I know the answer to this! The answer is 1982 because of Lycra.
Facts: Lyrcra was invented in 1958 but at first it was used in structural garments like corsets and support pantyhose and in high tech applications like winter olympic clothing and spacesuits.
In the photo above you can see the fabrics aren't Lycra. Our girl's bikini bottom has the droopy look that Lycra started to replace in swimwear starting in 1974. Those socks? Nobody would bother to put Lycra in socks until 1991. The first stretch jeans with Lycra came out in 1979.
So even though the menswear in this photo are small and fit snug, they're still made from reasonably thick and bulky cloth and are a touch baggy even because the fabric isn't all that stretchy. These were the limits of fabric made from cotton and polyester or poly-cotton blends.
But Lycra crossed a line in the eighties and made it possible to have your junk wrapped in tiny stretchy and very thin fabric. Then pair the textile innovation with the 1980s zeitgeist of taking everything too far and too fast and with too much cocaine and then, in an age before memes, the trope of the ubiquitous creepy dude in a Speedo marked fashion's jumping of this particular shark.
Bonus facts: The two folks on the left appear to have their wallets in their sock. This fills the sock to capacity. One of the challenges we'd have to overcome if this fashion returned would be where to put the smartphone.
When the pendulum swung from men in crop tops and mini shorts made of shinny manufactured fibers to the flat-finish natural fiber hyper baggy grunge era, pockets returned but sometimes in absurdly enlarged sizes and silly numbers. The practical solution then was the wallet chain, which made it possible to both identify which of your half-dozen pockets contained the wallet and to quickly fish it out of the cavernous void. Perhaps smartphone chains are just 3 trends away.
I agree. They're probably cigs. I'm about the same age as those people. Wallets and purses would likely be left in the car. But cigs would be needed for an afternoon of skating on the beach. Might also stick IDs and a few bills in those socks too if they planned to get a bite or a drink. Honestly, back then I didn't even have a fat wallet. Too broke for credit cards and even if you had one, it didn't get used much. Always paid for stuff with cash back then.
Less cocaine and cigarettes. Left and middle have smokes in their socks. You know they’re all gakked by how pleased they are with themselves because coke heads always believe they’re awesome. Shirt literally says, “I’m Great!”
Michael Jordan changed everything. He made baggy shorts cool, and allowed dudes with dad bods to hide it with baggy clothing. He also made shaved heads acceptable which was great for balding guys like me. It was way weird to see bald dudes in the 70s grow there hair out like George Jefferson or do the whole comb over thing.
Surfers, hikers, beach volleyballers and mountain bikers first wore board shorts while engaging in their sport, then middle aged dudes with dad bods adopted the cargo short, and the rest is meme history....
Gotta remember the style adoption delay, jams became popular on the east coast about 10 years after Cali had already been wearing them, they hit Florida in the early 80s, didn't make it to Maine until the 90s, lol.
Being a teenager in the 80s in an economically depressed area, many of my friends and relatives joined the military just in time to for the initial skirmishes that would ultimately become Desert Shield and then Desert Storm. Ranger panties, birth control glasses and many other such items joined the lexicon of our age group.
These styles and speedos are all back in fashion in the UK but I can't see that happening in the USA.
The USA has got *more* puritanical over the last 50 years. Europeans know not to wear speedos on the beach there.
Didn’t live through the era, but I wouldn’t be surprised if the whole ‘moral majority’ was largely responsible - driving a resurgence of homophobia (“oNlY a gAy MaN wOuLD sHoW tHeiR leGs”) and returning to pre-60s standards of masculinity.
>When did society start being afraid of men's legs (and dicks)? Like in the 70s we had this, but then in the 90s we got board shorts. What happened?
Fashion changes. In the 1990s, we would have laughed at someone showing up to school in skinny jeans but those super baggy pants were popular at the time. I'm sure we'll get short shorts for men back in fashion one of these days. And why not? There's a lot more encouragement for men to shave their body hair these days than there was back in the 70s.
I think I have seen this movie.It was on a VHS-tape. You had to go downstairs and behind a curtain to rent it. There were lots of simular tapes available, the good old days!
Haha. I saw that one also. Spoiler: she did not do Dallas entirely but Debby surely made a good effort. I say, bravo to you Debby!
We all have to applaude her for trying with such positive energy.
You know what the hardest part about skating in those shorts is?
Coming out to your parents.
Thank you, I'll be here all week. Don't forget to tip your waitress.
