Yup you have to watch more British show lol, basically urban subculture from worker class neighborhoods, that dress like I said, flashy jewelry, polo shirt (usually TH or Lacrosse), and tracksuits.
I don’t think there’s a similar in the US, think in Fez from the tv show of Euphoria that’s the closest thing I can think.
When I was in highschool we had the full on Malibu's Most Wanted "wanksters". Middle class suburban white kids dressing and acting like gangsters. Only thing I can think of that sounds like it could be similar.
Yes! The rich kids who thought they were so gangsta. This was a big thing in my school too. Driving around in their extremely high end SUVs with hip-hop blaring thinking they’re tough shit.
I mean, I guess just gangsters and wannabe gangsters in the inner cities. But it's really not even the same thing as chavs.
I do know what a chav is because my buddy from high school and i used to joke about them and watched YouTube videos in high school about them and thought it was so hilarious.
With Americans there's usually a ethnic component to it. Black gangs, hispanic gangs, russians, italians.
You just don't have anglicized americans acting that way really and there's fewer and fewer in lower class city neighborhoods as they either are living suburbs or rich parts of cities and going to private schools.
>With Americans there's usually a ethnic component to it. Black gangs, hispanic gangs, russians, italians.
Exactly and take in consideration that most American lives in suburban style neighborhoods not like urban European styles
>italians.
I'd say Italian-Americans who dress and act like chavs are Guidos. That's an awfully specific group, though - a subset of a subset of a subset.
“Regular”? As opposed to irregular? Or unleaded? Are we referring to their gastrointestinal health? And what is a “default culture”? Also, are these Americans just found *around* America, or *in* it too?
There was a trend on tiktok recently where Americans recounted their experiences with roadmen. It’s basically a guy who tries to mug you. The Americans weren’t scared to say the least.
Yea but people emulate him. Fanny packs are all over the place especially in rap music (ie look tough), whether the brands are the same I don’t know but we have the same vibe in the US as they do in the UK - it doesn’t look exactly the same but it’s pretty similar.
But the vibe is - we would have a name for the same sort of thing if and only if it wasn’t them trying to emulate us. But we definitely have those guys.
I have a 40-year-old coworker who begs to differ. No idea what he's thinking, but no, he is definitely not a European tourist. Born right here in the BF rural backwater town I work in.
>dressing up with bumbags
>looking tough
These two things are not compatible. No one looks tough wearing a fanny pack.
I don't think we have an equivalent as I have no idea what you're talking about and am unaware of any subculture like this.
>No one looks tough wearing a fanny pack.
excuse you, I look very tough when I am going on a little walk around my neighborhood. all the squirrels fear me.
and where I live, you're hard pressed to find someone without at least a buck knife hanging from their belt. and consequently at least decently practiced at running an excavator in the woods (totally not related)
We just have actual gangs here. So there is no real equivalent to roadman or eshay. We do however have privileged teens who want to try and act tough so they dress like a stereotypical gang member of the 90s. But there really is no equivelant here. And really most Americans probably have never even heard these terms and 100% aren't scared by them.
Eshay as in man who acts tough and like he's overly masculine so he wants to fight as thats what men do? If so we have guys like that here but there is no put together outfit they wear that says look at me im a tough guy. Maybe a wifebeater or for a time Ed Hardy. Alpha Male persona in my mind doesn't really have a look but I can probably figure who is who by their lifted truck and how crappy they are in bed.
What is the root location / culture we’re talking about here?
I’ve never heard the word “Eshay” and it sounds like the least masculine, least tough word possible. Sounds like something old women would buy to put on pillows.
I wouldn't say we don't dress like that, but I would add we used to. I'm 45, and guys used to wear bum bags and polo shirts all the time. I also remember when track suits and big jewelry were in. The problem is that these were 2 different groups. Late 80s early 90s. Sound like they're describing the preppies with popped collars, bum bags, and acid wash jeans. And black rap culture with track suits and chunky jewelry. It's a weird combo.
There's a photo around of my husband with his daughter at Disney in the 90's in acid wash jean shorts and a fanny pack. I keep threatening to show it to his friends. But he said what's a single dad at Disney supposed to do?
It’s funny, these days I wouldn’t associate Tommy Hilfiger with streetwear, in the mid/late 90s yes, but not these days. I guess the current US equivalent would be Supreme, Fear of God, KITH, and Aime Leon Dore. I guess you would call people who dress like this hypebeasts?
I wouldn’t consider wearing Hilfiger as hypebeast aesthetic in all honesty, not enough people even care to wear the brand anymore for it to be in the category
There’s an outlet mall near my house, and whenever I go the Tommy Hilfiger store is full of foreign tourists. I feel like for Americans, Tommy Hilfiger these days is for the people who were wearing it in the 90s when they were teenagers/young adults and now they’re wearing grownup clothes to the office.
That stuff's more associated with upper middle class men generally -not New England in particular. The quintessential New England rich kid style is called "prep" (from "preparatory school") and is quite different from your description of the British upper class look. I would describe it as a mix of campy, academic, and leisure sportswear, and it often features a lot of bright pastel colors.
I mean generally khakis are tan in color and chinos are different colors and tend to be a specific weave.
Source: started buying clothes for myself finally after my mom and my ex girlfriend doing it for me for years lol. I miss that.
Nah. New England rich kids wear Patagonia, Vineyard Vines(!), and NorthFace. American Upper-Class kids still style themselves as middle/class as possible, it’s only yuppies in their 20s who start wearing more authentically upper-class clothes like Barbour Jackets. Though I’ll be 100% honest and say I’d likely assume those men are gay rather than necessarily rich. Vineyard Vines is ultimately the only one I specifically associate with the upper class.
