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Short Shorts for Men: TikTok’s Algorithm, Menswear, and the Power of Exposure
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Say what you will about TikTok’s meme-y ways but one thing is for certain: through the repetition of certain sounds, movements, and outfits, TikTok users have created a unique code of storytelling. Its visual language is best understood by those who have spent the most time on the app, but the aesthetics are beginning to bleed into the real-world, and by consequence fashion, as well. Instagram has already proven social media’s effect on how we look by creating a demand for grid-worthy outfits of the day and popularizing a certain body type. Now, TikTok stands poised to have a comparable influence on its Gen Z-centric users.
The video-sharing platform is unlike other apps because TikTok’s algorithm isn’t solely dependent on who you follow. Users are encouraged to view content on a recommended viewing page called the For You Page, which supplies an endless stream of videos that the app has deemed relevant to the type of content you engage with. The best way for creators to get on For You Pages is to create a video that is connected to a variety of popular trends, based on the music, content, or hashtag of the post. The result is an environment in which users are bombarded with different amalgamations and collages of hyper similar content. Within this, style trends are disseminated and tailored to the various genres of TikTok videos.
The ideal TikTok outfit is good for dancing or moving and is visually interesting enough to stand out in some way but generic enough to play into the app’s unique set of popular symbols. TikTokers will often wear clothing of similar silhouettes or cuts but with different patterns. Though many of the fashion trends seen on TikTok may not have necessarily been born on the app itself, the app quickly ingratiates users’ senses of style with barrages of similar images and therefore contributes to shaping a generation’s sense of style. Consider how J.Lo’s Versace Grammy’s dress or Kate Moss’ sheer slip have been forever burned into pop culture just by sheer visual saturation alone. TikTok fashion trends grab hold in a similar way.
Take men’s micro shorts–it seems that every stylish man is rocking a pair of loose boxer-inspired thigh skimmers this summer. While designers like Thom Browne have long sent innovatively-cut creations down the runway, the popularity of men’s short shorts has hit news heights over the past couple seasons. It is particularly surprising that young men and teens–demographics that have historically been drawn to safer cuts–have been rocking a look previously associated with serious distance runners and 50-something year old joggers longing for the 1980s. Now, however, male influencers on TikTok flaunt the style. In many ways, the look feels especially appropriate for the new decade. Over the past 10 years, the fashion industry’s ideal male body type has shifted more and more towards a skinny, androgynous look, and the “leg-day” memes that flooded even the pre-Instagram internet demanded men pay better attention to their bottom halves. But, more importantly, the shorts are great for dancing.
The members of the male influencer collective Sway House almost always wear them. Many of the Sway boys’ popular videos are of them dancing and lip-syncing. More often than not, the predominantly White, conventionally attractive boys are shirtless and in short shorts. The shorts are often baggy, and cut like boxers or athletic shorts so they move with the boys as they dance, but are still cut loosely enough to have movement of their own. Other TikTok Stars like the Hype House’s Chase Hudson, Taylor Holder, and Nate Wyatt frequently wear the same look.
The trend has also been meme-ified, with inseams at the punchline. Many users who are attracted to men post that those who wear a five-and-a-half-inch inseam could “hit it for free” while those who wear a seven-inch inseam will be “charged a fee” (a phrase from a commonly used soundtrack about attraction). Similarly, male-presenting users joke about how their past long-short wearing self is un-evolved compared to the quad-bearing man standing in front of a ring light and an iPhone.
The recent resurgence of men’s short shorts is by no means exclusive to TikTok. The growing trend reflects the push and pull between designers taking inspiration from the world around them, and their collections then influencing what’s in style. One of the highlights of Kim Jones’ Dior Men Spring/Summer 2021 collection was a pair of pin striped short shorts. With perfect pleating and a subtle but sexy loose fit, it’s hard to imagine any person not copping the airy summer garment. Just last year, Bottega Veneta’s Spring/Summer 2020 Men’s runway was full of flirty short shorts. Earlier this summer, Google searches for “micro shorts” increased by 122 percent the day after Normal People actor Paul Mescal was photographed in a pair of white thigh-grazers.
Many of mainstream TikTok’s aesthetic trends have constituted a sartorial challenge to gender norms. TikTokers like Chase Hudson have popularized a punk-inspired e-boy look complete with chunky necklaces, dangling earrings, and nail polish. Hudson and his fellow TikTokers’ looks are often informed by the sartorial practices of marginalized communities; modern iterations of men’s short shorts are rooted in predominantly queer spaces, and heavy gold jewelry, chain belts, name plate necklaces, stem from a rich Black sartorial tradition. Further, the app itself has come under fire for not promoting creators of color (especially Black creators), but individual users have made posts holding influencers accountable for their sartorial choices. The Sway boys in particular have recently been called out for queerbaiting.
The movement for a reconsideration of gender norms through fashion did not start with these influencers, but TikTok’s unique visual economy is able to amplify the exposure of both socially-tinged aesthetics and designer fashions. When Harry Styles wore a rainbow JW Anderson cardigan, fans online loved it. One loved the look so much that they created a video with the tag #HarryStylesCardigan. Users began to knit their own version of the cardigan, creating a new “challenge.” Currently, the hashtag over 7 million total views, and Anderson himself acknowledged the phenomenon in a recent Instagram post and even shared the patterns for the piece.
So far, TikTok’s set of visual codes has allowed it to accelerate and popularize trends in menswear. Given both the app’s surging popularity and the increasing number of five-and-a-half-inch inseam memes, it doesn’t seem like it will be stopping anytime soon.
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createdAt:Mon, 20 Jul 2020 20:54:20 +0000
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