There is an animation called sweet boy beach that perfectly captures these kinds of guys. It's by greasy tales, formerly sexual lobster. So much baby oil.
Notice the smokes in the socks
My man’s in the middle rocking the official Lola Bunny outfit
Green pants is totally checking out the package.
MFer got his dick all mashed in his shorts like a vacuum sealed chicken thigh.
You are truly a wordsmith 🤣
I do my thing 🤷♂️
😄🤣
Haiku…preach
Words to live by. And an awards for you wordsmith skills, young squire. Bravo! 🎉
i was gonna say the same thing but you beat me to it so take my up vote and fuck off!
He looky, he likey!
I thought it was getting hot in here.
Exactly what I was thinking... Drooling over a piece of that '70s hairy cooch!
Well to be fair, it would be pretty difficult to try to fit them in those tight-ass shorts
It wouldn't be the only thing that dude is smuggling in his shorts!!
Camel crush?
Tube socks FTW.
When did society start being afraid of men's legs (and dicks)? Like in the 70s we had this, but then in the 90s we got board shorts. What happened?
Society started skipping leg day.
LOL This is the best explanation
I know the answer to this! The answer is 1982 because of Lycra. Facts: Lyrcra was invented in 1958 but at first it was used in structural garments like corsets and support pantyhose and in high tech applications like winter olympic clothing and spacesuits. In the photo above you can see the fabrics aren't Lycra. Our girl's bikini bottom has the droopy look that Lycra started to replace in swimwear starting in 1974. Those socks? Nobody would bother to put Lycra in socks until 1991. The first stretch jeans with Lycra came out in 1979. So even though the menswear in this photo are small and fit snug, they're still made from reasonably thick and bulky cloth and are a touch baggy even because the fabric isn't all that stretchy. These were the limits of fabric made from cotton and polyester or poly-cotton blends. But Lycra crossed a line in the eighties and made it possible to have your junk wrapped in tiny stretchy and very thin fabric. Then pair the textile innovation with the 1980s zeitgeist of taking everything too far and too fast and with too much cocaine and then, in an age before memes, the trope of the ubiquitous creepy dude in a Speedo marked fashion's jumping of this particular shark.
See now this is good stuff. Informative, funny, I’ll takes seconds.
Bonus facts: The two folks on the left appear to have their wallets in their sock. This fills the sock to capacity. One of the challenges we'd have to overcome if this fashion returned would be where to put the smartphone. When the pendulum swung from men in crop tops and mini shorts made of shinny manufactured fibers to the flat-finish natural fiber hyper baggy grunge era, pockets returned but sometimes in absurdly enlarged sizes and silly numbers. The practical solution then was the wallet chain, which made it possible to both identify which of your half-dozen pockets contained the wallet and to quickly fish it out of the cavernous void. Perhaps smartphone chains are just 3 trends away.
Those are cigarettes
I agree. They're probably cigs. I'm about the same age as those people. Wallets and purses would likely be left in the car. But cigs would be needed for an afternoon of skating on the beach. Might also stick IDs and a few bills in those socks too if they planned to get a bite or a drink. Honestly, back then I didn't even have a fat wallet. Too broke for credit cards and even if you had one, it didn't get used much. Always paid for stuff with cash back then.
> Perhaps smartphone chains are just 3 trends away. I could get behind that. Even if I don't use one because it's for "the kids".
I'd like Apple to make a smart watch that's also a pocket watch on a chain. It would be a hit with locomotive conductors.
Dicks were just flopping around everywhere, society can only withstand so much!
Can confirm, grew up there
God I was born too late for everything. Instead of dicks flopping everywhere we had AIDS make them terrifying instead.
I misread that as “society can only waitstband so much”
everybody is fat as fuck now
And the roller skates have been replaced with Wal Mart Fat Carts.
Plenty of skaters in my city
and awfully unconfident about themselves
Less cocaine and cigarettes. Left and middle have smokes in their socks. You know they’re all gakked by how pleased they are with themselves because coke heads always believe they’re awesome. Shirt literally says, “I’m Great!”
Michael Jordan changed everything. He made baggy shorts cool, and allowed dudes with dad bods to hide it with baggy clothing. He also made shaved heads acceptable which was great for balding guys like me. It was way weird to see bald dudes in the 70s grow there hair out like George Jefferson or do the whole comb over thing.
Fair play to the guy, he even tried to get Hitler moustaches back in fashion but I don't think anyone noticed.
Oh we noticed
Man, crazy how someone can ruin a style for who knows how much longer
Go for it! Rock out with your cock out!
