Low-rise is a style of clothing designed to sit low on, or below, the

hips In vertebrate anatomy, the hip, or coxaLatin ''coxa'' was used by Celsus in the sense "hip", but by Pliny the Elder in the sense "hip bone" (Diab, p 77) (: ''coxae'') in medical terminology, refers to either an anatomical region or a joint ...

. The style has also been called lowcut, hipster, bumster, or hip-hugger, and can apply to garments worn by all genders. The term can be applied to all garments that cover the wearer's

crotch In humans, the crotch is the bottom of the pelvis (the region of the body where the legs join the torso) and is the part of the body that includes the groin and genitals. Etymology ''Crotch'' is derived from ''crutch''; it was first used in 1 ...

area, including trousers, jeans,

shorts Shorts are a garment worn over the pelvic area, circling the waist and splitting to cover the upper part of the legs, sometimes extending down to the knees but not covering the entire length of the leg. They are called "shorts" because they ar ...

skirts A skirt is the lower part of a dress or a separate outer garment that covers a person from the waist downwards. At its simplest, a skirt can be a draped garment made out of a single piece of fabric (such as pareos). However, most skirts are fit ...

panties Panties are women's form-fitting underpants. Typical components include an elastic waistband, a crotch panel to cover the genitalia (usually lined with absorbent material such as cotton), and a pair of leg openings that, like the waistband, ...

briefs Briefs (or a brief) are a type of short, form-fitting Undergarment, underwear and swimsuit, swimwear, as opposed to styles where material extends down the thighs. Briefs have various different styles, usually with a waistband attached to fabric ...

bikinis A bikini is a two-piece swimsuit primarily worn by women that features one piece on top that covers the breasts, and a second piece on the bottom: the front covering the pelvis but usually exposing the navel, and the back generally covering ...

pantyhose Pantyhose, sometimes also called sheer (textile), sheer tights, are close-fitting legwear covering the wearer's body from the waist to the toes. Pantyhose first appeared on store shelves in 1959 for the advertisement of new design panties (All ...

, and

tights Tights are a kind of cloth garment, most often sheathing the body from the waist to the toe tips with a tight fit, hence the name. They come in absolute opaque, opaque, sheer and fishnet styles — or a combination, such as the original concep ...

Terminology

The "rise" of a bottom garment is measured by the distance between the crotch and the waistline or top of the garment and is usually around on regular pants. The average rise of a low-rise garment is roughly with some as little as . A normal low-rise sits at least below the

navel The navel (clinically known as the umbilicus; : umbilici or umbilicuses; also known as the belly button or tummy button) is a protruding, flat, or hollowed area on the abdomen at the attachment site of the umbilical cord. Structure The u ...

. A "super" or an "ultra low-rise" sits at below the navel. Low-rise jeans may be worn with

crop tops A crop is a plant that can be grown and harvested extensively for profit or subsistence. In other words, a crop is a plant or plant product that is grown for a specific purpose such as food, fibre, or fuel. When plants of the same species ...

to expose skin at the waist, torso, and hips, sometimes showing the midriff and navel, especially in warm climates.

History

The 1990s revival of low-rise jeans can be credited to British

fashion designer Fashion design is the Art (skill), art of applied arts, applying design, aesthetics, clothing construction, and natural beauty to clothing and its Fashion accessory, accessories. It is influenced by diverse cultures and different trends and has va ...

Alexander McQueen Lee Alexander McQueen (17 March 1969 – 11 February 2010) was a British fashion designer and couturier. He founded his own Alexander McQueen (brand), Alexander McQueen label in 1992 and was chief designer at Givenchy from 1996 to 2001. His ac ...

, who first showed low-rise "bumster" trousers in his 1993 ''

Taxi Driver ''Taxi Driver'' is a 1976 American neo-noir psychological drama film directed by Martin Scorsese and written by Paul Schrader. Set in a morally decaying New York City following the Vietnam War, it stars Robert De Niro as veteran Marine and ...

