This weekend, like the rest of urban America, we were tuned into the BET Awards to check out the all encompassing red carpet. Featuring some spot on fashions, some fashion misses, and some fashion three-peats, we weren’t disappointed. But there was one distraction that kept on popping up: What are all these men doing in tunics? Is this a thing?
Noted acts like Trinidad Jame$ and Big Sean were rocking what I will call a fashionable lab coat and a t-shirt dress, respectively, while enjoying the BET Awards festivities, but they weren’t the only ones trying to be the only ones in long tops.
2 Chainz had not one, but two looks for the awards show where he wore an uncategorizable item over his pants. The first was what looked like a sweater tied backwards over the front of his outfit.
The second was a leather panel draping the front and back of his white jeans as he took flight in a fringe leather jacket.
Chris Brown also succumbed to the tunic trend in the “Ready” video alongside Fabolous, for which he caught much flack in the comments section.
But in some other cases, like the case of Yasiin Bey, also known as Mos Def, traditional garb allows a little leeway when it comes to Muslim garb, uplifted with a little more traditionally Western menswear.
Fashion enthusiasts Kanye West and A$AP Rocky have been getting feedback for what may seem like eons in the comments sections for wearing what was described as skirts and dresses, but it looks like the trend may be catching on.
This raises the question: when exactly is a dress a dress or simply an elongated men’s shirt?
Remember, fashion is supposed to be about fun and self-expression anyway, so long as no one is encouraging you to “Do The Homie,” are you OK with rappers donning shirt dresses with no kneecaps showing?
PHOTO CREDIT: Getty Images/ Tommy Ton
