For many of historical past, males’s trousers sat on the pure waist. And though high-rise trousers provide a flattering match, consolation, and a refined silhouette, they’ve largely pale from mainstream vogue. In the present day, low- and mid-rise trousers dominate menswear. What induced the shift?
Let’s discover why.
Why Have been Excessive-Rise Trousers Standard Again Then?
In the course of the Golden Age of Menswear (Twenties–Fifties), almost all males’s trousers featured a excessive rise. They had been favored for a number of causes:
They complement a wider vary of physique sorts in comparison with low-rise choices.
They supply higher consolation, particularly when worn with suspenders, as they continue to be in place no matter motion.
Their superior drape enhances the general look of an outfit, making a timeless and stylish silhouette.
Regardless of these advantages, cultural and historic elements led to their decline after World Conflict II. However why did they fall out of favor? Let’s look at the eight key causes.
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8 Causes Why Excessive Waisted Pants Went Out of Fashion
1. World Conflict II Cloth Shortages Made Slimmer Pants the Norm
World Conflict II introduced widespread cloth rationing, forcing designers to simplify clothes. Excessive-rise trousers, with their fuller cuts, used extra materials, so slimmer, lower-rise kinds turned the sensible alternative. As soon as males adopted this new model, many by no means returned to high-rise trousers.
Nonetheless, the post-war years additionally noticed an explosion of extravagant kinds, together with Victory Fits—that includes double-breasted jackets, vast lapels, broad ties, additional padding, and exaggerated high-rise trousers.
Nice examples of those ultra-wide particulars could be seen in One Approach Avenue (1950) starring James Mason. However like most fads, this extreme look pale rapidly, reinforcing the shift towards mid-rise trousers as the brand new commonplace.
2. Excessive-Waisted Pants Didn’t Work with Daring Shirts
Earlier than the Thirties, exposing one’s costume shirt in public was thought-about improper—nearly similar to strolling round in underwear at this time. Males coated their shirts with waistcoats, stored their jackets buttoned, and wore high-rise trousers that ensured minimal shirt publicity.
Nonetheless, as kinds modified and shirts turned extra colourful and patterned, males began sporting them with out jackets. Sport shirts, designed to be worn with out jackets, impressed daring new designs.
Colourful & Reasonably priced Gown shirts
With improved manufacturing after WWII, males gained entry to an array of dynamic, inexpensive costume shirts.
Since high-rise trousers coated an excessive amount of of the shirt, they had been more and more rejected in favor of lower-rise kinds.
3. Health Tradition Inspired Males to Present Off Their Physique
The Fifties sparked a health craze, with icons like Charles Atlas encouraging males to sculpt their our bodies. A toned midsection turned one thing to flaunt (i.e, “six pack abs”), and lower-rise trousers complemented this by revealing extra of the torso.
With health club tradition booming, males wished to spotlight their physiques, and low-rise trousers turned related to a extra athletic and fashionable look. Because of this, lower-rise trousers turned the go-to alternative for males looking for a sleeker, body-conscious look.
Athletic Gown Pants: Only a Pattern?
4. Slimmer Jackets Made Excessive-Waisted Pants Look Awkward
As athleticism influenced clothes kinds, jacket cuts additionally modified:
Skinnier lapels
Tighter cuts
Shorter skirts with open quarters
Raised button stances (for tall, slender look)
Excessive-rise trousers, with their greater waistlines, didn’t all the time pair effectively with these sleeker jackets. The additional cloth on the pure waist might bulge beneath slim-cut swimsuit jackets, creating a clumsy “hammer pants” (pants with extra cloth on the waist, resembling MC Hammer’s iconic model) impact that disrupted the outfit’s proportional concord.
This imbalance in proportions made high-waisted trousers seem outdated and fewer suitable with evolving menswear traits.
5. Suspenders Fell Out of Fashion as Belts Turned Standard
Throughout the identical interval, belts overtook suspenders as the popular trouser-retention methodology. Whereas suspenders work greatest with high-rise trousers, they’re much less snug with lower-rise kinds—the place they will dig into the shoulders and wrinkle the shirt entrance.
Belts, alternatively, paired naturally with lower-rise trousers, reinforcing their reputation. Moreover, youthful males wished to distinguish themselves from their fathers and grandfathers’ “old style vibe”, and belts helped sign a extra fashionable, youthful look.
Why did males begin sporting belts?
6. Informal Kinds (Denims, Chinos, Shorts) Took Over
By the Sixties, cultural shifts led to a common casualization of menswear. Denims, chinos, and shorts turned on a regular basis staples, and informal trousers—initially designed for sports activities—fitted to motion, align with the shift towards casual dressing.
As males turned accustomed to sporting lower-rise informal trousers, this desire prolonged to decorate trousers. Sporting high-rise trousers with no jacket might additionally create “frog legs” (legs wanting disproportionately lengthy because of a excessive waist), an unflattering look the place the elevated waistline exaggerated leg size.
With informal vogue dominating, males moved away from conventional tailoring, paving the way in which for manufacturers to market lower-rise trousers as the brand new commonplace.
