Virginia could lose plumbers' conventions for years to come if an indecent-exposure bill that passed the House of Delegates this week also clears the state Senate.
On the positive side, sales of suspenders could increase markedly.
Introduced by Del. Algie T. Howell Jr., D-Norfolk, the measure provides "that any person who exposes his below-waist undergarments in a lewd or indecent manner shall be assessed a $50 civil penalty."
The House voted 60-34 Tuesday and Howell's bill will go before a Senate committee soon.
The legislation is intended to stop teenage boys from wearing baggy, hip-hop-style pants that ride low and show their boxer shorts.
It also could be applied to girls and women who wear low-cut pants that expose the top of thongs, which is a popular style.
Students at James Monroe High School in Fredericksburg were talking about the legislation yesterday.
"I think it's pretty bogus, definitely," said 15-year-old Kealan Sojack, a freshman who was wearing baggy jeans. "It's just silly. There are more important things to worry about."
Julie Proffitt, a 17-year-old junior from the city, said: "I don't agree with it. I wear low-rise pants myself. I think it's a question of freedom of expression."
Katie Haggerty, a 16-year-old James Monroe junior who lives at Marlboro Point in Stafford County, said, "I don't agree with showing thongs, but people should be allowed to wear what they want to wear."
Fredericksburg-area representatives including Speaker of the House Bill Howell, R-Stafford, Del. Mark Cole, R-Spotsylvania, and Del. Albert C. Pollard Jr. D-Lancaster, voted for the bill.
Del. Bobby Orrock, R-Spotsylvania, who is a teacher at Spotsylvania High School, voted against it.
"As I see it, that's the parents' job," Orrock said. "It's the parents' responsibility what their kids are wearing and how they look in public.
"I resolved the issue in my own family, where my son thought that looked cool and I told him he could either wear his pants up or not wear pants at all," Orrock said. "He decided the better part of wisdom was to follow Daddy's instructions."
"I'm not expecting the police to go out and make massive arrests," Algie Howell told The Virginian-Pilot in Norfolk after the bill cleared the Courts of Justice Committee Friday.
"It has to do with character-building," Howell told the Richmond Times-Dispatch after the bill passed the House.
The 67-year-old Howell, who is black, said this is not a statement against hip-hop culture, but rather one against Haines-briefs couture.
The American Civil Liberties Union of Virginia is calling the bill unconstitutional.
And Mark Rozell, director of the graduate program for public policy at George Mason University in Fairfax, is amused by and concerned about the legislation.
"I always worry about the precedents established by such legislation," Rozell said. "Why not then fine people for wearing halter tops or cheap polyester suits?
"Even if this were to succeed, by the time a bill is passed into law and goes into effect, probably the fashions will have changed already," he said.
But the boys' baggy pants style isn't likely to go out of fashion anytime soon.
It's been around since hip-hop music artists began wearing their pants that way in the early '90s.
Young women dressing so their thongs are visible is a more recent development, but Barry Tartarkin, a New York fashion designer, said the visible thong look "is definitely not on the way out--it's not going away."
Tartarkin, president of the JBT Group, the creator and manufacturer of legwear and underwear for Givenchy, Ellen Tracy and Reve Avoix, said the low-slung pants look "is much sexier on women than on men."
"I think it's definitely become part of a woman's wardrobe," he said. "With women, the innerwear and outerwear are so similar these days that I think it would be very difficult to challenge women being able to dress the way they want."
Staff librarian Craig Schulin contributed to this story.
To reach MICHAEL ZITZ: 540/374-5408 mikez@freelancestar.com