Millennial Feelings about Low Rise Pants
It was early 2020 when I saw the first signs. No, not of the Covid pandemic, but a fashion trend that shook me to my core. Supermodel/actress/influencer of all things sexy Emily Ratajkowski wore a low-slung skirt and matching bandeau crop top on a red carpet, her abs glistening in all their glory. I knew better than to deny the knowledge I dreaded - low rise bottoms were coming back. It was confirmed when shortly after I noticed Bella Hadid, another model and epitome of the zeitgeist, in low cut trousers and a bustier. Other than a few rhinestone belts and fur trimmed shoes available, the general population wasn’t in the swing of Y2K fashion nostalgia yet two years ago. It was before Bridgerton made everyone buy a corset and Gen Z stubbornly parted their hair down the middle. I knew I could pretend to be blissfully ignorant for a while before I would have to decide which path to take - to go low or keep it high (waisted of course).
Now without some context this might sound ridiculous. You are probably thinking “Fashion trends change all the time, we know that!” Hemlines rise and fall, colors come and go, matching outfits go from chic to cliché and back. But as a true millennial, the low rise pant has a specific mixture of nostalgia and fear in my heart.
As anybody who was an impressionable young person could admit, coming of age in what I’ll dub “the era of abs” was a bit of a brain screw. If you walked into a modeling agency in 2003 and mentioned “inclusivity” you would probably be laughed out the door. There was no YouTube, Instagram, Tiiktok, no user generated anything of substance. Our beauty standard was only what was fed to us by a select group of media, and it’s wild to think we were the last generation to know that world.
The beauty standard handed to us was incredibly specific. Straight hair, bright colors, cutouts, short skirts, clingy fabrics, lace, high heels, thin arched eyebrows, lipgloss. And a very flat, appealing midsection was the best accessory you could bring. Think of Zendaya today - she has great personal style. But half of the looks she wears would fall flat (pun intended) if not for her washboard abs. I’m not against it - I’m actually all for Zendaya doing this. She’s young, beautiful and talented. Why shouldn’t she show it off? But what does that mean for us regular mid-30s folk?
Maybe I take this trend extra personally because my stomach has always been the pain point of what I wanted to change about my body. Even in my most fit days of dance, a walk-up apartment and a gluten-free diet, I never had the physique like Britney, Christina, Paris and Gabrielle Union. Luckily for me, high waisted pants came charging back into fashion about a decade ago, as I switched from a young adult to just adult.
if you’re still reading you might be thinking - “Ok Jane we get it, low rise is back in style. If you don’t like it, just don’t do it!” And yes, dear reader, that makes perfect sense. Except for the fact that I’ve always loved to stay on the pulse of what’s happening. I remember as a teen begging my beautiful, statuesque mother to please just wear something a bit more trendy. I looked back at the photos of her in the 90s as a stylish young mom. “What happened to you?!” I would dramatically say, brandishing the pictures at her as she put on one safe, conservative outfit after the next. She would shrug and say she dressed how she felt comfortable. I naively vowed to myself that no matter how old I got, I would never give up on trying to look cool.
So here I am in 2022, online shopping and facing this loaded sartorial dilemma. Is this just the reality of getting older? Maybe at some point do you have to just accept what works for you, trends be dammed. Isn’t the best personal style one where you make your own rules? Will wearing low pants make me look washed up, or in the know? And also can I afford to hire a personal trainer?
The jeans and pants stacked in my closet today are all still high waisted, and I feel ok about it. But I guess the point of fashion is - never say never. If this millennial can make peace with the low rise pant, it might just be a good thing. Or hopefully, even cool.