When particular style trends start dominating the fashion scene, sometimes there’s no choice other than to adapt to them and make them your own. ’90s fashion has been making a comeback in a huge way, and among the styles to return is the high waist jeans.
High waist jeans, also widely known as the “mom jeans,” are jeans pulled up at the waist and covers up the tummy. Such jeans have often been labeled as unflattering and unfashionable, the kind only women in their 40s or older would be caught wearing. Jeans of this kind would have longer back pockets and a looser fit around the zipper and legs area.
Out of all the styles and cuts of jeans out there, I’ve often preferred flares and low rise skinny jeans over everything else. It’s what I find to be most flattering for my body type. Seeing the proliferation of high waist jeans taking over department stores, it’s not exactly a style I’m too fond of.
I like my jeans to be comfortable but more fitted. I’m a petite lady and the last thing I need is to have my jeans looking baggy without any shape or form to them. Skinny jeans where the denim hugs my legs, while still being comfortable to move around in, are my favorite style to wear. I like the shape of my short legs and I need jeans that will highlight that. High waist jeans don’t quite give me what I’m looking for. But when a trend starts to get super hot, the style you’re most used to starts to become more of a challenge to find easily. A recent shopping trip for jeans has confirmed that for me.
The day I go jeans shopping is the day I’m forced to accept that my favorite pair of jeans are getting too worn for me to plausibly wear any longer. I thought finding a similar replacement for my current jeans would be easy. Low rise skinny jeans seemed to be the in thing, right? My reality shattered when I saw how wrong I really was. Most of the jeans I saw on sale were of the high waist to mid-rise variety. Any low rise skinny jeans I saw had the cursed fake pockets I absolutely loathe. Why the hell would I want jeans with non-functioning pockets? Not this woman, that’s for sure. Seeing as I needed to have a new pair of jeans to replace the ones I have, before they completely fall apart, I decided to go with one high waist and one mid-rise jeans that looked okay when I tried them on in the fitting room. The pants legs aren’t as fitted as I would like them to be, but they aren’t too loose for me to completely hate them either. After having worn the two new pairs I purchased, I’m slowly coming around to the latest style craze and the benefits of wearing these kind of jeans.
High waist jeans, for one, is better at hiding a slight belly you may not want to accentuate. Low rise jeans aren’t very good for that, and if you want to look slimmer in that area of the body, you may be spending most of your time sucking in that tummy rather than letting the jeans help create the illusion for you. And two, high waist or mid-rise jeans are better for tucked in looks and shorter length tops.
I don’t often like tucking in my shirts or tops in general with my jeans because I never like the end result when I look at myself in the mirror. Wearing low rise jeans for the last few years have made it impossible to make the tucked in look work for me because the band of the jeans hugs my waist snugly. With high waist jeans there’s a little more room at the waist, which makes it easier to tuck a shirt in and adjust it as needed if you don’t want the shirt tightly tucked in. One of the other good things to come out of the popularity of high waist jeans are the rise of shorter length tops.
Short sweaters or crop tops are the perfect pairing for high waist jeans. The look is clean and simple. Wearing longer sweaters or shirts that go way past the waist with high waist jeans doesn’t look all that good together, as I’ve tried it once and had to change the top immediately. I also read on a fashion blog once that by wearing these tops, or even tucking a shirt in with these jeans, it’s a better style match for short girls. It projects the illusion of a short girl having longer legs at first glance and doesn’t draw attention to her height, unlike other looks and styles. I’m not sure if that’s entirely true, but it’s something I can get behind either way. The colder temperatures mean I’ve been wearing a ton of sweaters to stay warm and my wardrobe has been filled with short sweaters that rest just above or at the waist. The short length tops with jeans has always suited me best and I always feel confident walking outside my door, looking and feeling good.
I’m still not sure if the jeans that has always been dubbed “mom jeans” will be my new favorite pair of jeans, but at least there are a few looks I can wear until the next trending style takes over.
What do you think of high waist jeans? Yay or nay?
simpleek 
I can get behind the short top/high-waist jeans look – it’s pretty flattering. And I’m much more in to seeing this trend take over than the ultra-low-rise look of the 2000s. That said, I’ve yet to try a new pair of high-waist jeans that I like. I have a short waist, and any jeans above mid-rise tend to sit uncomfortably at or against my ribs.
Shopping for jeans is a daunting task precisely because of what you said – finding your favorite pair that was “in” a couple years ago isn’t so easy today. Even styles within the same brand change rapidly. Locating that new, right pair feels like it can take forever! But once you do, it’s the best thing ever. 🙂
Exactly! I don’t know why out of all the clothes you shop for, jeans are the most difficult to find. It’s even worse when you’re short because then you have to hem the bottom to make it sit correctly around your ankles. They never want to make ones that are perfect for petites! 😦 This is why, as you said, once you find the perfect pair it’s the most amazing feeling ever. Such is why it’s hard letting go and finding another pair to take its place.