I remember a time before low-rise jeans. It was high school, I think. Pants came up to my waist, my real waist, and I wore a belt to keep them there because my waist was a smaller circumference than my hips. I remember this being quite a trial; I would pick out jeans that would go up over the hips and then they would gape at the waist and with the belt, it just cinched all that extra fabric and man, that was nasty.
So I have always thought low-rise jeans are magnificent. The waist of the jeans sits below your actual waist, so the difference between the hips and the waist measurement don’t matter as much. I started wearing low-rise trousers the summer I got my navel pierced and needed to wear bottoms that didn’t interfere with the healing. I never went back.
Unfortunately, after growing and busting out two children in three years, my body is a different shape now than when I was 21 (oh, it is to laugh!) and my actual waist, somewhere up there, is who knows what size. My middle, the vast plain between my hips and real waist, is pretty squishy. Thus, my low-rise pants, while I can still get them on and zip them and everything, have a tendency to create The Evil MuffinTop. Or, as SA was calling it last year, The Donut. Because my belly button in the middle..oh, nevermind.
But is the solution to go to high-rise pants? I think that would be much more uncomfortable. And I think they are ugly. Also. What kind of pants do you all wear?
PS: I mostly tell this story of pantly woe in order to relay the following anecdote. I was preparing to nurse Fresco this morning. I had just dressed myself in a pair of low-rise jeans from last year and a t-shirt. I lifted the t-shirt and the eager baby, who was still nestled in the crook of my arm, dove in and started to suckle. Unfortunately he was a few inches too low and ended up latching on to a thick chunk of my midriff. I was too busy laughing to reposition him right away. When it became apparent no milk was forthcoming, he broke his seal and pulled back to look up at me with a nasty glare. Then he used his free hand to pound me in the ribcage. False boobage! How dare you! he said. My low-rise days are over, I fear.
You know my pants history, since we used to share trousers back when we were 21/22 and getting our navels pierced. I will tell you about my pants present, because you asked. I wear the low-rise pants for the exact same reason of denim-cinching-hatred as you. I mostly just wear the comfy pants and try and wear a shirt that minimizes the muffin-top. I would like to reiterate my very strong opinion that those shirts that all the women are wearing that are empire waisted DO NOT MINIMIZE YOUR MUFFIN TOP. These shirts make a woman’s muffin top look like a flabby fetus. Avoid these shirts at all costs.
Thank you.
I wear the low-rise and will continue to do so until I decide to wear muu-muus all the time.
I too remember a time when pants came above my navel, and at that time, I could wear them just fine. I remember tucking sweaters into them, a sartorial choice that puzzles me now. But now, my own muffin top (not honourably gained as a mother, but rather comprised of the long-term effects of baguette, cheese, and wine) will not fit into these jeans of the higher-waisted variety. Those jeans pinch and contort my muffin top. They squoosh it down below my navel, so that I look like a picture Berke Breathed has drawn of a middle aged woman in too-tight-at-the-crotch pants.
So. I wear low-rise jeans and a shirt that covers my muffin top, one that is not too loose. Sarah is correct in that the Empire waists are not the way to go. Because I got tired of people asking if I was pregnant. I got tired of saying, “No. I’m just fat.” But I got tired faster of having my belly fat pushed down to my crotch.
Sorry about that. I didn’t know I had so much to say about pants.
I am always surprised how much there is to say about pants. I was shocked that I didn’t have a category called pants, actually.
And don’t worry, I have definitely worn my share of empire waisted clothing in the past three years and have no desire to continue doing so.
I am built for the empire waist and you will pull it out of my cold dead hands.
Or, at least, until I get breast reductions. Until then, empire waist and princess seams are the only way to go.
I do wear more skirts than pants, indeed a stiff drink needs to be consumed before either a bathing suit or a pair of jeans is tried. Ah, the muffin-top, or as Ryan calls it – 10 pounds of sugar in a 5 pound bag. Us women over 40 (now that I’m 39 I’m using my mum’s trick of telling people I’m older than I am – “oh you look so fabulous for 45….”) should be awarded the priviledge of trying on clothes in a lovely pink room with a flattering mirror and a glass of champagne.
Ah yes Arwen, forgot that some people do actually have boobs bigger than their tummies. Empire away!