Methinks Thou Dost Protest too Much

I know nothing about fashion. I admit it. I have a tendency to get three or four of something I like a lot and wear whatever it is for as long as they wash up nicely. Generally, I don't much notice women's fashion, either, though I DID notice when women's shirts got a lot shorter on the bottom and again when they plunged a lot farther on the top. Not that I'm an ogler, but changes like that are hard to miss. Women seemed to be oblivious to the sensation that such fashion caused, and the "less-is-more" look hung around, extending itself to legwear as well.
As a child, if my pants were too short, it was because they were hand-me-downs from my brother, and/or I had grown more than Mom would allow me to grow. The same is true with ripped jeans: a definite sign we lived on the wrong side of the proverbial tracks. Now, I don't know what to make of some of this.
We pay more for less fabric, and this fact is no more evident than in the yoga pants fashion craze. Stretchy, lycra pants that are barely more than shorts go for upwards of $50, and women have taken to wearing them for everything BUT (so to speak) yoga. Pairing them with a longer shirt/sweatshirt, women wear these very tight, revealing-every-perfection/imperfection pants everywhere from work to Wal-Mart and expect the average male not to look closely at what they reveal. Lululemon found out!
It seems that the $98 yoga pants from Lululemon are so sheer as to be see through, according to customers who are trying to return them. The manufacturer did admit that 17% of the garments were made with "inferior fabric," but stated that the only way to really tell if said pant was see through was to have the wearer bend over and take a look at the, um, seat area. I have some issues here.
First of all, why would anyone pay that much money for something so sheer as to be almost see through for any purpose other than it's intended one: stretching at yoga?
Secondly, who decided such apparel would be appropriate to wear anywhere BUT the gym? This bothers me almost as much as the pants-down-to-the-knees fashion that young men sported recently. Have some decorum, folks! I don't want to see your tats or every contour of your body.
Granted, fashions lose their appeal as they are replaced by what's newer and generally more costly, but designers seem to have gone the way of politicians and church hierarchies: out of touch with reality.
But, as long as we continue to lap up the latest "now" look because we are told what's hot...we have nothing to complain about.