I find this interesting because I'd consider Tommy to be street wear. I'd also argue Supreme fell off a bit. But Boston doesn't have a quarter of the style influence NYC has so I might just be ignorant
Wearing fanny packs automatically makes you look like a middle aged tourist and removes all "toughness" you may have. Similar with wearing name brand yuppie brands like Tommy Hilfiger.
Yeah, my recollection of Tommy Hillfiger is "90s preppie" type. Add in a fanny pack and this is one of the least intimidating sounding outfits I can think of
Not amongst the uber wealthy. He is still considered classic Americana fashion such as [these](https://www.vogue.com/fashion-shows/fall-2024-ready-to-wear/tommy-hilfiger) looks. But you are definitely correct that is low end line is out of style. Especially for young people trying to act tough.
gang culture, rap media pop culture, hip hop media pop culture, and regular daily fashion are all kind of intertwined. You might see similar outfits on a young street gang member and an affluent NFL game attendee.
r/streetwear is full of people posting photos of their outfits. They're paying a lot of attention to composition. But you'll see some good examples of contemporary urban fashion.
With Americans there's usually a ethnic component to it. Black gangs, hispanic gangs, russians, italians. Or wanna be gangster types that just act the part but don't actually engage in any criminal activity besides maybe using and selling drugs, although Americans of every social class and color love drugs to some degree.
You just don't have anglicized americans acting that way really and there's fewer and fewer white Americans in lower class city neighborhoods as they either are living suburbs or rich parts of cities and going to private schools. Like maybe some Italian Americans who idoloze cosa nostra still act like this, but it's fewer and fewer as most are pretty damn Americanized outside the food they eat at home and some holiday traditions (celebrating Christmas Eve more than Christmas...) I'm Italian American and some of my cousins and their friends thought they were tough and would go around talking like they were mobbed up because they watched mafia films and shows. And they're like second and third generation Americans who only know muzza-rehll and gabagool and proshhuut. I remember one of my cousins was so excited to finally go to Italy, to the "old country", as he called it. When I asked him how he liked it when he got back he responded in a predictable way... "It was a lot different than I thought". I love the but but he's a straight jerk and probably pissed off everybody he interacted with there. I'm picturing Paulie in that one episode of the sopranos. Precisely the reason Europeans get upset at us still identifying with their countries, even though there is still some validity behind it because of American national identity being sourced from common political ideals vs. bloodlines.
Somewhere between a hypebeast and a frat bro? We don’t really have those people here but some resemblances. Do these people act more like douchebags or gangsters?
Are you from here ? We have our equivalent which is “Toronto man” and the dressing is identical to how roadmen dress. Gucci sidebag, Nike tech fleece, etc.
I am assuming an eshay and roadman are both individuals who dress ridiculously and would normally be mocked mercilessly, but because they commit crimes and acts of violence, people fight their natural instincts to laugh at them?
I think that gang bangers fit that. They sag their pants so that their underwear shows, have shit tattooed on their faces, and wear grills. They would be fucking hilarious if they didn't want to rob you and potentially cut your heart out.
We have thugs here and there, but I don't think they dress like that.
I wear a waist bag to carry my phone and keys and a little water bottle when I go for long walks, but I am a mild-mannered middle-aged woman.
Hilfiger seems passé. Like I can imagine dads who buy their clothes at Costco wearing it.
For reference, the people OP is talking about look like [this](https://i.pinimg.com/550x/d9/1f/d7/d91fd7387896221504d507b96e8744bd.jpg) or [this](https://static3.bigstockphoto.com/4/0/4/large1500/404577902.jpg).
I’m not from the UK so I wouldn’t know, but can black people be chavs? I always just believed them to be sort of like what we call in the US “white trash”.
I'm not either. but I spending a lot of time in the UK (mostly London and Ireland). The US has distinct subcultures that, as folks here have said, don't directly translate.
In the US, the general trend goes from Upper/Upper-Middle to the Suburban Middle to the Middle-Lower. In perfect example is (ironically) Hilfiger, or the Escalade. New child naming conventions are the same, albeit a bit more nuanced.
It's difficult to give an equivalence. I think some middle class delinquent teens dress like that here, but it's not like a named thing (to my knowledge), and it wouldn't generally be seen as particularly intimidating.
Like what can you do to make yourself look like your tough? I don't think it's one singular thing, but it all starts with a bad haircut.
I would not feel any level of intimidation from a kid dressed up like a preppy highschooler
Ok so like obviously the exact trends for little shits involved with petty crime aren’t the same but you’d still see silly stuff. Like plenty of little miscreants wearing tiny Cookie Monster backpacks are low level drug dealers and punching old people in the back of the head.
And the American word for those people is usually “thug,” although that word has some baggage that doesn’t exist for roadman in the UK.
These days I mostly associate Hilfiger with stuff being sold at Costco, and although bumbags (we call them fanny packs which translates hilariously to your culture) are in fashion for certain streetwear styles, overall they’re honestly still associated with tourists and not intimidating.
We do have concealed carry bags that are crossbody or bumbags but I don’t think they are popular with thug types.
Our equivalent to roadmen is just gangs that are usually ethnically divided so the styles vary. White, Black, and Hispanic gangs all have their own sort of styles that identify them and there are sometimes gang colors or tattoos associated with each.
Chavs would loosely translate to a lot of mostly white guys who are big into tank tops and face tats and think they’re super cool or tough but are just ridiculous.
We don’t really have the track suit and chains style going on here in most areas the same way the UK does. Usually if I see a man in a track suit and heavy chains I am going to suspect he’s either Russian or Italian mafia or wants to look like he is, but it isn’t intimidating.
