Tuesday, June 24, 2008

VPL: Is It Really the Biggest Fashion No-No?

Those of you who know me know that I no longer watch television. More than 2 years ago when I moved to my current house, I chose not to subscribe to cable television and not to install an antenna in order to receive snowy local channels. (Note to Cox Cable: STOP sending me 2 pieces of mail each week. I'm not coming back!)

Truth be told, when I had cable TV, I used to like to watch shows featuring red carpet fashions-- among other things, of course. One night in the winter of 2006, I had an epiphany while watching the E! channel red carpet review. I had already seen the E! countdown of the biggest fashion no-nos with embarrassing examples from a variety of starlets. So, I knew that the biggest fashion no-no was VPL (visible panty lines). On the red carpet that night, a woman and a gay guy were talking with celebrities and then rating dresses, jewelry, hair, and shoes for the devoted E! TV audience.

My television epiphany occurred when the gay guy started asking every woman if she was wearing panties. (Of course, inquiring minds want to know; all of them were wearing tight, slinky dresses, and, of course, none of them had VPL.)

"Ohhhhhh...... why am I watching this?" was my first thought. Second and third thoughts were: he has no right to ask this question and why are they all answering him? With this, I turned off the TV and decided not to subscribe to cable after I moved. (Watching television is truly a mind-rotting exercise.)

Fast forward to the present. I work out at the gym 4-5 nights a week-- spinning, running, and weight lifting. These are high-intensity activities that produce a lot of sweat-- especially spinning. The other day, a male friend of mine noted that I had VPL. I refrained from making a crack about his disheveled workout attire, and proudly said, "Yes, I do." I proceeded to explain that I choose comfort and absorbency over fashion during workouts. So there, Mr. Tighty Whitey.

After a few weeks of watching other people spin (I'm usually in the back row), I have realized that I am in the minority on the VPL workout issue. Women of all sizes, shapes, and ages either do not wear panties under their bike shorts or stretch pants, or they wear thongs. How can they really workout like this? In particular how can they stand to run or spin like this? Is the fear of VPL another form of fashion slavery-- like outrageously high heels, boob jobs, and Botox?

Weeks of research and observation has led me to the conclusion that VPL is NOT the biggest fashion no-no-- especially in the gym. Sweaty workout pants--worn without panties-- are a much bigger fashion no-no. Gross....

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I actually believe that the visible thong line, or worse the peeping traingle coming out of the back of your pants, is a far more uncouth offense than the line created from regular underwear.
In Capoeira a visible thong can be almost vulgar while wearing the tight, white pants that allow one to see whether a man is cut or not. Talk about fashion no no.