N.C. Raves: The pants
The people who rave : The pants (5 of 7)

 

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Ravers wear loose-fitting clothing, including bellbottom pants, to dance more comfortably. Though shorts or sweat pants might be equally loose, a rave clothing style has emerged, which some find troubling. MORE
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Copyright ©1998 Jim Webb. All rights reserved.


"Everybody has their own take on the big pants," says Jodie Webb (no relation to the author), a Chapel Hill deejay. Webb says she wears them because big pants are suited to her style of dance. "They make it flow. Feet are really awkward, and these big pants tend to hide the feet."

"It used to be something that would differentiate [ravers]," Webb says. "A couple of years ago, when I would see someone wearing pants as big as mine, I knew that they knew this secret society we had where we'd go out and dance all night."

Still, Webb recognizes that they've gotten established as a fashion. "I think a lot of people wear them just because they think they're supposed to," she says. "I mean, you can get them in the mall. That's the surest sign of the popular high-school-kid clique."

"If you look like a geek and you love the music and you dance your own geeky way," says Todd Morman, "then you're more of a raver than the person decked out in the phat pants that comes in all hard and throwing attitude at people because they don't look the part."

Avi Rose, a Raleigh ravegoer, agrees, but says it's human nature to want to look the part. "It's easier to open up to people who look like you," he says. "That's society, you know? A preppy wouldn't want to talk to me." Still, he recognizes that it's more than just fitting in that's going on. "Fashion is one of the main things. It's like a fashion show," he says. "But even if they're not dressed 'right,' I still give them props to them if they're having fun." TOP


Above photo: "Sage" left, and "Panda Bear" have been driving across the country with their dog in a Volkswagen bug for months, and stopped off in Wilmington (N.C.) to go to a rave. The ex-Deadheads don't exactly travel from rave to rave, but they're on the lookout for a good party wherever they go. TOP