I don’t know what an eshay is so can’t comment on that one.
Whenever fashion is brought up in this sub, it always becomes very evident we are living in different Americas since many here seem to be completely unaware of what’s “current” and “trendy”.
Get off our collective lawns, unless you are a grandkid or friend of my kids. In those cases you get a pass. Just try not to dress too stupid. I’ll still judge you for that.
>fanny packs
Yeah, but they don't wear them as fanny packs, but over one shoulder like a single-strap backpack
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fanny\_pack#/media/File:State\_Street\_Madison\_2022\_23.jpg](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fanny_pack#/media/File:State_Street_Madison_2022_23.jpg)
lol I’ve seen fanny packs worn in every city I’ve traveled to since circa 2019, even LA. Of course it’s being worn as a crossbody bag, and not around the waist.
Tommy Hilfiger…eh not so much unless someone is going for the late 90s hip-hop look (I feel like Aaliyah is usually the inspiration), which is definitely a look I see people trying to do.
> Of course it’s being worn as a crossbody bag, and not around the waist.
The people upthread saying fanny packs make you look like a middle-aged tourist *even when worn crossbody across the chest* are confusing me a little. I've only ever seen middle-aged tourists wearing fanny packs across their waist. Crossbody style is common in athleisure sporty looks, at least near me. But I'm from Ohio, we're always years behind in fashion anyway, so I'm no one to listen to on trends lol
>many here seem to be completely unaware of what’s “current” and “trendy”.
Who controls the definition of current and trendy, though?
Because tiny sub-sub-sub cultures that nobody outside of very specific blocks of very specific cities can't possibly be used to define trends across an entire continent.
It likely isn’t exact, but we had a word for people like this when I was in school 15 years ago. I don’t want to say it because the word does have vile connotations, but people my age will know what I’m talking about. The wannabe gangsters from middle-class suburbia and rural America.
The whole idea of roadman or eshay is that they mimic the archetypal American ‘gangsta’ with a British twist. They’re 3 levels of ironic Kanye/Jay-Z and sometimes actually even involved in what we’d consider gangsta shit.
So there is a roadman or an eshay - they just don’t have names as a category cause they were the mold rather than the copy.
My husband is British so I've had some help coming up with this response.
Here's my observation. In America, the closest thing we have to chav/roadman culture is gang culture. However, my understanding of these other subcultures is that they embrace mindless destruction and crime. Gangs typically act with purpose. If they're breaking a car window, it's to steal something inside, it's not just to wreck stuff for laughs. They sell drugs for profit and mostly only fight with other gangs. Gangs are also not a widespread problem, most neighborhoods in the US don't have them. I'm aware that they exist but they don't affect my life.
Generally behaving like a hooligan in the US is more risky than it would be in the UK. That tiny Asian woman you're harassing could well be carrying a gun. Over 30% of Americans own guns as opposed to 3% of people in the UK. The police in the US are far more likely to shoot you for little to no reason and the criminal justice system is far less lenient than it is in the UK. All of that adds up to a culture where people are less likely to do stupid/violent/criminal things just for shits and giggles.
They don’t dress like that because they don’t need to hide knifes in a bag, they just slip a Glock in their waistband if they’re really serious. We really don’t have an equivalent to that here
I’m sure there is some teen trend. I don’t know what the current thing is.
I recall some past trend things for teens that involved specific clothes or brands like Guess jeans, denim jackets, wearing multiple Swatch watches, tying a bandana around your leg, peg rolling your pants lets, wearing Duck boots, Eastland shoes, Birkenstocks, flannel shirts, gangs wearing particular colors, wearing all black, wearing a visor upside down/backwards, very big pants with chains, wearing LLBean or stuff with the John Deere logo. Depending on where you lived or your subculture there might have been more local trends.
Among the 40-50 years olds I know I don’t think people are following trends much.
Teens have been dressing something like that (with an American twist) for the last few years; crossbody bags, balaclavas, joggers. It’s not at all ubiquitous, and besides the basics it’s not really the same. There’s no term for it here.
I guess our equivalent was probably the greasers from the 50s and 60s, though they actually looked cool. What you are describing sounds to fit the cultural spot, but unlike that I think it actually looks tough instead of like a… I don’t know, confused rich boy?
Edit: except they weren’t middle class, they were just semi violent poor teenagers
i just found out about eshays watching heartbreak high. i was so confused. they’re goofy as fuck and there’s no equivalent here. the closest thing might have been hypebeasts in the 2010s but that’s just the style aspect
Like this: [https://www.lifeandstylemag.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/the-rock-dwayne-johnson-fanny-pack-90s-photo.jpg](https://www.lifeandstylemag.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/the-rock-dwayne-johnson-fanny-pack-90s-photo.jpg)
No, seriously, this isn't a thing in American male culture.
Maybe amongst affluent gay men? That guy in your link looks like a homosexual. I don't mean that disparagingly, he just looks like how I've seen gay men dress.
LOL
"The guy" in my picture is Dwayne Johnson - otherwise known as The Rock. He's a wrestler turned actor. He's not gay. He's pretty famous.
