Low-hanging pants seen as eyesore

Travelers will have to be more careful about what they wear when they pass through airports.

A recent survey showed that over one in four people thought the worst fashion excess seen at airports is the wearing of baggy pants that expose the upper part of the buttocks.

In a survey of 2,700 Internet users from all over the world conducted by Skyscanner, a website that compares flight costs (www.skyscanner.kr), 28 percent of respondents stated that they don’t want to see this fashion faux pas.

The fashion for low-pants is most popular among young male adults in their teens and 20s who like to mimic “Justin Bieber’s fashion.” It is also called a form of “fashion terrorism” because many people are uncomfortable with the look because it reveals the underwear and hips of people who wear the pants.

Some women also like to wear another form of ill-fitting pants, known as the Britney Spears style. But this also draws frowns from travelers because it buttocks of a woman become visible when they sit.

Other fashion styles voted worst as airport fashions by travelers were sweaty clothes (22 percent), belly tops (18 percent), and shirts that contain swear words or inappropriate words (12 percent). Wearing socks inside sandals was also voted as a fashion no-no by 9 percent of the respondents.

Other responses included clothes that reveal women’s breasts or show men’s chest hair, wearing excessive accessories, soccer shirts, and slippers.

About 52 percent of respondents said they were uncomfortable with the revealing fashions and 22 percent said they were displeased with unsanitary attire. One fourth of those polled said they were discontent with seeing rural or infantile fashions.

“The survey showed that people are still very uncomfortable about revealing fashion despite the hot weather. We advise travelers to style themselves according to the TPO (Time, Place, and Occasion),” said Chris Kim, a Korea market developer at Skyscanner.

Skyscanner, established in 2001, launched the official travel cost comparison site in 2002. It also watches the travel market trend as part of its policy to provide useful information to travelers. About 25 million people visit the site every month and over 9 million downloaded its mobile application. <The Korea Times/Yun Suh-young>

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