faded as quickly. In addition, they can easily be concealed under business attire.

Lower back tattoos are also often displayed in conjunction with halfshirts and bellyshirts (also called crop tops) designed to expose the midriff, and low-rise jeans that are slung low around the hips.

Slang terms for lower-back tattoos include "ass antlers," "tramp stamp," "slag tag," "P-O-T: Pull-Out-Target".

Advice? Nothing except that you get it done safely so we don't have to see it and don't show it off too often... You become the "Butt" of jokes. Ha! Get it?

More? 1, 2

Term No. 4 : Sagging

No... We're not talking about the ladies and their assets... That's a natural phenomenon. We're talking low-rise jeans in men...

"Sagging" is the fashion of wearing trousers (slacks, shorts or jeans) below the waist, sported by males. Usually the underwear is worn higher, so that the underwear is exposed, but not much bare skin.

It became popular among young males in the 1990s and remains widespread today. This style of fashion has had several variations and exists in several youth cultures and other groups, including twink, hip hop and punk rock.

Advice? Parents need to tell their sons to pull up their pants.

More Info ? 1

Three things common to terms 1,2,3,4? Low-rise jeans, Crop-Tops, And Coin Slots.

Term No. 5 : Low-Rise Jeans

Low-rise jeans are jeans intended to sit low on, or below, the hips. They are also called lowcut jeans, hipsters, hip-huggers and lowriders. Worn by both men and women, low-rise jeans are intentionally cut lower on the waist, thus covering less body on front (the belly) and the back. Usually they sit at least three inches lower than the belly button. Low-rise jeans have existed since the 1960s, but their renewed popularity and the subsequent trends they inspired among young women and men (i.e. the whale tail and lower back tattoo), and the Boxer Shorts Showing look on men (Sagging?), were one of the earliest phenomena that distinguished the popular fashion of the 2000s from that of the 1990s.

Legal issues have been raised about the decency of wearing low-rise jeans... And US Colleges have standardised a dress code... But... That can't stop people wearing them outside school, college or their work places, can it?

Advice? In 2003, Dr. Malvinder S. Parmar pointed out that wearing tight low-rise jeans puts pressure on a sensory nerve, which can cause pain and paresthesia in the nerve's area of distribution. This is known as Meralgia paresthetica, showing symptoms of tingling or a burning sensation on the lateral aspect of the thigh. The problem with previously examined patients was resolved when they avoided wearing tight low-rise jeans, after 4 to 6 weeks. HA!

Advice? Start wearing Mid-rise jeans before the low-rise ones get outlawed and you face death-row or get shot wearing them.

Read More? 1

Term No. 6 : Crop Tops

Partner in crime to show off your whale tail... Popularized by Britney Spears, Christina Aguilera, Shania Twain... What are these?

Crop tops (also cropped tops) are T-shirts or blouses that are cut off, resulting in the exposure of some of the wearer's abdomen, worn by both men and women.

The halfshirt (or bellyshirt) is a variety of shirt that is cut off from the bottom of the chest and below usually worn by women and occasionally men.

You can guess... Midriff baring comes naturally to Indian women... So why not modernize it?

Advice? Uhhhhh.... Still Thinking... Ummmm.... Wear a sari?

Wanna Read More? 1

Term No. 7 : Coin Slots

Huh? Not those... We're talking the unenviable situation where someone somewhere has to show off his coin slot due to his/her low rise jean or lower back tattoo. Butt Cleavage... In the early 2000s it became fashionable for young women and men to expose their undergarments and buttocks in this way , often in tandem with low rise jeans... (Unfortunately...)

Advice? Stop Grossing us out... Pull Up your pants.

Read More? 1

Term No. 8 : Push Ups


No not the grueling, army requirement. The "pushup" bra or Wonderbra enhances the projection of a woman's bust. No more using socks, silicone... Make do with what you have...

In celebration of the 'cleavage', the WonderBra company announced that the first Friday of April would be World Cleavage Day. Now...

Cleavage is the cleft created by the partial exposure of a woman's breasts, especially when exposed by low-cut clothing. The neckline of a garment that exposes cleavage is known as décolletage. Exposure of the "down under" side of the breast, such as below an extremely short crop top, is known as neathage and Australian cleavage (see example).

No more shall be spoken.

Advice? If you're wearing one... You're either conceited and showing off, embarrassed/uncomfortable about yourself, or you're just normal and got stuck up with a Wonderbra. I'm not complaining though. Snigger snigger snigger.

No more Info you sex-maniac... This is not a porn site.

Term No. 9 : Camel Toe

This is disturbing... People have been talking about this for ages... And apparently affects both men and women!!! This is totally perverted... But since I've done the research, I have to post this.

Cameltoe is a slang term that refers to the outline of a woman's vulva when seen through tight, form-fitting clothes. Usually, a cameltoe is visible from the front.

Enough said... Advice? I have no idea, except wearing long T-shirts and looser pants. There is/can be no medical remedy. Sorry. Go Save yourself.

For an article on why it occurs, click here

For more Info... 1,2,3

Term No. 10 : Bling-Blings

"Bling-bling" (usually shortened to simply "bling") is a hip hop slang term which refers to expensive jewelry and other accouterments, and also to an entire lifestyle built around excess spending and ostentation. In its essence, the term refers to the exterior manifestation of one's interior state of character, normally displayed through various forms of visual stimuli.

Hip Hop, gangster rap, rappers and rich rap record producers and wannabe white rappers have to show off their money, and it's easy when the money keeps pouring in isn't it?

Advice? Unless it's a way of life for you? Avoid these...


Term No. 11 : Platform "Thongs"

Ha ha... Just kidding... These are just the ever popular platform flip-flops, just like chappals and not shoes... I just thought I'd confuse you with the common terminology in the West.

The use? I think... It's the adding height purpose...What else? It doesn't go especially on girls with matchstick legs. But now that I think of it, do these actually look good on anyone?

I didn't think so.

Advice? Avoid like the plague unless you're really short. And of course it is funny when you fall off them.

Alright... Retrospection.

Why Did These Terms Come To Be? Frankly, it's more about what something's called than what it actually is that makes it all the rage... If balloon blousons were called shapeless shifts, no one would buy them... Or if handkerchief tops were sold as Squares of Silk, people would use them to line their cupboards. Or broomstick skirts were actually gauthi-ghagras. It's true that along with fashion trends, the lingo also gets an overhaul with time. New imaginative lingo goes on to make fashion more fun and romantic.

So that's why bags can be called Bracelet/Convertible and shoes can have pointy witch-toes to almond toes...

And fashion terminology has also been revolutionized with now accepted terms like Glothic (Glam + Gothic), Luxe-Grunge (Luxury + Grunge) also called Fluxe (Fresh outtake on Luxury), Emo (clothes with excessive drama or utter disregard towards society), Phat (Hip Hop inspired with Bling-Blings, oversize clothes, pantsuits)...

People in the West accept these since the fashion there is dictated by retail... We Indians on the fashion scene are kinda behind... But even we've come up with pretty names like Sari-skirt, belted saris, corset blouses since they are more familiar to us and we can relate to them...

But finally, it's the humour in these tongue in cheek tags that's really worth the last laugh.

And that's all, folks.



Digg This!