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Women's jeans that ride lower than low are raising wearers' enthusiasm - and some onlookers' eyebrows.
By LANE DeGREGORY
© St. Petersburg Times, published January 15, 2002
ST. PETERSBURG -- It's hard not to notice: Girls whose jeans hang so low in front, you can see the silver hoops sparkling in their flat bellies; denims that dip so low in the back, a new kind of cleavage is emerging.
Blue jeans used to be modest. Waistbands used to be waistbands. Underwear used to be under clothes.
No more: if you're hip.
And these days, it's hard not to be.
In the last 18 months, women's jeans have sunk to new lows. Some drop below the hip bones. Others scoop so far you have to get a bikini wax to wear them.
It's almost impossible anymore to find regular, original jeans that button up over your navel: jeans you can garden in, play softball in, wear with a sweat shirt to walk your dog on the beach; jeans you don't have to hike up on your hips, that don't make you worry about the rear view or that don't require you to buy new undergarments to wear.
Waistbands have plunged rapidly from the waist to the unmentionables. Stores are carrying extra-low thong panties to be worn above the back waistline. Some women, apparently, just aren't worrying about the plumber look.
"Lots of the girls are just going commando. At least that's what they're telling me," said Ed Hausdorf, who manages Pants Towne at Tyrone Mall. "Some of these Super-Lows just hang too far down in the back to wear much underneath anyway."
Hausdorf has worked at the St. Petersburg store for 17 years. This season, he says, he has seen the biggest shift in jean styles. Even old, reliable Levi's have dropped trou.
In November, Levi's stopped making their original 512, five-pocket jeans. In their place, Levi's introduced 518s: Super-Lows. The waistband (hipband?) reveals three extra inches of abdomen. Television commercials for the new look feature svelte women strutting down the street in the jeans as their belly buttons sing, "I'm coming out!"
"For years, 512s were my biggest sellers. Now, no one wants them," Hausdorf said last week. "The Super-Lows have been outselling all the other jeans by at least 5 to 1."
The JCPenney at WestShore Plaza in Tampa has been sold out of the extra-low Levi's since before Christmas. "I was selling 15 pairs a day when we had them," said Johanne Joseph, who manages the juniors department. "Every day, we have at least five people in here asking for them."
Just a few years ago, teenage girls were drowning in oversized, rave-inspired jeans with elephant legs so wide they looked like skirts. Now, the silhouette has shrunk. Even the wide bell-bottoms of last summer are slimming to slight flares and ankle-hugging profiles.
And jeans that used to be folded and shelved in stores are now being opened up on hangers and taking center stage in displays. Potential buyers want to see the shape of their jeans, not just the colors.
Hues are changing, too. Faded, prewashed jeans have given way to darker denim and "distressed" jeans with white-washed streaks and seats. By spring, designers predict, the trendiest jeans will be gray and pewter.
Jeans sales peaked in 1981, when Americans bought 502-million pairs. But by 1998, people seemed to be pulling on other kinds of pants, too. Jeans sales dropped to 412-million pairs, according to the NPD Group, which tracks clothing purchases.
Some of the new styles are not too revealing -- and not too new. They sit on the very top of the hips, hugging the first slight swell, riding almost on the belly button. Reminiscent of the sort Marcia Brady and Laurie Partridge used to sport on '70s sitcoms.
Others could never be worn on prime time. They cut just as low as -- if not lower than -- the original hip-huggers of 30 years ago. They're dangerous to bend over in and unfit for nearly everyone except supermodels and 16-year-olds.
Kal Ruttenstein, Bloomingdale's senior vice president of fashion direction, calls the very bottom of the tummy "the new erogenous zone." Tampa Bay area school officials would prefer not to see that zone. Every county from Pinellas to Citrus has rules against displaying midriffs and undies.
