Fashion Emergency: How to Fix The Downside of Low-Rise Pants
Los Angeles wardrobe stylist Jeanne Yang calls in a tailor to put in darts at the hip. Advertising executive Paula Mangin of San Francisco is choosy about the chairs she sits in and, when she stoops, she takes care to bend at the knees. Web publicist Karen Bard, also of San Francisco, leans on her boyfriend.
All these women are seeking ways to deal with the downside of a fashion trend -- low-cut jeans.
As any woman who has purchased them can attest, they come with one little drawback: If you aren't very careful, you end up showing too much. And while that might be just the ticket for some, it's a problem in need of a solution to women with even a modicum of modesty.
Sharron Senter of Boston still remembers how excited she was when she snapped up a stylish pair of low-cut Old Navy khakis -- and how horrified she was when she wore them to the grocery store. Bending down to reach a low shelf, Ms. Senter suddenly felt a breeze of refrigerated supermarket air. "Luckily, it was mostly women around me," she says.
Since the incident, the 36-year-old Ms. Senter says she has perfected a way of bending over that helps keep her pants from starting that scary slide. Like squats at the gym, it requires that she keep her back straight and her head forward at all times. "Look down and you're exposed," she says. Ms. Senter says the vigilance is so ingrained she automatically turns her back to a wall before attempting to reach under her daughter's stroller.
"It's just a way of life now," she says. "If you want to be fashionable, you've got to practice socially responsible bending."
Not since the streaking craze of the 1970s have so many backsides been on public display. But this time it's usually unintentional. Rocker Avril Lavigne made headlines when the weight of a little electronic sound transmitter pulled her low-riding pants partly down at a televised awards show.
"We call them 'stand at the bar' jeans," says Suzanne Stevens, owner of Annies, a San Francisco boutique that carries an array of expensive how-low-can-you-go denims. "You can't sit at the bar in them."
For years, the phenomenon was popularly associated with overweight workmen who fasten their toolbelts below their stomachs. The problem for women is that the lower the waistband, the wider it must be to accommodate a woman's naturally fuller hips. Pants that actually fit have been made with higher waists since the days of young Katharine Hepburn.
"The waistline should be at the waist, where it belongs," says Domenico Spano, a veteran custom tailor at Saks Fifth Avenue in New York. Mr. Spano says a pant's "rise," or the distance between the crotch of the pants and the top of the waist, should never be less than 10 inches.
Tell that to the fiercely competitive fashion industry, which has come to believe that the shorter the rise, the hotter the look. Most fashion boutiques today stock only low-cut pants, with many hot brands boasting prices north of $100 and rises south of seven inches.
The result gives new meaning to the term "fashion victim." Annette Hickey, who runs San Francisco boutique A Girl and Her Dog, says she crouched down to change CDs in her stereo when her date commented on the color of her underwear. "I was mortified," Ms. Hickey says. "I recovered, but I don't know if he ever did." In any event, the man didn't ask her out again.
While tall women such as Ms. Hickey often wear belts, others shun them, preferring the risk to wearing an accessory that will make them look shorter or heavier. A savvy few use shoelaces, which are perfect for stringing through the tiny belt loops of low-rise jeans.
In Hollywood, tailors are called in. "Two darts put in the middle of each hip puts more curvature into the pant," says Los Angeles wardrobe stylist Jeanne Yang , who has dressed celebrities including Angelina Jolie and Kirsten Dunst. "It helps a lot."
But most women just keep hitching up their pants. San Francisco handbag designer Jennifer Boyd makes no effort to hide what she's doing. She'll even stand up to give her pants a big satisfying yank. "I do it so quickly, I don't even make a pretext," she says. Ashley Dengler, an 18-year-old San Francisco art student, says she has learned to hold on to the back of her pants before she bends down in public.
Partners are often eager to keep everything in check. Many low-rise lovers say that their significant others are far more upset by accidental exposures than they are. Karen Bard, public-relations chief for fashion Web site Splendora.com in San Francisco, says her boyfriend whispers in her ear whenever her pants hit the danger zone. "He used to physically pull my pants up until I told him it wasn't appropriate."
