High-waisted Horrors

Wow. To me, this looks like a vintage pencil skirt with a baggy crotch and some pant legs tacked on. Apparently to Kenley, it looks “totally hip hop.”

It reminds me of another unfortunate incident in which an attractive young woman was powerless against the hideousness that is pegged legs and a sky-high waist:

Obviously there is a lot of misfortune going on here, but the 80’s mom-pants are fashion enemy number one.

All of these atrocities give high-waisted pants a bad name. I owned the best pair of high-waisted jeans EVER in college – they came up an inch or so below my navel and flared out ever so slightly at the bottom. They made me feel like a seventies goddess and I wore them everyday. I cried when I returned from my semester in Ghana (i.e. four months of eating fried plantains and wearing wrap skirts) and they wouldn’t zip. My point is, when pants have a *civilized* rise — that is, not up to your boobs, nor barely covering your private areas — they can be flattering and very, VERY comfortable. I hate pulling up my jeans before I sit down to avoid showing crack, and I hate the way lower-rise jeans cut straight into your curves and make your love handles (ok, MY love handles) spilleth over.

While I would take off the top two inches from the waistband of these pants, I think they are the right idea when it comes to a high waist, and flatter the female form:

As for every day jeans with a reasonable rise, I like Joe’s Jeans quite a bit, and have worn the same pair of Provocateur style jeans for the last two years straight. This style is their ‘petite’ model, and while I’m 5’6″, I believe I chose them because I was too cheap/lazy to tailor the ‘regular’ 34″ jeans. They are amazingly sturdy and well-made, and the waist hits just right. My next pair of jeans will probably be their ‘Muse’ style, which is similar but slightly more high-waisted.

What do you think: is a certain degree of high-waistedness acceptable?