A 17-year-old will define the area well below her belly button as her wastline. Ask her mother, and she will likely point to the narrowest part of her torso, well above her navel and her hip bone.
Waistbands started seemingly sliding down the torso, around the late ’90s, says Rachelle Moley, trend manager for Lee Jeans.
In fashion terms, the measurement from the crotch seam to the top of the waistband is called ‘rise’. Earlier low waist jeans had around 7 to 8 inch rise, while these days it has come down to a mere 2.
The waist’s descent has sent mothers and grandmothers on a forlorn search for jeans, pants and skirts they can sit in without exposing their backsides, or baring what has become charmingly called the ‘muffin top.’
