How old is your waistline?

[Brazen]

The rise and fall of the waist

By Elizabeth Diffin
BBC News Magazine

The way a man wears his trousers may reveal his age, research says. But when it comes to waistband placement, history shows there is no golden rule.

You no longer have to eye his hairline to determine a man's age. There's a new way to figure out just how old he is: take a look at his beltline.

A survey from department store Debenhams (illustrated below) suggests that a man's waistband rises and falls throughout his life. Trousers bottom out at the age of 16 with below-the-hip styles and peak at 57, just seven inches below the armpit.

Young boys may wear their trousers at their natural waist while being dressed by their parents, but they generally don't return to this style until they reach their late 20s.

Fashion history shows this seesaw isn't such a new thing - waistlines have been bouncing up and down for hundreds of years.

In Henry VIII's time, men wore trousers called "cannons", whose bulkiness around the thigh drew the eye. The first true trousers in Western Europe - pantaloons - were high-waisted and used light-coloured fabric to elongate a man's figure.

The invention of elastic braces in the 1840s meant that trousers continued to be kept hiked up, although waistcoats prevented waistbands from being seen.

But even with the waistbands hidden from prying eyes, this ushered in a problem that continues until today: Men don't know where to wear their trousers.

"Historically, braces are used to keep up trousers and undergarments," says Andrew Groves, course director of fashion design at the University of Westminster. "They hold the trouser so it doesn't really touch the body."

By the turn of the 20th Century, with the advent of baggier lounge-style suits, the waistline dropped, ushering in a century of yo-yoing waistlines.

"As fashion has inevitably speeded up, the waistband has shifted up and down seasonally," says Shaun Cole, the principal lecturer in history and culture at the London College of Fashion.

In particular, Alexander McQueen's "bumsters" (revealingly low-cut trousers) and hip-hop music in the 1980s and 1990s influenced people to wear their trousers on their hips... or even lower.

"Young people of today are used to having boxer shorts hanging out," Mr Groves says. "They think they're wearing [their trousers] normally, but they're actually on the hip."

That perception of where trousers should sit is at the root of the mockery of Simon Cowell, Britain's face of the so-called natural waist. But according to the Debenhams study, Mr Cowell, at age 50, is a bit old to wear his trousers there.

"It just looks odd," Mr Groves says. "[But] it wasn't like he was making a fashion statement."

Fashion tradition is also on Mr Cowell's side. It dictates that trousers be worn on the "natural waist", the narrowest part of the body between the chest and hip. Most suits are designed for the natural waist or slightly below, but jackets hide that fact.

Mr Cole says that a man's body shape determines where he views his "waist" to be. Men entrenched in the gym and fitness culture may be hyper-aware of the natural waist. With a rise in obesity, overweight men may not know whether to wear them above or below their stomach.

This confusion is also reflected in the Debenhams' survey, with research into what the clothing industry calls Under and Over Achievers. Although most men would prefer to fasten the waistband over their natural waist, the survey shows that 20% of older men will ignore their changing body shape and wear their trousers below their natural waistline, rather than buying a larger size.

Many men may simply follow what their friends and acquaintances are doing, says Mr Groves, or follow a shop assistant's instructions. They also can be influenced by the fashions of their personal coming-of-age period and then carry them throughout life.

Mr Groves has a hard time believing the waistband trends will continue indefinitely.

"The idea of old people walking around with their pants hanging out is not pleasant," he says. "Are people suddenly going to pull their trousers up? I don't think so."

Although there is no single rule for where a man's waistband should sit, Mr Groves offers a simple test: Don't expose your socks or your belly.

"Pay attention to where [your trousers] join the rest of the body," he says.

And to those who bemoan living in a country of lowering waist lines, he offers some encouragement: what goes around comes around. Fashion tends to be cyclical, so high waists may not be gone for long. Just give it another 10 years.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/8487106.stm

[Josephus]

that's about right, is all I'm saying.

[Grey Fox]

High enough.

[Brazen]

I'm glad waist-high jeans are fashionablt for women again. Hipsters are no good when your hips are the widest point of you* and tend to drop groundwards when running for the train.

Aren't they the widest part of even skinny women? How to they DO it?

[Ed Anger]

I keep my pants up.

[Razgovory]

I keep my pants up.

Mine fall down alot.  It's fairly awkward.

[Syt]

I keep my pants up.

Yah, right.

[Ed Anger]

[Syt]

Kirk is not a paragon of keeping the pants up.

[Josquius]

I used to hate jeans and wear tracksuit bottoms when I was a kid so...yeah there. I was normal. Never gone in for the trousers hanging around my legs thing though, that only ever happens when I get my mysterious daytime weight loss thing or just plain forgot to wear a belt with some 34s.

[DisturbedPervert]

My pants are probably lower than they were in high school

[DontSayBanana]

My big ass makes me appear older than I really am.

[Ed Anger]

Kirk is not a paragon of keeping the pants up.

Kirk approves of my actions.

[BuddhaRhubarb]

Actually as I've lost weight my pants fall down more. My waistline is probably lower than it was 10 years ago. But that maybe because I'm too poor to buy new pants.