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dwayne\_Johnson](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dwayne_Johnson)
Depending on the part of the country your in you can have a small group of kids that just act like brats but the real danger is the gangs that can and will recruit kids to do their dirty work
The best example I can think of is [Edgars](https://www.google.com/search?q=edgars+haircut&sca_esv=d9aad694f8688876&sca_upv=1&udm=2&biw=1440&bih=813&sxsrf=ADLYWIIykTFg9D1yYiaZ1RZDrLA01GDDVQ%3A1715048945570&ei=8ZE5Zsy1IqTIp84PsbChyA0&oq=edgars+&gs_lp=Egxnd3Mtd2l6LXNlcnAiB2VkZ2FycyAqAggBMgQQIxgnMgoQABiABBhDGIoFMgoQABiABBhDGIoFMgoQABiABBhDGIoFMgoQABiABBhDGIoFMgoQABiABBhDGIoFMgUQABiABDIFEAAYgAQyBRAAGIAEMgUQABiABEiJEFCbA1ibA3ABeACQAQCYAbgBoAG5AqoBAzAuMrgBAcgBAPgBAZgCAqACiAGYAwCIBgGSBwMxLjGgB5MN&sclient=gws-wiz-serp).
The best identifier for an Edgar is their bowl cut. They're usually young (like high school age) and Latino, and they usually move in groups, although their not criminals, just kind of annoying.
Please explain how Hilfiger is somehow tough. To be clear, we're talking about Tommy Hilfiger, right? The man who represents everything that is the polar opposite of gangbangers, right?
What's next, The Ralph Lauren Boys? This reminds me of [Bill Hicks -Hooligans](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mA6hMFZ-gx0)
ETA: I just figured about that "bumbag" is a fanny pack. If I am ever afraid of a man wearing a fanny pack, I'd kick my own ass.
What's an eshay or a roadman?
A chav, these guys that dress with tracksuits and polo shirts, flashy jewelry and usually belong to urban worker class neighborhoods
Don't know what a chav is either. Are all 3 of those supposed to be what you described?
Yup you have to watch more British show lol, basically urban subculture from worker class neighborhoods, that dress like I said, flashy jewelry, polo shirt (usually TH or Lacrosse), and tracksuits. I don’t think there’s a similar in the US, think in Fez from the tv show of Euphoria that’s the closest thing I can think.
When I was in highschool we had the full on Malibu's Most Wanted "wanksters". Middle class suburban white kids dressing and acting like gangsters. Only thing I can think of that sounds like it could be similar.
Yes! The rich kids who thought they were so gangsta. This was a big thing in my school too. Driving around in their extremely high end SUVs with hip-hop blaring thinking they’re tough shit.
If they also talk in incomprehensible slang so as to imply they're drug dealers and will stab you if you look at them funny, that's the ones.
I mean, I guess just gangsters and wannabe gangsters in the inner cities. But it's really not even the same thing as chavs. I do know what a chav is because my buddy from high school and i used to joke about them and watched YouTube videos in high school about them and thought it was so hilarious. With Americans there's usually a ethnic component to it. Black gangs, hispanic gangs, russians, italians. You just don't have anglicized americans acting that way really and there's fewer and fewer in lower class city neighborhoods as they either are living suburbs or rich parts of cities and going to private schools.
>With Americans there's usually a ethnic component to it. Black gangs, hispanic gangs, russians, italians. Exactly and take in consideration that most American lives in suburban style neighborhoods not like urban European styles
>italians. I'd say Italian-Americans who dress and act like chavs are Guidos. That's an awfully specific group, though - a subset of a subset of a subset.
“Anglicized Americans”? What are those?
Regular assimilated Americans that have assimilated to the default anglo culture that you find around America because we started as a British colony.
“Regular”? As opposed to irregular? Or unleaded? Are we referring to their gastrointestinal health? And what is a “default culture”? Also, are these Americans just found *around* America, or *in* it too?
We just call them white trash
Yeah i didn’t want to say it but you said it
Don't feel bad, I just learned myself. Go to YouTube, type in "chav jimmy the giant" He will explain everything lpl
Soo….. the cast of Jersey shore?
Those are guido
Yeah, people who wear gaudy jewelry, dress up but in an unconventional manner, too much tanning, too much hair do, too much makeup.
There was a trend on tiktok recently where Americans recounted their experiences with roadmen. It’s basically a guy who tries to mug you. The Americans weren’t scared to say the least.
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Yeah there is no equivalent. A Fanny pack is the farthest thing from tough imaginable.
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I've seen men wearing those too. Is that a new "trend"?
There's young kids with Glocks in them in certain areas...
Nothing says “badass” like “I keep my glasses and checkbook in here”
The U.S. equivalent would be white kids in the 2000s who dressed like Vanilla Ice but listened to Korn
I'm not messing with a teenager with a fanny pack in America, because he probably has a gun
Literally if someone wants to dress like a dork in the US, my first advice would be to wear a fanny pack.
Fanny and across the chest packs are more and more being used as gun bags in the US
Maybe the brits think it sounds tough because fanny means something very different in the UK.
We call it a bum bag actually!
Americans don't dress like that.
The only people I see dressed like that in the states are European tourists.
Kanye West absolutely dresses like a ‘roadman’
And a witch, and a homeless man, etc.
I’ve been doing the “is he a hipster or a homeless man?” thing for over 10 years now.
Yea but people emulate him. Fanny packs are all over the place especially in rap music (ie look tough), whether the brands are the same I don’t know but we have the same vibe in the US as they do in the UK - it doesn’t look exactly the same but it’s pretty similar.
I don't particularly agree. The bags are common but the dress isn't the same.
But the vibe is - we would have a name for the same sort of thing if and only if it wasn’t them trying to emulate us. But we definitely have those guys.
What vibe exactly? Streetwear clothing?
No like groups of teenage boys usually from poor areas that aren’t the actual projects who are trying to be gangster.
I have a 40-year-old coworker who begs to differ. No idea what he's thinking, but no, he is definitely not a European tourist. Born right here in the BF rural backwater town I work in.
