I always wondered about this. Would we be fated to have the "old man pants" look? After all, part of the higher waistline isn't simply because they are old men. It's partly due to the fact that back in the 40's and 50's men's pants were *meant* to be worn higher. They were actually made to fit at a higher point on men's waists. I still remember trying on suits at Syms (NJ Rt 17) as a kid in the 90's and the old man would yell at my brother and I that suit pants needed to be pulled up (as he yanked them higher on us) and that suits aren't meant to be worn on one's hip bones.
But as I age, I see I'm pulling my pants just slightly higher. Not much, but not on my hip bones like they used to be.
When you're skinny, it doesn't matter.
When you're fat, shirts are too short, and the choice is either wear pants according to how they're designed to be worn and look fat, or wear pants that are too small for you, shirts that are too big for you, and look fat AND sloppy.
No with the minor exception of my lounge pants which if I don't pull them up to my navel, any time I bend over, they slip off my ass. But I don't wear those out in public ever for obvious reasons. (Also, got in some new ones from Amazon today so hopefully they don't have the same issue.)
Ok, now that you've been on both sides of this:
Why? Why do you want your pants so high? I've always wanted them around a very specific spot around my hips.
I don't understand why you'd want anything else. I would have thought "maybe it's for comfort," but you literally can get pants that actually fit you correctly for better comfort, which means this only can ever be a temporary solution, if this is the case, because you inevitably have to get new clothes. So please, enlighten me.
Depending on your body shape, hip-lying pants are uncomfortable regardless of proper fit. Pants at your narrowest point stay up without needing to dig in to avoid sliding down.
To avoid a muffin top, especially when youāre a woman in her 40s whoās had children?
Hell, I never had children and only weigh maybe 15 lbs more than I did in HS (still a normal BMI). Pants that hit at my hips are just not as comfortable as pants that hit at my natural waist (where your waist bends when you āpour yourself outā when doing āIām a Little Teapotā)
Lucky!
Iāve reached the stage where you tuck your nips into your waistband and have at āer.
Itās great and shitty and great! Iām Canadian. Winter sucks, but them titties are toasty!
Iāll see myself outā¦
Yeah, I noticed a few things since this past summer -
1. I am okay with wearing shorts that are at or just above the knee, rather than past the knee now.
2. I have found a fondness for heavy duty cargo sweatpants
3. I am okay with eating dinner at old people time now and I am stoked if we go out to eat and actually beat the old people rush.
4. Since I have been pretty consistent with my workout routine for a year or so now , my dad bod gut has started to diminish and it's more comfortable now to wear my pants a bit higher up the waist, it's a bit of a confidence booster for sure but it is kind of odd to realize I am pulling my pants up higher than what I have been used to for probably 20 some odd years.
I like my pants to be at my belly button.
Even back in the day I hated how low womenās jeans were. I felt like my clit was two seconds from popping out. And I was blursed with a not so small and muscular ass, the pants back then just could NOT.
Not only that, my bagginess has diminished drastically over the years. I now have no problem wearing what we used to (appropriately) call "Nut-Huggerz".
Nope, I've got a low waist and love handles so high waist is a no-go from the get-go. I'm 42 and after going WFH and getting into selling vintage clothing I dress more like a teenager now than I have since I was a teenager.
"The Pants That Ate Fred Mertz" and "The Lost Brady" w/ Phoebe the literal red-headed stepchild of The Brady Bunch were my favorite Nick at Nite promos.
I miss 90s Nick at Nite.
There was another "I Love Lucy" one where they literally took a clip from an episode where Lucy asks Ricky "Can I be in the show?" and Ricky says "No" and Lucy says something like "18 seconds, that's the fastest we've ever done it." Nick at Nite framed it as "the shortest episode of 'I Love Lucy' ever."
Once I had kids, high waist went from being pure physical torture to the most comfortable style. Something about how my ribs & hips changed makes my natural waist the place to put my clothes now when it never was before. I didn't gain a ton of weight, but my skeleton never quite went back the way it was before.Ā
Never! Fred Mertzā pants style was common then, teens, young adults wore their pants the same way. That generation would continue to wear their pants the same way I remember back in the 80ās, 90ās, early 2kās. As that generation has passed on, Iām not seeing it or havenāt noticed it. Surely if someone wears their waistline up to their tits, Iām going to notice and get a good laugh. Xennials should be the ones setting the fashion trend now.
