“High Rise” Jeans

Posted by TryFine317@reddit | Xennials | View on Reddit | 58 comments

(1980) I just purchased a couple pairs of “high rise” boot cut jeans and tried them on. It occurred to me that I absolutely had jeans like this back in 97ish, but they weren’t labeled “high rise,” just regular boot cut jeans. I think the term is now used because the peek-a-booty low rise jeans dominated (traumatized?) for so many years. I much prefer the full coverage. Ain’t nobody got time to worry about flashing the world when you have to pick something up off the floor. I’m already worried about my creaky joints and that’s plenty! 😆

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Themightytiny07@reddit

Every time I see people talking about the 'rise' of jeans I think of this

https://youtube.com/shorts/at9rY0ArTPE?si=913EB3qc9dZdivcJ

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grilledstuffed@reddit

I think of the SNL skit about Mom jeans... Which back then was satire, but now is fashion.

https://youtu.be/2aVxNH6iN9I?si=eyXiJ5ZwGpOoEhkQ

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bendybiznatch@reddit

The loss of low rise jeans is killing me. How y’all wear jeans that go up to your rib cage is beyond me. lol

So if anybody knows of an actual low rise bootcut that still exists please let me know.

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Ineedavodka2019@reddit

I get if you mean mid rise but actual early 2000s low rise where the zipper might as well not been there it was so small, are horrible. Never fit my booty. No one wants to see my whale tail now (or then for that matter). I have bootcut mid rise from AE. They come up just below my belly button or just above my hips. I can sit down and not flash anyone. True high rise give me GERD.

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anakusis@reddit

Yeah they were never cute

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grilledstuffed@reddit

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imtooldforthishison@reddit

See... a lot of us short folks really miss low rise because on us, low rise hits like mid-rise, mid-rise hits high, and high rise could be breast support.

I have been comfortable in jeans in almost 15 years!

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Ineedavodka2019@reddit

How tall are you? I’m 5’4”. They do sell petite sizes.

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bendybiznatch@reddit

AE’s low rise now are ribcage high for me. I use to swear by them but they’ve changed their patterns. And, ya know, the weird gene thing.

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Peanut083@reddit

I have a high waist, so high rise jeans sit right on my natural waist line.

The early 00s were a nightmare for me because I have visible plumbers crack in low cut jeans/trousers when standing up. When I sat down, the waistline of my jeans/trousers would slide down to the point of nearly falling completely off my backside. I got very good at grabbing the waistline and tugging it back up as I stood up. I’m not even tall, I just have a long torso relative to the length of my limbs.

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body_by_monsanto@reddit

I’m a tall gal, so high rise jeans are just normal rise jeans for me. If I found tall high rise jeans, I’d look like Dee Dee from Dexter’s Lab.

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NoExam2412@reddit

I'm 5'9" and those low rise jeans were the fucking worst. I couldn't sit down. And, I was a bean pole, so it's not like my ass was spilling over the sides. I hated low rise.

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somenemophilist@reddit

I wish all the retailers could standardize what they classify low, mid, high, and highest, etc. It's tiring having to find the actual specifications, and find that something that says low rise, is actually over 10 inches! Just throwing numbers here, but low should be 8.5 or so, mid should be 9-9.5, anything high should be 10+ and for anyone that wants butt crack jeans, under 8.

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Themightytiny07@reddit

I wish we could just standardize women's clothing in general

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Archangel_Omega@reddit

Even as a guy I wish they would do this. It would make shopping for my wife so much easier. Best solution I've found so far is just keeping a note with all her different measurements saved to my phone to compare with and even that is a hit or miss nightmare on some brands. Between the lack of pockets and the sizing roulette I dont see how the women haven't burned the factories or at least the corporate offices for these companies to the ground yet.

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DomesticZooChef@reddit

Yes! I just went shopping for jeans in person yesterday. NO CONSISTENCY WHATSOEVER in sizing or style descriptions, even within the same brand! I bought "high waist skinny straight" but they definitely do NOT look or fit like any of those words.

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bendybiznatch@reddit

I just measured a pair of AE “low rise” from a year ago. 9.5”. I’m 5’ for cryin out loud.

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somenemophilist@reddit

Mine from around 7 years ago are 8.75" IIRC. I'm also short, so I get where you're coming from!

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Optimusprima@reddit

Yes! Check out Lucky Jeans - low rise boot cut - they are AAAAALMOST as low cut as I would like:)

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bendybiznatch@reddit

You’re the 2nd person to say that.

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sundaemourning@reddit

i can’t stand pants that come up to my belly button, let alone over it. i found that Lucky has actual low rise jeans! you have to order directly off their website, but they do have them and they are by far my favorite jeans.

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bendybiznatch@reddit

I have a pair in a cart that I’ve just been debating if it’s worth the risk of ordering.

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RogerClyneIsAGod2@reddit

As someone who is 5'2" (& honestly with age I'm shrinking) I'm right there with ya. I would LOVE for low rise to come back because they'd be the perfect height for me. Even petite stuff that's high rise is too high.

I have a few pairs of leggings that I can literally pull up to my ribcage. I love pulling them up & then showing them off to my husband because we call it Mertzing.

I don't need them to be the super-deduperdy-shave-everything-below-the-bellybutton type of jeans or leggings, just not ribcage high rise.

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bendybiznatch@reddit

lol Not Fred Mertz.

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BluePersephone99@reddit

Oh man, YES. I feel like even pants called “low rise” still often have a 10-11” rise now.

