The Return of the "Belt & Cinch"

It suddenly dawned on me why my niece as categorically sworn that she will not wear high-waist pants. The child has never in her life worn a shirt tucked-in. For her entire 19 years, pants have been south of the belly button. In some cases, far enough south to be in Mexico. And with low-rise pants, tucked in shirts don’t really work. For awhile, it was pretty much de rigeur for people to have 2 or 3 inches of midriff showing. But at the very least, most shirts barely met your waistband. And, if you’re not going to tuck in your shirt, there’s really no point in having high-waist pants. You’re just going to wear what you’re comfortable with. And since she’s never known anything different, my niece is comfortable with pants at her hips.

I think the 80s were a real breaking point. Those over-sized t-shirts came into style. But I can still remember my aunt sniffing that it just looked sloppy, and the only reason to wear a shirt untucked was if you were fat. And when she was a teenager in the 70s, that was absolutely true. But a baggy shirt covers a number of sins. It’s a great fashion equalizer. And in the last 30 years, a lot more of us have become sinners. Hell, “skinny” jeans come in Women’s sizes.

So, does fashion follow form, or form follow fashion? Once people didn’t have to stay trim to wear the latest, was it just easier kind of let things go? Not that everyone did. There are still skinny Minnies among us. And they’ll probably be the first on the bandwagon for the new high-waist trouser pants that people are panting about on the fashion blogs. And they’ll look great. But if you’re not a size 6 or under, or 5’5” and over, not so much. The question is, are there still enough of them to cause a fashion trend? The Minnies may all run out to buy them, but if there aren’t enough to cause a wave, that little trend will die a swift death. They may blather a lot that fashion is art, but it’s still the clothes business, and if it don’t sell, it ain’t going to be around next season. There are enough skinny girls to start a fad. But I’m guessing there aren’t enough of them to start a trend. There’s a reason why bootcut mid-rise pants stayed in fashion so long. They look good on everyone.

There has to be some sort of happy medium, style-wise. A cut of clothing that encourages a healthy body weight. Going anorexic because you want to wear a sample size is a bad thing. But an occasional waistband cutting into your waist isn’t such a bad reminder to keep one’s girlish figure.