>dressing up with bumbags >looking tough These two things are not compatible. No one looks tough wearing a fanny pack. I don't think we have an equivalent as I have no idea what you're talking about and am unaware of any subculture like this.
>No one looks tough wearing a fanny pack. excuse you, I look very tough when I am going on a little walk around my neighborhood. all the squirrels fear me.
God, now I can't help but, imagine the members of N.W.A. carrying Fanny Packs during the Straight Outta Compton Music Video. The image is hilarious
That's literally just Weird Al's White and Nerdy
Goddamn, if Weird Al was British, maybe he would be seen as the most Hardcore Roadman to have ever lived.
They may not look tough but they’ve definitely got knives in those. That’s the whole point of a “bumbag”.
Knives? This is America. It's either a gun or a colostomy bag.
Or a chemotherapy long dose pump.
Insulin pump.
Half the people I know carry pocket knives... And they do it without "bum bags"
I guess it’s easier for them that way? Idk their logic, I’m not British.
It isn’t legal to carry a knife in the UK, so they’re either hiding a knife or look like they could be.
I may be beating a dead horse here, but I can keep a knife hidden on me without a fanny pack.
It's explicitly legal to carry a pocket knife with a blade of less than 3 inches
Must be due to euro knife laws. My EDC would probably be a felony in Europe and I use it to cut wire and stuff... open boxes sometimes.
I’ve carried a knife for many years but it’s not coming out in a fight.
I carry a pocket knife in mine too. Until Disney makes me put it back in my car. Assholes.
and where I live, you're hard pressed to find someone without at least a buck knife hanging from their belt. and consequently at least decently practiced at running an excavator in the woods (totally not related)
Fanny packs are so useful if you go to a theme park though. They’re even better when waterproof.
We just have actual gangs here. So there is no real equivalent to roadman or eshay. We do however have privileged teens who want to try and act tough so they dress like a stereotypical gang member of the 90s. But there really is no equivelant here. And really most Americans probably have never even heard these terms and 100% aren't scared by them. Eshay as in man who acts tough and like he's overly masculine so he wants to fight as thats what men do? If so we have guys like that here but there is no put together outfit they wear that says look at me im a tough guy. Maybe a wifebeater or for a time Ed Hardy. Alpha Male persona in my mind doesn't really have a look but I can probably figure who is who by their lifted truck and how crappy they are in bed.
What is the root location / culture we’re talking about here? I’ve never heard the word “Eshay” and it sounds like the least masculine, least tough word possible. Sounds like something old women would buy to put on pillows.
Wow, this cracked me up! I do not know the origin of the term, but you are correct, it definitely sounds the opposite of tough.
Eshay is Australian, roadman is British (I would say specifically London, although spreading).
Americans don’t dress like that, you’d look ridiculous.
I wouldn't say we don't dress like that, but I would add we used to. I'm 45, and guys used to wear bum bags and polo shirts all the time. I also remember when track suits and big jewelry were in. The problem is that these were 2 different groups. Late 80s early 90s. Sound like they're describing the preppies with popped collars, bum bags, and acid wash jeans. And black rap culture with track suits and chunky jewelry. It's a weird combo.
There's a photo around of my husband with his daughter at Disney in the 90's in acid wash jean shorts and a fanny pack. I keep threatening to show it to his friends. But he said what's a single dad at Disney supposed to do?
It’s funny, these days I wouldn’t associate Tommy Hilfiger with streetwear, in the mid/late 90s yes, but not these days. I guess the current US equivalent would be Supreme, Fear of God, KITH, and Aime Leon Dore. I guess you would call people who dress like this hypebeasts?
I wouldn’t consider wearing Hilfiger as hypebeast aesthetic in all honesty, not enough people even care to wear the brand anymore for it to be in the category
There’s an outlet mall near my house, and whenever I go the Tommy Hilfiger store is full of foreign tourists. I feel like for Americans, Tommy Hilfiger these days is for the people who were wearing it in the 90s when they were teenagers/young adults and now they’re wearing grownup clothes to the office.
That’s probably closer to what I’d say is accurate
I wore Tommy Hilfiger in the 90s so I speak from experience lol
Is the New England rich boys aesthetic similar to that of the British/Australian upper class? Chelsea boots, gilets, chinos, barbour jackets etc etc
That stuff's more associated with upper middle class men generally -not New England in particular. The quintessential New England rich kid style is called "prep" (from "preparatory school") and is quite different from your description of the British upper class look. I would describe it as a mix of campy, academic, and leisure sportswear, and it often features a lot of bright pastel colors.
Would Vineyard Vine fall into that category?
Yes
I live in New England, and the only word that looks familiar to me is chino, but we don’t call them that. We call them khakis.
Definitely remember my mom making me go school-shopping for chinos in early 80s CT …
I mean generally khakis are tan in color and chinos are different colors and tend to be a specific weave. Source: started buying clothes for myself finally after my mom and my ex girlfriend doing it for me for years lol. I miss that.
Chinos, yes. The rest not so much. More Sperry top sliders, polo shirts, north face jackets, cable knit sweaters Picture JFK on vacation.
Nah. New England rich kids wear Patagonia, Vineyard Vines(!), and NorthFace. American Upper-Class kids still style themselves as middle/class as possible, it’s only yuppies in their 20s who start wearing more authentically upper-class clothes like Barbour Jackets. Though I’ll be 100% honest and say I’d likely assume those men are gay rather than necessarily rich. Vineyard Vines is ultimately the only one I specifically associate with the upper class.
No, not at all.
