NEW ORLEANS -- Black and blazing red-orange boxer shorts flashed from beneath the T-shirt and above the belt that seemed to weigh down the lanky 19-year-old's baggy jeans, which just topped his thighs.

Dallas Morning News

"Some people just don't like their clothes tight," Corey Evans said last week, sitting at a bus stop near the French Quarter.

While it's been in fashion for years, the saggy pants look also has been an affront to many authority figures, including state Sen. Derrick Shepherd. After losing a vote on the issue in 2004, Shepherd is again trying to pass legislation to ban droopy trousers.

"All the different municipalities around the state saying they want it tells me that a state ban on this type of idiocy is needed," said Shepherd, D-New Orleans.

About a dozen Louisiana municipalities have enacted or are considering their own bans on "sagging." They reason that those adopting the dress are emulating the beltless look of prison inmates, that baggy clothes could conceal weapons or that exposure of underwear is offensive and just plain indecent.

Not all cities are joining in. Mayor Thomas Nelson in the Acadiana city of St. Martinville said leaders there have decided against a ban, fearing a lawsuit.

"My concern was -- don't get me wrong, I'm not for the saggy pants -- you're leaving yourself open, especially with the civil liberties union."

Indeed, the American Civil Liberties Union has consistently opposed efforts to ban low-slung pants and helped defeat Shepherd's 2004 effort.

"I welcome a challenge," Shepherd said. He dismisses complaints that the law violates the First Amendment or that it could be used to target young black men who adopt the fashion.

"I've heard that from some more liberal-minded blacks and some liberal-minded whites," said Shepherd, who is black. "But my counter to that is: Why is it that we believe that young black men or black women, whoever would show themselves in such a manner, can't simply follow the law and pull up their pants?"

The future of his bill is uncertain. Aside from any court challenges, and the Legislature's 59-34 defeat of his last effort, Shepherd faces a new distraction in his fight for moral rectitude. On Thursday, he was indicted on money laundering and fraud charges. Shepherd proclaimed his innocence and will continue serving while fighting the charges.

His bill is tentatively set for its first committee hearing April 22. If it makes it through the House and Senate, the bill would carry a penalty requiring anyone convicted of wearing clothing that exposes undergarments or "any portion of the pubic hair, cleft of the buttocks, or genitals" to perform three days of public sevice at a local fire station with a possible fine of up to $175.

"That would be uncalled for," Evans said after reading Shepherd's bill while waiting for the bus in New Orleans.

Meannwhile, in St. Martinville, Mayor Nelson and other city leaders are trying to come up with alternatives to a law banning saggy pants. They are having a flier designed for display in local businesses. It's message, as emblazoned on a prototype he has in his office: "Sagging pants? No shirt? No shoes? NO SERVICE!"

Another alternative may be to simply wait for styles to change. The owner of Flavor Urbanwear in New Orleans, who identifies himself as "Rami AJ," says it's already happening.

More of his teenage and young adult customers are buying clothing with a better fit, he said. "Big sizes and the sagging? That is dying."