I’m sick of this seemingly all-pervasive low-waisted jeans look. Not only is this a tad uncomfortable, especially in the winter when your back and belly are exposed to all the elements of cold and wet Seattle weather. It’s also very unpleasant to see girls’ underwear when they’re sitting down or bending over, and for girls with more than a little body fat, to see bulges in places that should be decently covered up.
Yet it’s extremely difficult to find jeans, appropriate to my size and age, that aren’t low-waisted. Usually, the ones that rest waist-level instead of thigh-level are for older women (crisp pleats, and legs that are either pencil-straight or voluminously baggy -- reminiscent of the '80s) or at prices clearly aimed the professional woman’s salary.
My main option for size and affordability, then, is the junior’s department or stores like Gap and Old Navy. Still, most pants there are designed for middle schoolers with too much attitude, either low waisted or made in that horrible “stretch” material that threatens to suck the life right out of your previously vigorous limbs. I’d compare these pants to corsets, when women lived within the suffocating constraints of the 19th century.
Go on Old Navy online, and you’ll see the various pant categories set up to torture the young woman’s body and sense of decency: ultra low waist (are you kidding me? This is pretty much a euphemism for butt-level), low waist (about an inch above butt-level), just below waist (add a half inch, maybe a full inch if you’re lucky), and at waist (hooray!)
My options are to conform (searching for the highest-waisted pants that look semi-decent, and investing in some low-waisted underwear so I don’t look like an ad for Jockey every time I sit down), or to start dressing like a female Sherlock Holmes in baggy tweed pants. Maybe throw in a droopy old hat to match.
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