Summer clothing is made for the skinniest people, those who look good in bikinis, shorts, and halter tops. It used to be true that those who looked the best in these outfits were teenagers, but the growing obesity epidemic in the young makes it even risky for teens to adopt the latest styles.
The problem with summer clothing is that too many people think they look good in it when they don't.
Not that it should really matter when you live in a climate where temperatures reach 115, air conditioning bills are through the roof, and you will do almost anything to stay cool.
But every summer I get tired of seeing way more skin than I would like, on people who have way too much skin bulging out of clothing way too small.
Every summer here in the scorching southwest I see rolls of fat protuding between cropped tops and low cut shorts, breasts threatening to pop out of tube tops and beer guts flopping over shorts that are obviously too small for the waistband to actually encounter the waist.
Why can't people just wear the appropriate size?
One of my biggest gripes about summer clothing is the recent trend for women to wear spagetti strap dresses or tops, with bra straps showing underneath. Instead of wearing strapless bras, which are uncomfortable, young women wear their regular bras and let the straps show. I don't like seeing women's underwear any more than I like seeing men's underwear - as in the young men who let their pants rest five inches or more below their boxer shorts.
But I guess I shouldn't complain. When I remember that women of my age used to put huge rollers in their hair and then go out in public that way because it took so long for our hair to dry, I'm kind of embarassed. Sure, we didn't have blow dryers and curling irons like we have today, but wearing curlers in one's hair to the mall - and even to church - I guess we had our own fashion fauz pas.
