I met a parent recently that could not allow her son to wear a hoodie. She said “hoodies for boys certainly are a bad idea”. She felt they promoted a negative attitude and also worse, rebellion. “Only criminal types wear them” she said. I didn’t agree of course, because I had worn them for a long time and don’t consider myself to be a “criminal type.”
I did however recently read a British news article where a certain style of hoodie would be banned. It was a faceless hoodie, one that could be zipped up to completely cover the wearer’s face. It even had two transparent elliptical plastic eyes to look through! Security forces felt it was sinister and allowed wearers to completely conceal their identity. I have to admit it had been pretty wicked looking and reminded me of someone wearing a gas mask or a full-bodied hazmat suit. It had been camo colored and I just knew the wearer had a concealed assault rifle somewhere!
This got me thinking about hoodies in general. I mean, why are they frequently associated with criminal behavior now days. It didn’t was previously that way. Didn’t folks from all backgrounds just put them on to be casual and stay warm as well. When I was a youngster we just called them sweat shirts with hoods and you also either wore a pullover or one that zipped up. I thought the pockets were what made them cool, one big one across the front you can lock your cold hands in. They even annoyed me at times when I’d lose the neck string in the sweat shirt also it would take me hours to obtain it back!
Chrome Hearts Clothing was thinking about all of the famous or notorious personalities through history who wore hoodies. There is medieval monks, they wore sort ‘a corny looking dark pullover with hoods. And during the same time the average European peasant wore a hoodie like coat or blanket, right? What about Robin Hood? There was Little Red Riding Hood. The Seven Dwarfs and Snow White herself. Needless to say so did the wicked queen when she was a witch. Actually a great deal of witches ware hoodies! Think about Shrek… and Rocky? Now there is really a couple or hero types that wore a hoodies (and a beanie in Rocky’s case). What I’m saying is merely about every stereotype can be found wearing a hoodie at some time and time. Even the Mexican Serape would have a hood on it if Sombreros weren’t so cool!
The main point is that hoodies are for everybody even for boys, plus they don’t make anybody good or bad. We do that ourselves with or without the hoodie. Hoodies can be made with certain colors combinations or logos to recognize the wearer with a certain lifestyle or group and maybe that is were one needs to use a little discernment or common sense but after that I believe it just boils right down to they’re comfortable, convenient and down right practical. So ultimately I will continue steadily to wear my hoodie and hopefully it generally does not upset anyone.