Hoodies

Hoodies




As a teacher, or a member of the general civilian population does your blood pressure ever rise when you see students in the hall, on the street, in the mall, at the corner store basically anywhere, wearing a hoodie? I know my blood pressure tends to soar and I don’t quite know why. I actually own a hoodie and wear it when I go camping and it keeps me warm and dry. I thought the impact of the nefarious hoodie must therefore rest with the wearer and the context in which it is being worn.

I even started asking students, who wore hoodies as to why they wore them. I think the most ridiculous answer had to do with functionality. “It has to do with warmth and protection. It keeps me dry when it rains.” I thought what a crock! We have all seen students in mid- winter, at minus 30 often wearing light jackets, no hats, no mitts with running shoes on their feet. Of what part of practicality are they thinking?

This past winter while waiting for the LRT at Southgate Mall in Edmonton, I saw a student wearing shorts, a T shirt and running shoes. I said this happened in winter. I couldn’t help myself and I approached him and politely asked him, “What the hell are you doing? Aren’t you cold?” He informed me that there was a fifty dollar bet at stake if he dressed for summer in the winter. I looked at him in disbelief, shook my head and wished him luck.

I don’t think functionality is actually a real factor when it comes to dress for young people as practicality and common sense are not necessarily even in the equation. So when a young person tells me they wear a hoodie because it is practical they must be referring to a much different definition of practical.

What is practical for a teenager? I consulted with my wife who is a cognitive therapist and tends to know this shit. She is good. I mean she had me figured out on our first date and she still married me. She pointed cases out to me in which patients who were schizophrenic would wear snowmobile clothing in the summer time because it tends to emotionally hold them together.

My wife then extrapolated her ideas to that of the teen age mind and indicated that the same thought process may hold true in that the hood of a hoodie offers seclusion. “It creates a cloistered affect and also serves to hold self together.” It is especially relevant and “practical” to those who lack individual confidence or self-worth. The hoodie offers the ultimate mobile cocooning effect and an escape from society. It provides an element of anonymity and protection and therefore serves as a mechanism for reducing stress and anxiety. And here I thought it was just some sort of ward robe malfunction.

I always had the sneaking suspicion that while wearing a baggy hoody it would only be a matter of time before some bright soul thought of the possibility of cutting a small hole in a pocket and running the wire for their earphones up the inside of the hoodie into the actual hood making it possible to not only be isolated and anonymous but also play and get lost in music at the same time. Just a thought.

To find the ultimate answers I had to turn to the source of all accumulated truth and knowledge in the western world, I googled Wikipedia and rediscovered that monks during the height of ignorance during the Middle Ages or Dark Ages also wore hoodies with their tunics and robes. Hip hop artists made hoodies into a fashion statement while at the same time promoting instant anonymity perfect for those week end nights of 711 shopping combined with criminal intent. Nothing says,” I shoplift therefore I am” like the ever popular hoodie, the perfect part of an ensemble to beat the surveillance cameras in malls and convenience stores.

The hoodie could also be a simple expression of attitude and mood that says in a subtle way with nuance implying that I am young and you are old. Perhaps young people like the hoodie so much because they just know how much it pisses older people off, its like giving the finger without raising one. Clever!

Along came the nineties and 6 Rocky movies in which the star character, Rocky Balboa, wears a hoodie during training. Remember that classic scene as he runs up the stairs to the cracked liberty bell? Of course to me that quite simply symbolized the isolation of the underdog in a modern day democracy deformed by greed, excessive consumerism and capitalism.

Surfers and skateboarders also promoted the hoodie look and it became mainstream when the likes of Giorgio Armani, Tommy Hilfiger and Ralph Lauren adopted the hoodie look in their fashion lines.

I think in a free and open society many who support the status quo fear the anonymity of the hoodie. In parts of Europe, particularly now France what says hoodie better than hijab and abayah.

Hoodies have come a long way since the Dark Ages when they were worn by monks who seldom bathed to the point where it became an expression of juvenile angst and now has entered the popular culture.  I don't know about you, but my attitude towards those who wear hoodies has totally made me rethink my feelings for, well you know, "Little Red Riding Hood(ie)."

I can’t honestly say that I automatically associate deviant behavior with those who wear hoodies. I just know that when I walk down a lonely alley way in a large metropolis on the wrong side of tracks on the wrong side of town in an ethnic area that is not my own and I see a group of hooded young people I will without hesitation cross to the other side of the street, but hey, that’s just me.

But seriously, I jest. I realize the superficial nature of my arguments and the shallowness of my persuasiveness concerning my thoughts on the hoodie, so let me tell you what I think of the Goth look…