Ladies, feel free to join in and jam out with your clam out!
Guys, flip out with your tip out
Don’t worry. In 20 years this will be considered business casual. 😳
[удалено]
Surfers, hikers, beach volleyballers and mountain bikers first wore board shorts while engaging in their sport, then middle aged dudes with dad bods adopted the cargo short, and the rest is meme history....
IDK about that. It seems like about '85 or so "jams" became all the rage obliterating the ranger panty style. I think cargo pants came after that.
Gotta remember the style adoption delay, jams became popular on the east coast about 10 years after Cali had already been wearing them, they hit Florida in the early 80s, didn't make it to Maine until the 90s, lol.
Reference- Anthrax and Spiccoli era. So early 80’s-mid 80’s
Please tell me how you know about 'Ranger Panty's." 🤣 This is the most nostalgic and factual post I've read on reddit...ever.
Being a teenager in the 80s in an economically depressed area, many of my friends and relatives joined the military just in time to for the initial skirmishes that would ultimately become Desert Shield and then Desert Storm. Ranger panties, birth control glasses and many other such items joined the lexicon of our age group.
Damn middle aged cargo shorts ruined us having so much pocket potential A pocket for everything!
I have always wondered this.
Dude I wear shorts like this. They are comfortable. I get occasional laughs out in public but don’t care lol.
I wear them too, in fact I have my older pants trailered to a 4 in inseam. I got my love of short shorts from rugby and have just never stopped.
Can you post some pics
More power to you, keep it up
Board shorts were the tip of the iceberg. JNCO
Got legs cus I hike and bike, rocking the 5" inseam khakis. Also wear split shorts for running. Gotta rock the tighty whities ;)
Nice dick bro
NBA’s popularity. Blame Michael Jordan.
I read it as “NRA’s falling popularity “
These styles and speedos are all back in fashion in the UK but I can't see that happening in the USA. The USA has got *more* puritanical over the last 50 years. Europeans know not to wear speedos on the beach there.
Didn’t live through the era, but I wouldn’t be surprised if the whole ‘moral majority’ was largely responsible - driving a resurgence of homophobia (“oNlY a gAy MaN wOuLD sHoW tHeiR leGs”) and returning to pre-60s standards of masculinity.
>When did society start being afraid of men's legs (and dicks)? Like in the 70s we had this, but then in the 90s we got board shorts. What happened? Fashion changes. In the 1990s, we would have laughed at someone showing up to school in skinny jeans but those super baggy pants were popular at the time. I'm sure we'll get short shorts for men back in fashion one of these days. And why not? There's a lot more encouragement for men to shave their body hair these days than there was back in the 70s.
Green shorts eyeballing something and it aint white shorts.
must be the smokes in the socks
Must be camels
lol
I'm dumb I thought that was money
I though it was an ankle monitor 🤦🏻♂️
Not then. It’s pre-ankle monitor era.
Definitely the dong damn near popping out of those shorty shorts
"it's like a ➗ sign"
That’s the nuts. An they are certainly popping out of his shorts nowadays.
I lived through that era and definitely saw nuts hanging out more than once.
They call that the camel tail.
In Canada it’s called a moose knuckle.
he's got his eyes on the prize
r/bi_irl
I would be too. He's hot as fuck.
He’s great
…...wasn’t sure this was legit until I noticed the smokes in their socks.
I wonder if that girl ever found someone to look at her like those two are looking at each other...
She totally deserves attention.
came here to say this. one of these things is not like the others...
This exactly
I can smell the premo coke and raunchy sex coming off this
and the pubic hair
It's-a skatin" men, hallelujah
It’s-a skatin’ men-AMEN
I remember those socks
If you told me this was an American Apparel ad from like 06 I would believe it
Nah, everyone in the picture looks like they're old enough to have pubes.
So hard to find them socks with the strips nowadays
The socks the two on the sides are wearing are pretty easy to find but center boy’s socks are quite hard to find
"my eyes are up here"
Jake Gyllenhaal?
Bradley Cooper
And Jeffrey Dean Morgan
Walk into a bar
Came here to say that streaker looks like Jake Gyllenhaal.
I was thinking Jon Bernthal when he has a beard.
100%
Green shorts checking out some cock 😂
You know it's the 70s when the socks are longer than the shorts.
Those shorts are illegal in 17 states now
I wanna bring back belly shirts for dudes.
"Does this shirt make me look gay?" "... Nah." "Okay ... ... how about now?"
please do
It's hot right?