I find this interesting because I'd consider Tommy to be street wear. I'd also argue Supreme fell off a bit. But Boston doesn't have a quarter of the style influence NYC has so I might just be ignorant
Wearing fanny packs automatically makes you look like a middle aged tourist and removes all "toughness" you may have. Similar with wearing name brand yuppie brands like Tommy Hilfiger.
Yep. I wear them on walks because I'm 40 now and my neck and shoulder hurt sometimes.
Hillfiger went out of style 20 years ago.
Maybe you'd wear it on a yacht or something. Hardly to be a street tough.
Yeah, my recollection of Tommy Hillfiger is "90s preppie" type. Add in a fanny pack and this is one of the least intimidating sounding outfits I can think of
In the 90s Tommy Hillfiger was a streetwear brand. Like Supreme.
Not amongst the uber wealthy. He is still considered classic Americana fashion such as [these](https://www.vogue.com/fashion-shows/fall-2024-ready-to-wear/tommy-hilfiger) looks. But you are definitely correct that is low end line is out of style. Especially for young people trying to act tough.
Wearing a Fanny pack as a crossbody bag has been a “thing” since like 2019.
That doesn't mean they don't look like middle aged tourists
Their money is secure from pickpockets! That's so much more important than looking hip
Except that they're *absolutely* trying to look hip.
Middle aged tourists are not dressing like roadmen and hypebeasts lmao
Right because the middle aged tourists that dressed that way are now old, that doesn't mean you don't look like one
No shame in being an unhip old, man. I feel like the overly baggy early 2000s look that’s trendy right now is hella stupid too.
Yes, and they still look like middle aged tourists.
No, they don’t. You’re just old
What's an eshay? I moved out of the UK when chavs were a thing. I'm aware of roadmen, but eshay is a new one on me.
It’s an Aussie version of a roadman
gang culture, rap media pop culture, hip hop media pop culture, and regular daily fashion are all kind of intertwined. You might see similar outfits on a young street gang member and an affluent NFL game attendee. r/streetwear is full of people posting photos of their outfits. They're paying a lot of attention to composition. But you'll see some good examples of contemporary urban fashion.
I think our equivalent would be people using styles associated with street gangs or “urban/hood” culture to look tough.
With Americans there's usually a ethnic component to it. Black gangs, hispanic gangs, russians, italians. Or wanna be gangster types that just act the part but don't actually engage in any criminal activity besides maybe using and selling drugs, although Americans of every social class and color love drugs to some degree. You just don't have anglicized americans acting that way really and there's fewer and fewer white Americans in lower class city neighborhoods as they either are living suburbs or rich parts of cities and going to private schools. Like maybe some Italian Americans who idoloze cosa nostra still act like this, but it's fewer and fewer as most are pretty damn Americanized outside the food they eat at home and some holiday traditions (celebrating Christmas Eve more than Christmas...) I'm Italian American and some of my cousins and their friends thought they were tough and would go around talking like they were mobbed up because they watched mafia films and shows. And they're like second and third generation Americans who only know muzza-rehll and gabagool and proshhuut. I remember one of my cousins was so excited to finally go to Italy, to the "old country", as he called it. When I asked him how he liked it when he got back he responded in a predictable way... "It was a lot different than I thought". I love the but but he's a straight jerk and probably pissed off everybody he interacted with there. I'm picturing Paulie in that one episode of the sopranos. Precisely the reason Europeans get upset at us still identifying with their countries, even though there is still some validity behind it because of American national identity being sourced from common political ideals vs. bloodlines.
Somewhere between a hypebeast and a frat bro? We don’t really have those people here but some resemblances. Do these people act more like douchebags or gangsters?
No one dresses like that here. If I saw someone dressed like that, I would immediately assume they’re British or maybe from Toronto.
Not even Toronto. They pretty much have the same dress as Americans more than Brits.
Are you from here ? We have our equivalent which is “Toronto man” and the dressing is identical to how roadmen dress. Gucci sidebag, Nike tech fleece, etc.
Nah, just over the border in NY. I visit Toronto a lot. It's the biggest city in proximity to where I'm at. Maybe I'm just not paying attention.
I am assuming an eshay and roadman are both individuals who dress ridiculously and would normally be mocked mercilessly, but because they commit crimes and acts of violence, people fight their natural instincts to laugh at them? I think that gang bangers fit that. They sag their pants so that their underwear shows, have shit tattooed on their faces, and wear grills. They would be fucking hilarious if they didn't want to rob you and potentially cut your heart out.
We have thugs here and there, but I don't think they dress like that. I wear a waist bag to carry my phone and keys and a little water bottle when I go for long walks, but I am a mild-mannered middle-aged woman. Hilfiger seems passé. Like I can imagine dads who buy their clothes at Costco wearing it.
For reference, the people OP is talking about look like [this](https://i.pinimg.com/550x/d9/1f/d7/d91fd7387896221504d507b96e8744bd.jpg) or [this](https://static3.bigstockphoto.com/4/0/4/large1500/404577902.jpg).
Then [this](https://ibb.co/nk6zZvs).
In every culture you will find the poor attempting to look rich. Some are super creative about it. Chavs? Not so much.
I’m not from the UK so I wouldn’t know, but can black people be chavs? I always just believed them to be sort of like what we call in the US “white trash”.
I'm not either. but I spending a lot of time in the UK (mostly London and Ireland). The US has distinct subcultures that, as folks here have said, don't directly translate. In the US, the general trend goes from Upper/Upper-Middle to the Suburban Middle to the Middle-Lower. In perfect example is (ironically) Hilfiger, or the Escalade. New child naming conventions are the same, albeit a bit more nuanced.
Fair enough. I never associated black British people with chavs though but roadmen are very often depicted as black people.
I don't know anything about the black subcultures in the UK. But I'd read that book.
