When dog chains were high fashion

 The dog chains, not to be mistaken for wallet chains common among bikers and meant to secure their wallets when they fall butt first, were high fashion.Photo: Courtesy

Dangling a string of keys with one end attached to the belt loop, and the keys in the back or front pocket, was common among caretakers in Nairobi flats.

The countless keys of varying sizes were for the store, the flat's electricity 'switch board,' the water metre and storage tank, the rent box and all gates.

Men who dangled keys with that coloured spiral leash hanging down the length of their legs never lost their keys, but they did look, and still do look, funny in a shagz-modo sort of way.

But the spread of hip-hop culture in the mid 1990s saw local dudes who still sported high school moustaches dangling silver metal chains in a copycat fashion of their hip-hop stars. The dog chains, not to be mistaken for wallet chains common among bikers and meant to secure their wallets when they fall butt first, were high fashion.

Some pant chains dangled all the way to the knees, with the wearers walking in a manner to suggest their shoes had springs, hence the bounce. But some had baggy jeans trousers that formed folds at the ankles, accentuating that funny look specific to misguided teenagers ploughing through identity crisis!