Harold Einstein, Ms. Boyd's husband, always tells his wife, too, when she takes on the look of a workman under the sink. "I just step in without being asked," he says.
But sitting down raises problems that hitching up your pants just doesn't solve. Chairs that are open in back are a particular peril. Ms. Mangin, who ties sweaters around her waist and who is careful about bending, reconnoiters the chairs she sits in at restaurants, and if the back of a chair doesn't cover her back, she heads for a banquette. "You have to understand where you are in relation to other people and place yourself strategically," she says.
Maybe it shouldn't be surprising that the industry responsible for this fashion emergency is actively selling ways to deal with it. This year's fashion phenomenon, T-shirt maker C&C California, is selling tank tops with 18 inches of fabric from the armhole to the bottom of the shirt, compared with just 11 inches for regular T-shirts. Says co-owner Claire Stansfield: "We filled that gap." The startup company has a waiting list for its cover-up tank top.
And who better to fix the problem -- and profit from it -- than Michael Glasser and Jerome Dahan, the designers behind Seven for All Mankind, the superhot low-cut jeans brand. For their new jeans line, Citizens for Humanity, the men claim to have invented a pant that is low enough to be fashionable but high enough to be decent. "We do this little tweak to the back of the jean," says Mr. Glasser, to make it fit a little higher. But there are no guarantees. "I said it will eliminate most of the problem," he says.
都是低腰牛仔裤惹的祸
洛杉矶的服装设计师珍妮．杨(Jeanne Yang)请了一位裁缝在牛仔裤的臀部部位加上缝褶。旧金山某广告公司的经理保拉．曼金(Paula Mangin)对座位特别慎重，而且当她弯下身时，她总是小心翼翼地弯下膝盖。同是来自旧金山的网络公司公关人员凯伦．巴德(Karen Bard)则依靠她的男友。
这些女性举止为何？一切都缘自时下流行的低腰牛仔裤。
任何购买了低腰牛仔裤的女性都可证明，这种紧身裤有个小小的缺点：如果穿时不小心，你就会春光乍泄。虽然某些人正希望如此，但对于稍微注重端庄仪表的女性来说，这是个需要解决的问题。
波士顿的沙伦．森特(Sharron Sente)仍记得当初抢购到一条时髦的Old Navy低腰牛仔裤时的兴奋劲，而她身穿此裤去商店的经历则令她后怕不已。当当森特弯腰到低层货架上取东西时，她突然感到超级市场里的一股冷气。她说："幸运的是，周围大都是女性。"