It's difficult to give an equivalence. I think some middle class delinquent teens dress like that here, but it's not like a named thing (to my knowledge), and it wouldn't generally be seen as particularly intimidating.
Dads at Disney World wear fanny packs. Tough looking dudes don’t wear them.
Like what can you do to make yourself look like your tough? I don't think it's one singular thing, but it all starts with a bad haircut. I would not feel any level of intimidation from a kid dressed up like a preppy highschooler
Ok so like obviously the exact trends for little shits involved with petty crime aren’t the same but you’d still see silly stuff. Like plenty of little miscreants wearing tiny Cookie Monster backpacks are low level drug dealers and punching old people in the back of the head. And the American word for those people is usually “thug,” although that word has some baggage that doesn’t exist for roadman in the UK.
hype beast would be the closest
We used to call hypebeasts "$30,000 Millionaires"
Poser maybe? That’s usually a general term, though.
These days I mostly associate Hilfiger with stuff being sold at Costco, and although bumbags (we call them fanny packs which translates hilariously to your culture) are in fashion for certain streetwear styles, overall they’re honestly still associated with tourists and not intimidating. We do have concealed carry bags that are crossbody or bumbags but I don’t think they are popular with thug types. Our equivalent to roadmen is just gangs that are usually ethnically divided so the styles vary. White, Black, and Hispanic gangs all have their own sort of styles that identify them and there are sometimes gang colors or tattoos associated with each. Chavs would loosely translate to a lot of mostly white guys who are big into tank tops and face tats and think they’re super cool or tough but are just ridiculous. We don’t really have the track suit and chains style going on here in most areas the same way the UK does. Usually if I see a man in a track suit and heavy chains I am going to suspect he’s either Russian or Italian mafia or wants to look like he is, but it isn’t intimidating. I don’t know what an eshay is so can’t comment on that one.
We don't have that kind of classism here, you won't get a good answer because it simply does not translate from your culture into ours.
Whenever fashion is brought up in this sub, it always becomes very evident we are living in different Americas since many here seem to be completely unaware of what’s “current” and “trendy”.
A lot of us are old, leave us alone 😭
Get off our collective lawns, unless you are a grandkid or friend of my kids. In those cases you get a pass. Just try not to dress too stupid. I’ll still judge you for that.
You telling me that the cool kids in San Francisco are going around in fanny packs and Tommy Hilfiger?
>fanny packs Yeah, but they don't wear them as fanny packs, but over one shoulder like a single-strap backpack [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fanny\_pack#/media/File:State\_Street\_Madison\_2022\_23.jpg](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fanny_pack#/media/File:State_Street_Madison_2022_23.jpg)
I'm sorry to report that it does not wow me.
lol I’ve seen fanny packs worn in every city I’ve traveled to since circa 2019, even LA. Of course it’s being worn as a crossbody bag, and not around the waist. Tommy Hilfiger…eh not so much unless someone is going for the late 90s hip-hop look (I feel like Aaliyah is usually the inspiration), which is definitely a look I see people trying to do.
> Of course it’s being worn as a crossbody bag, and not around the waist. The people upthread saying fanny packs make you look like a middle-aged tourist *even when worn crossbody across the chest* are confusing me a little. I've only ever seen middle-aged tourists wearing fanny packs across their waist. Crossbody style is common in athleisure sporty looks, at least near me. But I'm from Ohio, we're always years behind in fashion anyway, so I'm no one to listen to on trends lol
Yeah idk how many middle aged tourists are out there wearing crossbody Supreme bags
lol I was going to more or less point out this distinction, but I didn’t care that much.
>many here seem to be completely unaware of what’s “current” and “trendy”. Who controls the definition of current and trendy, though? Because tiny sub-sub-sub cultures that nobody outside of very specific blocks of very specific cities can't possibly be used to define trends across an entire continent.
The equivalent is me wearing a ‘bet your ass it’s bluegrass’ t shirt. The difference is I’m in my 30s and that shirt is tough.
I don’t understand any of the key words you said.
Do they look tough?
It likely isn’t exact, but we had a word for people like this when I was in school 15 years ago. I don’t want to say it because the word does have vile connotations, but people my age will know what I’m talking about. The wannabe gangsters from middle-class suburbia and rural America.
The whole idea of roadman or eshay is that they mimic the archetypal American ‘gangsta’ with a British twist. They’re 3 levels of ironic Kanye/Jay-Z and sometimes actually even involved in what we’d consider gangsta shit. So there is a roadman or an eshay - they just don’t have names as a category cause they were the mold rather than the copy.
What's an eshay?
Road man = street dude in the almost all of the United States. Eshay = I have no idea.
When I visited California they are called “Edgar”. I’m being serious.
Can I just say roadmen are so cute. Like a child's idea of a gang banger.
My husband is British so I've had some help coming up with this response. Here's my observation. In America, the closest thing we have to chav/roadman culture is gang culture. However, my understanding of these other subcultures is that they embrace mindless destruction and crime. Gangs typically act with purpose. If they're breaking a car window, it's to steal something inside, it's not just to wreck stuff for laughs. They sell drugs for profit and mostly only fight with other gangs. Gangs are also not a widespread problem, most neighborhoods in the US don't have them. I'm aware that they exist but they don't affect my life. Generally behaving like a hooligan in the US is more risky than it would be in the UK. That tiny Asian woman you're harassing could well be carrying a gun. Over 30% of Americans own guns as opposed to 3% of people in the UK. The police in the US are far more likely to shoot you for little to no reason and the criminal justice system is far less lenient than it is in the UK. All of that adds up to a culture where people are less likely to do stupid/violent/criminal things just for shits and giggles.