Hmm well my pants sit about the same place now after losing 100 lbs as they did when I was over 300 lbs, so I donāt think itās directly related. Granted if you are actively trying to look slimmer you would raise your belt line to cover it up I guess. I never found that comfortable and I was obese from childhood to age 37.
I did a booksigning with Patrick Moore the astronomer a short time before his death and I remember that a colleague pointed out that his belt was touching the knot of his tie. We presume his zipper was about 2 or 3 foot long.
Nah, I mean I donāt sag anymore, but they are still a sold 2-3 inches below my belly button. Is it a weight thing? Is your stomach moreĀ rubenesque than it was?
For me itās that my actual comfort with the fit has changed. I have big hips and a substantial ass no matter how much I weigh, and the low risers never did fit me very well. I was always having to readjust and reassess. But as Iāve gotten older I find the higher waistline sort of comforting - like, I used to hate the feeling of anything on my waist, but now I kind of like feeling more constricted? Itās hard to explain.
Aside from pregnancy Iāve weighed within 10 pounds of my weight at 18 most of my adult life.
Iāve swapped from the ultra low rise but hate how the high waist pants look on me. My pants usually sit at my natural waist or a little below now.
Same. My pants and shorts sit exactly where they have all my life. I wouldn't be able to function due to having a sensory nightmare over them being high up. Makes me uncomfortable to even think about. Lol
I've been a 32 for 20 years and they sit on my hips without a belt. I could never rock high waisted stuff. Like you said, sensory nightmare. I like my comfortable clothes, thank you. Could never wear suits or anything remotely like that with any sort of regularity. Probably haven't tucked in a shirt since prom.
yall are still wearing *pants*?
i skipped the high-waist pants and just went straight to perpetual old ratty bathrobe. robe belt is long gone. same old tube socks, the elasticity a distant memory. old runover house shoes. old, somehow faded white t-shirt and whatever boxers im wearing that week.
someone gotta be getting married and/or be getting buried before i put on pants.
I just realized I have reached the point in my life where I make noises whenever I sit down or stand up. Itās not like I do it on purpose. Itās unconscious and it saddens me. And Iām still in pretty good shape! I just make these damn grunting noises. Like when did this start? What have I become?!
I have to wear my pants above my hips because if I don't the pressure irritates my siatica. So yeah, I'm getting there. My belt sits just at, or a little below, my belly button. Some pants give me a moose knuckle.
Lmao. I convinced myself my waist & hips were just getting higher. Legs & torso the same, just some wizardry that my pants seemed higher but not really
I don't worry until I have the old man fluff where you see the waistline, but it looks like the crouch has just disappeared and everything looks flattened down there like a mannequin.
omg you guys are going full Gen Z with the burlap sack pants over your navels
Probably doing 80s crop tops too
live your life friends. and you can take my slim straight leg mid rise jeans away from me never because it's classic and has never gone away
We are NOT wearing crop tops. š The last time anyone was interested in looking at my belly was when I was pregnant. And it's been lumpy every since. Gimme some high waisted tummy control and frumpy sweaters any day!
I don't wear jeans anymore though. Nothing with a button if I can help it. My legs need to breathe.Ā
I WAS prescribed an ugly pair of gen z sneakers by my PT, and holy moly, they are comfy. 11/10 for practical footwear, younglings. Your joints will thank you later in life!
I do not. The only time I'm hiking my pants up is when they're falling down, or when I'm carrying concealed, and don't want my holster digging into my hip flexor.
I really think it depends on your body type. I've been losing weight, but even when I had [cultivated peak mass](https://youtu.be/ZFB3L1FZnqY), my pants just didn't want to ride that high. Ultimately, I think I'm going to wind up with a fat belly, and probably very thin hair one day. I feel like my pants are going to remain where they are though.