现年36岁的森特称，从那以后，她就改进了弯腰姿势，以免出现上面那令人惊慌的一幕。像在健身房里练习下蹲那样，森特得一直挺著背，头朝前方。她说："如果头朝下，身体就暴露了。"森特说，自己的警惕性非常高，每当伸手去扶女儿的童车时，她总是不自觉地把背对著墙。
森特说："现在这已成了生活方式。如果你想赶时髦，你就得练习文雅的弯腰姿势。"
自70年代兴起裸奔热潮以来，从来没有这么多的背部展现在光天化日之下。但这次在通常情况下都非故意所为。在一个电视颁奖节目中，一个小小的电子发话机把摇滚乐手阿维利．拉维金(Avril Lavigne)的低腰牛仔裤往下拉了一点，结果拉维金成了报纸的头条新闻。
苏珊娜．史蒂文斯(Suzanne Stevens)说："我们称之为'站在酒吧里'的牛仔裤，因为你无法坐著。"她是旧金山一家名为Annies的服装精品店的店主，她的店里有许多昂贵而低得不能再低的牛仔裤。
多年来，低腰牛仔裤总是与那些把工作带系在腹部下面的肥胖工人联系在一起。对于女性而言，问题在于腰带越低，腰身就需要变宽，因为女性的臀部更丰满。但是，从凯瑟琳．赫本(Katharine Hepburn)开创女性穿紧身裤的先河以来，尺寸合适的紧身裤的腰身通常是较高的那种。
多米尼科．斯帕诺(Domenico Spano)是纽约高级连锁店Saks Fifth Avenue的承接定制服装的资深裁缝。他说："顾名思义，腰身应当在腰部。"他指出，牛仔裤胯部与腰部上端的距离绝不应当小于10英寸。
告诉竞争激烈的时装界这个道理吧，因为时装界认为牛仔裤胯部与腰部上端的距离越短，看上去越酷。大多数时装精品店如今只采购低腰牛仔裤，而许多知名品牌的售价都在100美元以上，但所售牛仔裤的胯部与腰部之间的距离还不到7英寸。
结果是"时装牺牲品"有了新的含义。安妮特．希基(Annette Hickey)在旧金山经营著一家名为A Girl and Her Dog的精品店。她说，当自己蹲下来更换CD时，她约会的对象开始评论她内衣的颜色。希基说："我感到又羞又恼。"从此之后，那个男人再也没有邀请她外出。
一些像希基这样的高个子女性通常系腰带，而另一些女性则不然，宁愿冒著使自己看上去变矮或变胖的风险而佩带饰物。一些聪明人采用鞋带，用鞋带穿过低腰牛仔裤腰部那些小小的洞眼简直是棒极了。
在好莱坞，裁缝们被召集过来。洛杉矶的服装设计师珍妮．杨说："牛仔裤臀部左右部位各加上了一道缝褶。"她曾为安杰利娜．朱丽(Angelina Jolie)和科斯顿．邓斯特(Kirsten Dunst)等名流设计服装。杨说："这很有帮助。"
但大多数女性只是把牛仔裤往上提。旧金山的手袋设计师詹尼弗．博伊德(Jennifer Boyd)在提裤子的时候从不掩饰。她甚至会从座位上站起来把裤子好好的提上一番。她说："我的速度很快，甚至不用找任何托辞来做此事。"阿什利．迪格勒(Ashley Dengler)是旧金山一位年方18岁的学艺术的学生。她表示，在公共场合弯腰之前，她已学会拉住牛仔裤的背部。
通常，另一半们总是急于遮掩。许多低腰牛仔裤的爱好者们表示，偶尔暴露时，她们的男友总是比自己著急得多。凯伦．巴德(Karen Bard)说，每当自己的牛仔裤下滑到危险区域时，男友就会在耳边提醒自己。"他曾把我的裤子往上提，直到我告诉他这样做不合适。"巴德在旧金山的时装网站Splendora.com担任公共关系主管。
博伊德的丈夫哈罗德．爱因斯坦(Harold Einstein)也常常提醒妻子。他说："我总是不请自说。"
但当你坐下时，提裤子也无济于事。那些没有靠背的椅子尤其危险。曼金在腰部搭上毛线衫，在弯身时总是小心翼翼。她对餐厅里的座位看得格外仔细。如果椅子的后背不能遮住自己的背部，她就挑选靠墙放的软长椅。曼金说："你必须明白自己所处的环境，举止相宜。"
对这场时装危机负有责任的服装业正积极兜售应对之策，这也许并不令人感到奇怪。作为今年服装界的一景，T恤衫生产商C&C California正在出售从袖空到T恤底部的距离为18英寸的背心装，而普通T恤的距离仅为11英寸。该公司的所有者克莱尔．斯坦诽尔德(Claire Stansfield)说："我们填补了空缺。"这家初创公司的背心T恤供不应求。
有谁能比迈克尔．格拉泽(Michael Glasser)和杰罗米．达汉(Jerome Dahan)做得更好呢，他们既能解决上述问题，又能从中获利。他们是倍受欢迎的低腰牛仔裤品牌Seven for All Mankind的设计师。在新推出的牛仔裤系列Citizens for Humanity中，两位设计师宣称已设计出一种新式牛仔裤，腰部不高不低，既时髦又不失分寸。格拉泽表示："我们在牛仔裤的后部做了一点改动"，使之略高一些。但这并不意味著可以高枕无忧。他说："我是说这样能解决大部份的问题。"