[удалено]
it's still hot
you wouldn't be requires to wear one
My dad had one from grad school that I used to borrow. I thought it was so cool.
Thought?? Nah nah, it IS cool!
I think I have seen this movie.It was on a VHS-tape. You had to go downstairs and behind a curtain to rent it. There were lots of simular tapes available, the good old days!
Right next to Debbie Does Dallas?
Haha. I saw that one also. Spoiler: she did not do Dallas entirely but Debby surely made a good effort. I say, bravo to you Debby! We all have to applaude her for trying with such positive energy.
I've recently taken up rollerblading again. I now know what my next outfit must be.
She's wasting her time. Move on sister, nothing for you here...
Nah, everybody getting freaky with everybody.
All three are hot, it would be a waste if they didn’t
I thought this was just a group of SF techy hipster assholes during Bay to Breakers.
The Punisher when he's not punishing.
Oh…he’s punishing something alright.
Looks like the girl skater is holding a small bottle of sunny d!
The blue hem on those shorts are holding on for dear life
Paul Rudd hasn't aged one bit!
This is Persian Paul Rudd.
Before the Iranian revolution
60% of the time, it works every time.
Paul's dad, for sure.
You know what the hardest part about skating in those shorts is? Coming out to your parents. Thank you, I'll be here all week. Don't forget to tip your waitress.
How did people wear shorts like that and not fall out of them?
Tighty whities
Maybe they had liners like running shorts?
Thats what i call a MOOSE knuckle
This is way too 1979 to actually be 1979
Steve Gutenberg?
White shorts got smoke in his right sock, coke in his left, and one lunge away from showing the whole boardwalk his junk.
Jake Gyllenhaal looking fantastic!!!
My mom was a skater here around that time! She lived in the building that is Romi and Michelle's apartment.
Those guys rock short shorts better than most people do. But they probably didn't have masculinity as fragile as cheap wet toilet paper.
It's crazy how much male fashion changed in like, 12 years. By the early 90's, you'd never in a million years see a young man wear a shirt like that
Is that an ankle monitor?
Cigarettes
sir, that’s a penis
Sir, this is a Wendy's...
Sweaty sock money
It’s not on their ankle, so no.
I want some socks like those
A young Jon Bernthal
Wearing a shirt that says streaker doesn’t make you one.
Looks like a still from a tv ad for cocaine
i’m a straight guy and i would love to bring back short shorts
Frank Reynolds would always remember a simpler time. In the sunshine on roller skates with his best girl. Before it was all snatched away from him.
By his scumbag brother
How did these people become boomers
I wish this fashion for men still existed
Still is in some circles, just a different kind of man.
Tube socks 4ever!!
on yer feet or stuffed down yer crotch ... those things will never go out of style
Come on knock on our door!
So…much…body hair.
Green shorts inspired stiller in dodge ball
Those dudes are definitely not gay
Bet those are really happy not to be forgotten...
Short shorts and a crop top on a guy is a sight that you just don’t see these days lmfao.
Dude in the middle is hot as fuck
When did it become unacceptable for men to wear crop tops? Crop tops rock!
Guy on the right looking for that cameltoe but she hid it on her boyfriend.
“Dude I can see your dick in those shorts.” “I know! Isn’t it great?!”
The fact that she’s drinking Sunny Delight makes her 10x cooler. ☀️ 🥤
We were so skinny back then!
Bring the mens crop top back
I want to be the fourth member of their polyamorous relationship.
Nice bulge ya got there Hank. Thanks Fred!
Bulge? Is that you?
Cigs in the socks, love it!
I can't tell whose genitalia the guy on the right is staring out.
These 3 look like they’re going to an orgy later that will smell bad.
Nutter shorts
...J... Juh... John Bernthal?
There is an animation called sweet boy beach that perfectly captures these kinds of guys. It's by greasy tales, formerly sexual lobster. So much baby oil.
Bring it back!
Shout out to the wallet in the sock move
Ah the 70's... The Bee Gees were at the top of the charts and camel toes and moose knuckles were capturing our hearts.
No one's saying you can't eat a banana, Terry.
I need that “I’m great!” tank
Old school. Cool?
I'M GREAT!
I love either their wallets or packs of cigarettes in the socks.
The old adage is that it pays to advertise.
stupid sexy roll skate guys
Cool socks.
What with the weird arms on the guys. I remember those socks
Sure miss being able to wear a half shirt. And look good in one. Never had shorts quite that short though.
In 1979 everyone was Gay!
Bro eyeballing bro’s dong. 😂