I think I am going in the opposite direction. I recently tried on a favorite pair of pants from high school (I hadn't worn them in years.) They sat so far up on my waist, I could barely breathe. I couldn't believe I ever found them comfortable.
High waist jeans came back in style - which works for me as I do not have the abdomen to pull off those super low rise muff skimmers like I did way back when
I don't have an ass so they just fall back down to my hips (or lower) anyways. Even if my belt is tightened to the point of pain, my pants always end up around there.
My pants were always around the same spot, even when I was wearing super baggy pants in the '90s, I wasn't sagging. But they weren't super high either, they were always below my belly button.
But for women, I've noticed the wait changes so much. In the early 2000s, everything became low-rise, even if the girls didn't have the body for it. Then the high-waisted mom jeans became a thing. Now, I don't even know what women wear, my wife is always in yoga pants.
Depends on what I'm wearing. If I'm wearing my pajama pants then I'll often adjust the waist band to my belly button, mostly so that the bottom of the pants legs don't drag on the ground.
But if I'm wearing something with a belt or tie string, then no (unless the tie string sucks donkey balls).
Iāve actually always liked the feel of a high waist, but I didnāt wear them high because of the stigma. I am now immune to stigma and regularly hoist em high.
I still buy the same size and cut of jeans that I did when I was 15.
I don't chase fads. I just keep on truckin' and eventually they come back around to me.
I love the high waisted trend, it makes my legs look longer! I still have some mid rise boot cuts but the Leviās rib cage are my daily favorites. Bonus that they make the cropped shirts look kinda normal length.
This reminds me of something I remembered about my grandpa vs my dad. Both had large "beer" bellies. Grandpa wore his pants like Fred Mertz, and he always wore suspenders. My dad wears his under his gut, and his T shirts always look too short. Now he wears shorts even in winter for his retirement. I can't stand going to their house. I keep mine at 70 during the day, and theirs is at 75. I'm glad I don't have to sleep there!
As a woman, even at my thinnest, I was never into wearing low cut jeans. I was very conservative in my personal style. No crop tops for me, either when those became popular, even though I probably weigh less than I did in high school. I loved the higher waist jeans and am glad they happened. I never loved skinny jeans or leggings, though.
Dude yes. Once I first tried on carhartt double front work pants, I was like: oh, I get why this is the classic workwear fit. Loose and high waisted. Super comfortable, my pants donāt keep sagging down when I bend over and the belt doesnāt dig into my hips.
See, the old folks of our youth were just hanging into the fits of their youth. The high waisted norm of the 40s and 50s. For me the move to high waisted is more of the opposite, a willingness to evolve my fashion sense and NOT cling to my youth, but embrace changing trends while also dressing my age. Iād be wearing the same shitty imported low rise 511s I was wearing 15 years ago.
I been wearing those style pants since they quit selling normal baggy pants and replaces with skinny jeans. They are way more comfortable than even the old baggy jeans were. I haven't hidden my belly button with them yet or used them to go fishing in a stream. I figure it will happen though.
My husband & I call this pants creep "Mertzing" for a reason.
Oh, BTW, I'll just leave this here, [The Pants That Ate Fred Mertz!](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jtmC2I8K6mo)
Thankfully somehow I'm missing this aspect, pants are still sitting comfortably below the waist! However I do now enjoy a cup of mint tea after dinner, it helps digestion.
Nope. I accidentally bought a pair that has some stretchy material woven in, and they used it for the waist band as well. So that pair is below the waistline after about 5 minutes.
Hell nah, son. I walk with my pants so low I gotta have one hand hold em up at all times. We go to a ballgame and they do the wave I gotta be quick cuz my drawers be dropping.
Lmao me. I lost weight and my pj pants are so loose I hike them up. But it's just to sleep in, and I can't waste money on clothes I don't wear to go outside.
To be fair, we had mid and low rise jeans in fashion back in āour day.ā Lately the trend has been high waisted, and my 5ā2ā self cannot pull off the look.
I didnāt understand the waistline going up and now I think itās because my ass is going away and my hips are shallow
So my pants begin to fall off and so the gut becomes the now resting spot for pants to hold em up
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