Tag Archives: Waistband positioning

Friday Style Debate: Is a higher waistband more elegant?

Time to debate!

FSD - rise debate

Friday Style Debate: Is a higher waistband more elegant?

The fact that I’ve asked this question in the manner I have shows a little bit of my bias right off the hop.  The reality is that our legs are longer than our torso; as such pants that sit at the natural waist maintain the body’s natural proportions.  By shifting the location of the waistband – whether it be up or down – we manipulate these proportions and alter the delicate balance.  In some cases the results are great while in others it can look quite odd.

In the image above we have a great contrast – the severely dropped waistband on the left verses the natural waist positioning on the right.  The difference in this case is likely close to 2.5 inches.  Which brings us to our question – is the higher waistband on the right more elegant? It all comes down to elongating the legs verses increasing the impact of the torso and reducing the visual length of the mid section.

I know where I stand on this one – I look forward to hearing what you guys think as we could have a lot of varying opinions on this one.  Let the debate begin…