The recent fad apparently started when pop stars Mariah Carey and Britney Spears ripped the waistbands off their pants to proudly promote their minimidriffs. When Spears sang in Tampa last year, she let a sliver of pink panties peek above her oh-so-low-slung jeans. And at last year's Super Bowl, Jennifer Lopez wore extra-low-riders with her spangled bustier.
Just before Christmas, Lopez introduced her own J.Lo clothing line, featuring copies of all the clothes she wears for her concerts and videos (smart). Available in size 1 to 15 (amazing).
"Almost everyone who comes in here wants J.Lo jeans," said Mike Gonzales, who co-manages d.e.m.o. clothing store at Tyrone Mall. "The lower the waist, the more girls want them. We've sold at least 20 pairs in the last couple of weeks, more than any other brand."
J.Lo jeans come in three styles. The most popular costs $68, flares slightly at the bottom and has thin leather laces at the ankles. The laces are repeated in the back, where the waistband dips dangerously low. The jeans tie up at the rear. (So that's how she gets them on!)
Like a lot of the low-slung denims, J.Lo jeans don't have back pockets. (Just back.) And a little "J.Lo" script in silver rhinestones trickling down the right cheek.
"Girls are surprised, when they try these on, to see how low they go," Gonzales said. "They act surprised, at least. Then they buy them anyway.
"We've sold them in every size except 15, I think."
Women who have even the slightest paunch might find such styles hard to stomach. "But they can always buy a longer shirt," Gonzales said.
"The J.Lo brand has extra Lycra in them, too. So they fit much tighter than regular denim," Gonzales said. "Some women want that. Others want their jeans to move a little."
If you're trying to buy not-too-tight jeans, though, it's almost hard not to be ashamed. Even the names of "regular" jeans sound dowdy and depressing, like something a spinster schoolmarm would wear to scrub her bathroom: Relaxed Fit (the Gap), Easy Fit (Lerner's New York), Reverse Fit (the Gap). As if it were backward to want to wear something loose and comfortable. Compare those to names the new slinky jeans offer: Hipster-trousers (the Gap), Bikini Straight ("Hugs Curves; Super Sexy," proclaims the tag at Express), Low Rise Flare ("Hot Shape, Precision Fit," the Express tag promises).
At Old Navy, fashion-conscious pregnant women can even find low-rise maternity jeans, so baby can bulge above the button.
Some styles, from brands by Levi's to Wet Seal, already have the waistband removed. The jeans' top is frayed, as if the wearer had ripped it off. The button, predictably, rides way below the belly button.
The Gap's newest jeans, Ultra Low-Rise, have been out for six months. They have only six inches between the crotch and the waistband. The Gap's Classic Cut have twice that much -- but they're hard to find. While the low-waisted jeans dominate displays and hang on brightly lighted racks, the Classic Cuts are folded and piled against the side wall, at floor level.
Jennifer White didn't mind. She wasn't looking for old-fashioned jeans. She already owns seven pairs of the low riders and was looking for more.
"I love these new styles," said White, 26, who was shopping at the Gap at Tyrone Mall with her 18-month-old daughter, Kyleigh. "I've always liked my pants low. I even used to cut the waistbands off my jeans. So I'm really glad the ultra-low ones are in. That's all I wear."
If you're buying low-rise pants for the first time, beware. Those old belts that buckle easily around your waist will need a few more inches when you drop them down.
"I just think the low jeans are more comfortable. I like them to slide down to my hips. Not button right on my waist," said Melody Wassmer, 17, who owns eight pairs of low-rider jeans. She's a sophomore at Gibbs High and was shopping at Tyrone Mall with two friends. Since these new styles came out, she said, she never wears her "regular" jeans anymore.
"But I won't wear them too low, either," Wassmer said. "Not like some of the girls at school. Yeah, some of them, well, you can see their butts when they sit down. The school won't let us wear shirts that show any midriff. But they haven't said anything about what our jeans can show in back -- not yet."
-- Times researcher Caryn Baird contributed to this report.