Fashion faux pas

A fashion faux pas is a perceived error in fashion etiquette.
Examples
Socks and sandals
There are many variations of socks and sandals today, including the pairing of stockings with heels.
Shrimp cocktail toes
Shrimp cocktail toes are created when a person wears a pair of heels or sandals which are too small for them, causing their toes to extend beyond the edge of the shoe and grip the outer edges of their footwear. This causes their feet to resemble a shrimp cocktail. The origins of this term are unknown.
Wardrobe malfunction
A wardrobe malfunction is a fashion faux pas which involves the "accidental or supposedly accidental failure of clothing to cover parts of the body intended to be covered" and is "primarily used for referring to the exposure of breasts/areolae, but also acceptable for genitals, buttocks or underwear".
Examples include:
* when the paparazzi caught Reese Witherspoon walking around with an unzipped fly while shopping in November 2011
* Super Bowl XXXVIII halftime show controversy
* broken dress strap at an awards show in March 2010
Mom jeans
"Mom jeans" is a slang term that was developed to describe the unflattering fit of high-waisted, tapered-leg pants or slacks, typically made of denim or stretchy denim-like fabric. These pants are often a light or medium shade of blue, and they usually appeal to women who are forty years of age and older (thus, the name mom jeans).
The term traces back to Wil Heuser's skit for Saturday Night Live in the early 2000s. Celebrities such as Katie Holmes and, most recently, President Barack Obama were spotted wearing them. There have been a number of public figures who have promoted, mocked, and been inspired by mom jeans. Kim Kardashian defended the look in a post on her blog in May 2010, after she was spotted wearing an updated version of the style. As well, Jessica Simpson chose a pair of mom jeans in an attempt to hide her noticeably more-voluptuous-than-usual curves during a public appearance in Pembroke Pines, Florida, in late 2009.
Visible panty lines
Visible Panty Lines (VPL) is a fashion faux pas "where the panties of a woman are visible through the material of lower-body clothing". There are multiple causes of this fashion blunder. First and foremost, VPL can been caused by a woman wearing underwear that is darker than her pants or skirt. It can also be caused by wearing tight bottoms, certain materials such as lace or heavy cotton being worn under a sheer or light garment, and underwear being too small. The most common solutions to this fashion faux pas include wearing nude or light-coloured underwear, or selecting a more sheer fabric than cotton (such as microfiber), which can reduce noticeable lines.
A related faux pas is referred to as "Whale Tails", where the top of a thong is exposed over the waistline of pants, resembling the tail of a whale. Whale tails can be intentional for purposes of sexual arousal, or accidental, such as when a woman bends over and her pants slip down below, exposing the undergarment.
Muffin Top
Muffin Top is a word used to describe a waist-scrunching effect resulting from wearing tightly fit, low-rise pants accompanied by tightly fit tops. The term "muffin top" first originated through the use of Australian Slang in the year of 2003.
Plumber's butt
Plumber's Butt or Plumber's Crack is the inadvertent exposure of one's intergluteal cleft (butt crack) through the wearing of low-riding pants during acts of bending, kneeling or squatting. This term first originated in plumbers who, through the very nature of their work, began exposing themselves inadvertently to their clients.
This phenomenon is also known as builder's bum in the UK.
While this blunder is typically associated with men, women often commit a similar error in the "Whale tail".
Muscle shirts
A muscle shirt is a sleeveless shirt. Muscle shirts were originally worn by bodybuilders during exercise and then became a summer option for men. Many celebrities such as rapper Eminem (Marshall Mathers) and Arnold Schwarzenegger have been seen wearing muscle shirts in movies and on the red carpet.
Canadian tuxedo
The "Canadian tuxedo" or "denim sandwich" is a fashion faux pas which occurs when denim jeans and a denim jacket are worn together (i.e. denim-on-denim, also referred to as "double denim"). Often, each piece of denim has a slightly different wash, and the outfit is sometimes accompanied by a mullet. The "Texas tuxedo" variant may be accompanied by a denim shirt and bolo tie.
A number of celebrities have been spotted in Canadian tuxedos, including Justin Timberlake, Emile Hirsch, Hugh Jackman, Kiefer Sutherland, and Jay Leno.

Main Menu

See Also

Main Menu