'' collection. One commentator observed: "The bumster for me is what defined McQueen. For me it was the look that put him on the map because it was controversial. Those little bumsters were in his first shows. It was like 20 people in England were wearing them back then." The low-rise fashion expanded in the early 1990s after the March 1993 issue of the British magazine '' The Face'' which featured

Kate Moss Katherine Ann Moss (born 16 January 1974) is an English model. Arriving towards the end of the "supermodel era", Moss rose to fame in the early 1990s as part of the heroin chic fashion trend. Her collaborations with Calvin Klein brought her t ...

low-rise jeans Low-rise is a style of clothing designed to sit low on, or below, the hips. The style has also been called lowcut, hipster, bumster, or Hip-huggers, hip-hugger, and can apply to garments worn by all genders. The term can be applied to all garment ...

. Clothing manufacturer

Levi Strauss & Co Levi Strauss & Co. ( ) is an American clothing company known worldwide for its Levi's ( ) brand of denim jeans. It was founded in May 1853 when History of the Jews in Germany, German-Jewish immigrant Levi Strauss moved from Buttenheim, Bavaria, ...

. introduced low-rise jeans in December 2000, the tops of which were about below the navel, with a zipper of a mere long. Backs were also cut low, but not so low that they exposed backside cleavage. It later adopted the style in men's wear. Gradually the wide acceptance of low-rise pants by men led to low-rise

swimwear A swimsuit is an item of clothing designed to be worn by people engaging in a water-based activity or water sports, such as swimming, diving and surfing, or sun-orientated activities, such as sun bathing. Different types and styles may be worn ...

and underpants.

Britney Spears Britney Jean Spears (born December 2, 1981) is an American singer. Often referred to as the "Princess of Pop", she has sold over 150 million records worldwide, making her one of the world's best-selling music artists. Cultural impact of Brit ...

is credited with popularizing the fashion in the US in the early 2000s. From 2001 to 2007, low-rise jeans often exposed thongs or

G-strings A G-string is a garment consisting of a narrow piece of material that barely covers the genitals, a string-like piece that passes between the buttocks, and a very thin waistband around the hips. There are designs for both women and men. Men's G- ...

, but this declined after 2007. Sitting or bending could reveal

buttock cleavage Buttock cleavage is minor exposure of the buttocks and the intergluteal cleft between them, often because of low-rise pants. History When faced with indecency issues back in the 1930s, W. G. Cassidy explained in an essay titled "Private Parts: ...

, while thongs visible above the waistband were called "

whale tails Whale tail is the Y-shaped rear portion of a thong or G-string when visible above the waistline of low-rise pants, shorts, or skirts that resembles a whale's tail. The fashion was popular in the early 2000s and waned within the decade, but ...

" due to their shape. Exposed, sagging boxer shorts also became common. As underwear became more visible, men and women increasingly chose styles to complement low-rise jeans. The trend became so popular that in 2002, a

Barbie Barbie is a fashion doll created by American businesswoman Ruth Handler, manufactured by American toy and entertainment company Mattel and introduced on March 9, 1959. The toy was based on the German Bild Lilli doll, Bild Lilli doll which Hand ...

doll wearing low-rise jeans named "

My Scene My Scene (stylized in all lowercase) is an American series of fashion dolls that Mattel released in 2002. They were a spinoff doll line to Mattel’s Barbie doll line, and are also considered Barbie-brand dolls. They were discontinued in the US in ...

" Barbie was introduced in stores. The doll was created in an attempt to appeal to older girls in the tween demographic who may find the My Scene Barbie's fashion style to be more realistic and modern. The trend was also in style during the 2020s.

Kathryn Newton Kathryn Love Newton (born February 8, 1997) is an American actress. She is known for her starring roles as Louise Brooks in the CBS comedy series ''Gary Unmarried'' (2008–2010), Abigail Carlson in the HBO mystery drama series '' Big Little Lie ...

wore a two piece midriff baring school girl style outfit with a low rise skirt exposing her belly button at

San Diego Comic-Con San Diego Comic-Con is a comic book convention and multi-genre entertainment event held annually in San Diego, California, at the San Diego Convention Center. Founded in 1970, originally showcasing primarily comic books and science fiction/fant ...

in 2022.

