As North Korean authorities intensify a crackdown on youth fashion, they’ve begun targeting young people who imitate Kim Jong Un’s clothing and hairstyle, particularly those who wear baggy pants similar to the leader’s. The unexpected crackdown, which began in early August in Chongjin, is being enforced by the Socialist Patriotic Youth League.
Speaking on condition of anonymity, a source in North Hamgyong province told The Daily NK on Wednesday that North Korean youths call the baggy pants, which have far more legroom than other pants, “supreme leader pants.”
The sartorial choices of Kim Jong Un or his family often become trendy when they appear on television or in newspapers. As Kim’s baggy pants have become popular recently, students at Chongjin Railway University, Chongjin Medical University and other major universities in Chongjin have taken to wearing them.
However, the Socialist Patriotic Youth League organizations began cracking down on young people wearing baggy pants in early August, saying that “the pants looked good on people with robust figures like the supreme leader, but they looked bad on smaller-framed people,” according to the source.
“They crack down on shorts, claiming they do not go with the socialist lifestyle, but with baggy pants, they just crack down on them without explanation. However, they just warn us not to wear them. They don’t publicly criticize us like they do when we wear tight pants or shorts,” he explained.
“Baggy pants, known as ‘supreme leader pants,’ are so baggy that they can make you look like a scarecrow, so it seems that Pyongyang has quietly issued a fashion crackdown on people who wear them out of concern that such an image could be associated with Kim.”
Kim Jong Un-style hair also part of crackdown
Authorities have also cracked down on young people who wear their hair like Kim.