Fashion Emergency: How to FixThe Downside of Low-Rise Pants

THE WALL STREET JOURNAL ^ | Friday, July 25, 2003 | SUEIN L. HWANG

[presidio9]

Los Angeles wardrobe stylist Jeanne Yang calls in a tailor to put in darts at the hip. Advertising executive Paula Mangin of San Francisco is choosy about the chairs she sits in and, when she stoops, she takes care to bend at the knees. Web publicist Karen Bard, also of San Francisco, leans on her boyfriend.

[presidio9]

On a well-proportioned woman they accentuate the figure, making the waist look smaller and the overall torso curvier. But they should not make these pants for anything above a size 4. The sight of a beer-gut hanging over lowriders is repellant.

[mewzilla]

I'll agree with you there. I don't know who designs jeans these days. I read somewhere that 30 and 40-something women spend more money and are more brand loyal than younger women and girls, but who do they design and market for? Sigh. As for the shoe thing, don't go there :) I have huge feet. Have a rotten time finding footware (unless I wear guy's), and when I do find something that fits, sure enough it's got stacked heels. Why do manufacturers think that people with big feet (who are oftentimes tall) automatically want elevator shoes? Aaaaaargh!!!!

[Paul Atreides]

You should walk around on a college campus and see all of the thongs prominently sticking out of the top of low-riding pants.

[Constitution Day]

Very nice, but I like this one better:

[Amelia]

Back in the day, when we called them 'hip-huggers' and wore them with halter or tube tops, it seems to me we worried more about our tops falling out than about our bottoms falling out?

Of course, I'm getting old, that was about 30 years ago, and I might not be remembering clearly....

[presidio9]

And laughably airbrushed. Where's her navel?! As worn by Kim Catrall in an early dramatic role...

[mewzilla]

I remember hiphuggers. But those were low-rise, not no-rise, which is a better term I think for the current fashion fad.

[#3Fan]

I hate these refrigerater-repairman jeans these women are wearing. Can't they come up with something better?

[presidio9]

When I was a kid, before dental-floss bikinis, it was fashionable for the young French and Swedish nannies who worked the summers in my area to wear their bikini bottoms low at the beach, so the top half of their butt cleavege showed. I don't remember any of the fathers complaining.

[two23]

I like my BDU's--plenty of pocket room so I can go out and not have to carry a purse. I can't stand jeans. The pockets (if they have them, are useless).

[MississippiMan]

I don't find these things sexy in the least. I find them gross. There's nothing quite so sexy as that which requires a bit of imagination.

MM

[Paul Atreides]

Now, these look good...

[TontoKowalski]

I was about to issue an inspiring diatribe about the demise of American values and the coming Fall of Western Civilization.

After viewing the photos you've posted, I recant in advance!

[Timesink]

As worn by Kim Catrall in an early dramatic role...

Kim Ca-TRAAAAAAL! Kim Ca-TRAAAAAAL!

[CatoRenasci]

I remember some of the zippers being quite short, 3-4", and, based on some of the photos in old college yearbooks from around 1970, some of those jeans were as low as anything I've seen recently. Often, they were well below the hip bones.

[Timesink]

Web publicist Karen Bard, also of San Francisco...

Translation: Unemployed.

[BigWaveBetty]

How to fix the down-side of low rise pants?

A match and some lighter fuild spring to mind.

[fortunecookie]

Can low-rise get any lower? Can mid-riff tops get any higher? What's next, just leg warmers, a bolero jacket and a belt???

Maybe it's all just a ploy by the hair removal industry...

[Arrowhead1952]

The bottom one is exposing a "plumber's crack". My 17 year old daughter is NOT allowed to wear this style. I have seen some girls at her HS wearing these.

[Diddle E. Squat]

Low cut pants are a great way to quickly weed out dumb sluts.

Quite the timesaver.