Indian fashion

The term is applied to

sari A sari (also called sharee, saree or sadi)The name of the garment in various regional languages include: * * * * * * * * * * * * * * is a drape (cloth) and a women's garment in the Indian subcontinent. It consists of an un-sti ...

s and

Ghagra choli Ghagra choli (also known as lehenga choli and chaniya choli) is a type of ethnic clothing for women from India, notably in the Indian states of Rajasthan, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Haryana, Punjab, Himachal Pradesh, Uttar ...

s especially in India and Indian diaspora communities. Many Indian women began to wear the normal sari below the waistline exposing the navel, which is known as low-rise sari. This type of sari is worn such that the

petticoat A petticoat or underskirt is an article of clothing, a type of undergarment worn under a skirt or a dress. Its precise meaning varies over centuries and between countries. According to the ''Oxford English Dictionary'', in current British E ...

is tied at some inches below the navel and just above the pubic area. Similarly, the

lehenga The ''lehenga'', ''lehanga'' ''or लेहंगा'' (also known as a ghagra, chaniyo, Paro, ''paavada'', or ''lacha'') is a form of ankle-length skirt from the Indian subcontinent. Different patterns and styles of traditional embroidery are ...

s of ghagra cholis are also worn in low-rise. Designer

Manish Malhotra Manish Malhotra (born 5 December 1966) is an Indian fashion designer, couturier, costume stylist, entrepreneur, filmmaker, and revivalist based in Mumbai, India. The founder of the eponymous label, Manish Malhotra, he sometimes took part in t ...

's Fashion Week collections regularly highlight low waisted ghaghras accompanied by short cholis. This were made popular by women celebrities of

Bollywood Hindi cinema, popularly known as Bollywood and formerly as Bombay cinema, is primarily produced in Mumbai. The popular term Bollywood is a portmanteau of "Bombay" (former name of Mumbai) and "Cinema of the United States, Hollywood". The in ...

industry and other popular regional film industries like

Tamil cinema Tamil cinema is the segment of Indian cinema dedicated to the production of motion pictures in the Tamil language, the main spoken language in the state of Tamil Nadu. It is nicknamed Kollywood, a portmanteau of the names Kodambakkam, a Ch ...

and

Telugu cinema Telugu cinema, also known as Tollywood, is the segment of Cinema of India, Indian cinema dedicated to the production of Film, motion pictures in the Telugu language, widely spoken in the states of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana. Based in Film N ...

. These are mainly worn by the rich, educated upper-class women who consider navel exposure as a fashion. However, sometimes, the navel is covered with the pallu in a low-rise non-transparent sari, as well.

Dress codes

In 2004 Vitruvio Pollione Scientific High School,

Avezzano Avezzano ( ; ) is a city and comune in the Abruzzo region, province of L'Aquila, Italy. It is the second most populous municipality in the province and the sixth in the region. It is the main commercial, industrial and agricultural centre of the ...

, central Italy, asked students to stop wearing low-slung trousers that expose navels, underwear etc., Deputy Principal Nazzareno Desiderio elaborated in a phone interview: "It's a piece of advice, for their educational reflection." Inspired by the decision in Avezzano, the principal of

Rome Rome (Italian language, Italian and , ) is the capital city and most populated (municipality) of Italy. It is also the administrative centre of the Lazio Regions of Italy, region and of the Metropolitan City of Rome. A special named with 2, ...

's Visconti High School Antonino Grasso had suggested that students show less skin and proposed a debate on the matter. In an interview he commented, "Today, boys are less tickled by such visions (of skin), because there's no more big effect in seeing a girl's legs or shoulders, lower back and navel". In some corporations in India, saris are required to be worn in an elegant manner, avoiding navel exposure. Anita Gupta, senior vice-president at JWT Chennai commented, "Formal wear for women definitely covers saris without plunging necklines or glimpses of the belly button". Low-rise clothing is completely forbidden in certain countries around the world, including Iran, Libya, Algeria, Afghanistan, and Yemen.

References

External links