I miss the jeans that just hit an inch below my belly button… not 2” above it. I always used to think that was mid-rise? 🤷🏻‍♀️

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westgazer@reddit

As a high waisted person, low rise just doesn’t work for me. 🤷🏻‍♀️

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mom_bombadill@reddit

Oh man I spent like 2000-2012 accidentally showing asscrack in low rise jeans, I love high waisted and I’m never going back

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crazycatlady331@reddit

Last year I bought a pair of low(er) rise flares at H&M. I'm wearing them now. They come up to about an inch below my belly button and fit me well.

Only problem is that the front pockets are fake.

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moving2mars@reddit

Gap makes nice low rise jeans. I’m short and short waisted, and they fit me well. Like old school normal low rise, not the crack showing kind.

I have hated high rise so much. I was pregnant around the time high rise skinnies came into fashion so by the time I was able to go back to regular low rise jeans they were all gone.

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bendybiznatch@reddit

Good tip. We don’t have a local one anymore so I didn’t want to risk ordering online.

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littleseaotter@reddit

I still love low rise jeans. Mine are thrifted

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bendybiznatch@reddit

My good thrift store burned to the ground. I’m still grieving.

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yayoffbalance@reddit

Same here! I've had decent luck on poshmark! Those h2j (or maybe j2h?) jeans are awesome. shortwaist girl here, and im always desperately searching for those wide-band, usually 2 buttons and a zip (buttons off centered are the best), flared, low or super low rise jeans! They sit on my hips, as midrise is like high rise on me. Anything near my ribcage feels awful. I wear a lot of skirts because of this, too.

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ItsNadrik@reddit

Nobody in history has ever looked good in high rise jeans.

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AmputeeHandModel@reddit

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TryFine317@reddit (OP)

I think that’s still a hot look!

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ItsNadrik@reddit

It's an ass genocide. A waistline holocaust.

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TryFine317@reddit (OP)

😂

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Afootinafieldofmen@reddit

I would die of happiness if Levi’s started making 90s 517s again.

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drawgs@reddit

As a man, I’ve always preferred high rise over low rise. TBH, low rise jeans that showed the butt crack always gave me the wrong impression about a girl. I’m surprised they stayed in fashion so long.

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CheckTheBlotter@reddit

I have concluded that I will be wearing high rise bootcut for the rest of my life. I liked it the first time I wore it in the 90s. I like it now. I don’t need to chase the changing trends. I’m just going to wear what suits me.

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TryFine317@reddit (OP)

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Amen!

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Crowedsource@reddit

I love that the high rise trend is back because I have a long torso and now I have a bit of a paunch (thanks, perimenopause), so these styles are just more flattering on me than lower rise that are too tight on my belly or make my tops look too short.

I also really appreciate the death of skinny jeans. I hate the way they look now that I am less skinny. They worked when I was 5'7 and 125-130 lbs, but now that I'm 150 they just don't work anymore. Funny thing - I was shopping for high rise wide leg pants on the American Eagle Outfitters website and they had labeled skinny jeans as "mom jeans" 😂

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yourlittlebirdie@reddit

Me too. Even in high school when I was a size 2, my long torso hated the low rise jeans. They just looked ridiculous on me.

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ahopskipandaheart@reddit

My 1980s high rise were pleated with a tapered leg. lol

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Aware_Policy_9174@reddit

Ugh I think I blocked these out of my memory. Had 9 year old me looking middle aged.

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Fun_Negotiation7663@reddit

as a guy who grew up watching britney spears and many others wear jeans so low, it left little to the imagination!

Now most woman wear jeans so high, its kinda crazy to me. I just think it looks awful compared to lower cut jeans. Just the way we grew up, jeans look so much better on your hips compared to pulling them up way above your waist. I'm just biased based off what it was like when I was 18 in the late 90's!

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Geoff-Vader@reddit

Agreed brother. I get that each generation chooses their own style (even though it seems cyclical now.) But I don't get this one. It just looks so uncomfortable - and not particularly flattering unless you're really slim.

Then again I don't get why Gen Z loves crew socks with shorts either. Both Gen X and Millenials worked to kill those things off - and now they're back. Older generations seem to be holding the line on that one though. We've seen how ridiculous our old photos with those look.

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Bay-Area-Tanners@reddit

I think if you saw the way so many of us would look in ultra low rise jeans now, you’d be changing your tune. Maybe I’m Just speaking for myself, but my abdomen never fully recovered from pregnancy, and i have an apron belly that hangs over my c-section scar no matter how thin I get.

Mid-to-high jeans definitely look better on me.

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tookMYshovelwithme@reddit

I can't wear frosted tips anymore, but I have the same nostalgia for that. Maybe a shell necklace to go with it. Oh god.. I think I'm describing Guy Fieri.

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grilledstuffed@reddit

On our first date sitting in comfy coffee shop chairs my wife kept thong flirting in her bright aqua Victoria’s Secret thong.

Every time she would bend over laughing or reach over to touch my leg there was a very distracting flash of bright color.

She already had my attention, but this certainly didn’t hurt keeping it. It was very enticing and I was impressed by her forwardness on a first date.

Years later we were reminiscing about our first dates and I mentioned how effective her thong flirting was.

She. Had. No. Idea.

She was absolutely mortified and nearly died laughing.

Her wearing an Aqua thong has been an unspoken “I’m feeling spicy” message for 15 years since.

So thank you low rise jeans, you’ve made both our dreams come true.

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TryFine317@reddit (OP)

😂

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Far-Slice-3821@reddit

"High rise" of 2025 is normal rise of 1995. I always liked high rise, so now I search for super high rise that aren't also high waters.