14 Informal Heat Climate Kinds
7. Quick Trend and Advertising Bolstered the Low-Rise Pattern
Trend evolves in cycles, and producers benefited from encouraging traits that required males to purchase new wardrobes. Decrease-rise trousers turned the economical alternative, utilizing much less cloth and requiring easier tailoring.
As these kinds gained traction, advertising campaigns bolstered the concept lower-rise trousers had been the way forward for menswear—encouraging males to exchange their high-waisted pants even when they had been nonetheless completely wearable.
Moreover, the widespread adoption of central heating led to a requirement for lighter-weight materials. Nonetheless, these supplies draped poorly in comparison with the heavier materials of classic high-rise trousers.
Whereas Gurkha trousers and linen slacks can work effectively in a high-rise model, reaching correct drape requires extra tailoring experience—one thing quick vogue was not designed to accommodate.
8. Pop Tradition and Trend Traits Made Excessive-Waisted Pants Uncool
The Sixties Mod Motion intentionally moved away from the fuller silhouettes of the ‘40s and ‘50s. By the ‘70s and ‘80s, high-rise trousers had been related to old style figures and nerdy, retro people.
As illustrated in fashionable TV reveals like Mad Males, slimmer, lower-rise fits had been in model through the early Sixties. Even the Nineteen Eighties resurgence of high-rise trousers—seen in Energy Fits—was short-lived, as they had been later dismissed as yuppie garments relatively than a severe model various.
With this, the high-rise trousers had been forged as relics of the previous, whereas lower-rise model—like bell-bottoms and boot cuts—embodied the daring, forward-looking spirit of the period. The cultural upheaval of the time bolstered this divide, resulting in the last word decline of the lads’s excessive rise trousers.
How Can You Fashion Excessive-Waisted Pants In the present day?
For these seeking to incorporate high-rise trousers into their wardrobe, contemplate how they will improve your proportions and create a timeless look. Now, I discover {that a} contrasting belt on any sort of trouser, however significantly a high-rise trouser, can look very enticing as a result of it visually separates the higher half from the decrease half. However as all the time, it’s important to work with what you have got.
For instance, I’m 6’1″ or 185 centimeters tall. Nonetheless, my inseam is nearly 31 inches. Which means I’ve an extended torso and comparatively brief legs. So for me, a high-rise pair of trousers in a full minimize that accommodates my massive bum and my massive thighs is the proper resolution. It might not be the case when you’ve got tremendous lengthy legs and a brief torso.
So, on that observe, in at this time’s outfit, I’m sporting a high-rise pair of trousers in a extra informal ensemble. It begins out with a wool bomber-style jacket from Polo Ralph Lauren. It’s in all probability from the 80s or 90s—I don’t know precisely. I received it classic on eBay.
The shirt is a traditional Oxford fabric button-down from Mercer US. My pants are goldenrod yellow corduroys which are high-waisted, flat-front with belt loops and a ticket pocket from Fort Belvedere. They arrive in 14 colours, and yow will discover them in our store. It’s a fantastic Italian-made corduroy that’s meant to final however is tender on the similar time.
The belt I’m sporting with it’s a brown calf suede belt that works effectively with my brown calf suede Chelsea boots. They’re from Loake, the Eighteen Eighties collection. The belt is a part of a system, so you’ll be able to trade the buckles with the belts from our store.
The socks are additionally from Fort Belvedere. They’re navy and yellow socks that decide up the colours of the jacket and tie the sneakers and the pants collectively. Final however not least, I’m sporting a pinky ring in strong gold with a crest that I discovered on a latest journey to Vienna.
Fort Belvedere
Goldenrod Yellow Stancliffe Corduroy Trousers
Fort Belvedere
Darkish Chocolate Brown Suede Calf Leather-based Belt
Fort Belvedere
Neville Gold Belt Buckle
Fort Belvedere
Navy & Yellow Shadow Stripe Cotton Socks
Must you put on high-waist pants?
Are Excessive-Rise Trousers Again in Fashion?
Whereas they’re not the usual in menswear, high-rise trousers have seen a resurgence amongst traditional model fanatics. Their consolation, drape, and refined silhouette make them a favourite amongst those that admire timeless vogue.
So, the place can you purchase males’s excessive waisted trousers?
At Fort Belvedere, we have now reintroduced high-rise trousers in fashionable cuts that cater to varied physique sorts, making certain that well-fitting trousers stay accessible. Whether or not high-rise trousers will return to mainstream vogue stays to be seen, however their enduring attraction amongst sartorially inclined males suggests they received’t disappear anytime quickly.
What do you suppose? Ought to we make a video on The Rise, Fall, and Rise Once more of Excessive-Rise Trousers? Tell us within the feedback!
Regularly Requested Questions
Ought to males put on high-waisted pants?
We sincerely imagine excessive waisted pants are a superbly acceptable various to decrease rise ones. In actual fact, excessive rise pants have some distinctive advantages that low rise trousers don’t present.
What decade did males put on excessive waisted pants?
Excessive waisted pants had been at their highest degree of recognition through the Eighteen Eighties-Forties, and had been as soon as seen because the de facto possibility for males to decide on.
Why do outdated males put on high-waisted pants?
Larger waisted pants are sometimes related to outdated males as a result of they had been hottest in older eras, and plenty of who put on them at this time by no means made the swap over. In reality although, anybody can put on excessive waisted pants.