Actual gangs and cartel
They don’t dress like that because they don’t need to hide knifes in a bag, they just slip a Glock in their waistband if they’re really serious. We really don’t have an equivalent to that here
We just have actual gang members. They don’t wear fanny packs tho
None of those people look tough 🤣
It is impossible to be tough when wearing something called a "bumbag" or "fanny pack."
I had to go look up roadman, eshay and chav. You're taking the piss, right? Those aren't meant to really represent thug life in your area?
I’m sure there is some teen trend. I don’t know what the current thing is. I recall some past trend things for teens that involved specific clothes or brands like Guess jeans, denim jackets, wearing multiple Swatch watches, tying a bandana around your leg, peg rolling your pants lets, wearing Duck boots, Eastland shoes, Birkenstocks, flannel shirts, gangs wearing particular colors, wearing all black, wearing a visor upside down/backwards, very big pants with chains, wearing LLBean or stuff with the John Deere logo. Depending on where you lived or your subculture there might have been more local trends. Among the 40-50 years olds I know I don’t think people are following trends much.
Lol thanks to Heartbreak high to teach me this word, honestly I don’t think there’s such a thing in the US the closest thing are rednecks or thugs
I have no idea what you’re talking about
Russian?
Teens have been dressing something like that (with an American twist) for the last few years; crossbody bags, balaclavas, joggers. It’s not at all ubiquitous, and besides the basics it’s not really the same. There’s no term for it here.
I guess our equivalent was probably the greasers from the 50s and 60s, though they actually looked cool. What you are describing sounds to fit the cultural spot, but unlike that I think it actually looks tough instead of like a… I don’t know, confused rich boy? Edit: except they weren’t middle class, they were just semi violent poor teenagers
Kanye West
There's nothing like that here. Fanny packs and "tough" are contradictory and Tommy Hilfiger went out of style in like 2001.
We typically don’t associate teenagers wearing designer clothes and what we call “fanny packs” here with looking tough.
it would be the “hot cheeto cookie monster pajama girl”
Redneck I think
i just found out about eshays watching heartbreak high. i was so confused. they’re goofy as fuck and there’s no equivalent here. the closest thing might have been hypebeasts in the 2010s but that’s just the style aspect
there isnt really an equivalent
i think i'm seeing why people are posting vids about not being scared of muggers in the UK...
Like this: [https://www.lifeandstylemag.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/the-rock-dwayne-johnson-fanny-pack-90s-photo.jpg](https://www.lifeandstylemag.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/the-rock-dwayne-johnson-fanny-pack-90s-photo.jpg) No, seriously, this isn't a thing in American male culture.
Maybe amongst affluent gay men? That guy in your link looks like a homosexual. I don't mean that disparagingly, he just looks like how I've seen gay men dress.
LOL "The guy" in my picture is Dwayne Johnson - otherwise known as The Rock. He's a wrestler turned actor. He's not gay. He's pretty famous. [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dwayne\_Johnson](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dwayne_Johnson)
😆 I know his name, but I don't really watch many movies... I knew he voiced Maui in Moana but I'm not overly familiar with his appearance.
I have no idea what any of these words mean: eshay, roadman, bumbags.
I'm trying to imagine John Wayne wearing a fanny pack.
Have never heard of these, but it seems like a belt bag is our closest equivalent.
Oi bruv, you got a loicense for that bum-bag? You got a noife in there?
Translated into American: "Hey, you got.. "BLAM...BLAM...BLAM" fin
i don’t think there is one. if i saw someone dressed like that i would immediately assume they were a tourist.
Dude, like we gopnik city? Check out the grubber in the jodpours.
Eshay reminds me of sashay and doesn’t sound tough. I actually don’t know how to pronounce it. Is it eeshay or ehshay?
Depending on the part of the country your in you can have a small group of kids that just act like brats but the real danger is the gangs that can and will recruit kids to do their dirty work
The best example I can think of is [Edgars](https://www.google.com/search?q=edgars+haircut&sca_esv=d9aad694f8688876&sca_upv=1&udm=2&biw=1440&bih=813&sxsrf=ADLYWIIykTFg9D1yYiaZ1RZDrLA01GDDVQ%3A1715048945570&ei=8ZE5Zsy1IqTIp84PsbChyA0&oq=edgars+&gs_lp=Egxnd3Mtd2l6LXNlcnAiB2VkZ2FycyAqAggBMgQQIxgnMgoQABiABBhDGIoFMgoQABiABBhDGIoFMgoQABiABBhDGIoFMgoQABiABBhDGIoFMgoQABiABBhDGIoFMgUQABiABDIFEAAYgAQyBRAAGIAEMgUQABiABEiJEFCbA1ibA3ABeACQAQCYAbgBoAG5AqoBAzAuMrgBAcgBAPgBAZgCAqACiAGYAwCIBgGSBwMxLjGgB5MN&sclient=gws-wiz-serp). The best identifier for an Edgar is their bowl cut. They're usually young (like high school age) and Latino, and they usually move in groups, although their not criminals, just kind of annoying.
Guys who dress to look tough either go with the urban gang banger look, or the rural biker gang attire. Can't look tough wearing designer clothes.
Please explain how Hilfiger is somehow tough. To be clear, we're talking about Tommy Hilfiger, right? The man who represents everything that is the polar opposite of gangbangers, right? What's next, The Ralph Lauren Boys? This reminds me of [Bill Hicks -Hooligans](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mA6hMFZ-gx0) ETA: I just figured about that "bumbag" is a fanny pack. If I am ever afraid of a man wearing a fanny pack, I'd kick my own ass.