can someone pls explain wth is in clothing designer's brains!?
so i had to squeeze myself into a pair of jeans bec i had nothing else clean to wear for work.
they pulled up perfectly fine - not tight on my butt, thighs, hips, etc.
the only problem is the waistband!
if i could've cut the flab off the very front of my stomach, the jeans would fit perfectly. as it is, i had to CRUSH the waistband closed to get the button done up but the zipper goes up smoothly - no need to tuck anything in.
one heck of a muffin top but i can use the pockets and they're actually a wee bit baggy below my bum.
they feel great except it feels like i'm wearing an excruciatingly tight belt.
it's like the designer thinks women are built like an upside-down "U" or something!
But we're all built differently so they make clothing differently. My mother in law has a teeeeeeny waist and big hips. Even when we wore the same size (briefly) we wore them very differently and preferred different brands. She likes LLBean because they'd re small in the waist and generous in the hip. I felt like you, to fit the waist meant they were too big in the hips. In Calvin Klein, they fit me like a glove, the waist band swims on my mother in law.
it's like the designer thinks women are built like an upside-down "U" or something!
Some women are.
I'm not shaped like a "U," but I am shaped like an "A," so I have the opposite problem that you do. If I find jeans that fit my hips, the waist is so bleepin' big that without a belt you could play basketball in the gap left behind me. And with a belt, the waist still looks ridiculous because of all the gathers created by the belt.
Women come in a much wider variation of shapes than men do. Not all men are shaped the same, either, but there's less variation than with women. Though, God help the guys who are built more like women. I dated such a guy in college. You would never mistake him for a woman (at least not from the waist up), but he was pear-shaped and was full in the butt and hips (he was and is the only guy I ever knew to be shaped that way). He had a terrible time finding pants that fit, because men's clothes just aren't designed to accomodate hips that are larger than the waist. He had the same problem I did - any jeans that fit in the hips, were ridiculously huge in the waist.
Before college, I thought I was a freak, because I had such trouble finding pants, especially jeans that fit right, but I learned that most women regardless of shape and size has the same problems with pants, especially jeans (because we all want our jeans to fit a very specific way for style and comfort).
FINALLY, some companies are making jeans for a wider variety of shapes - such as Lane Bryant and Fashion Bug's "Right Fit" jeans, which come in three shapes (straight, moderately curvy, and curvy) and three lengths in every size.
I'm a blue (because my hips are MUCH larger than my waist), you probably would be a yellow.
I wish all jeans, pants, and skirts were made this way. Instead, most of us just have to try on a lot of different styles/brands to find those that fit our particular amount of curviness.
that's the thing - normally, my waist is very much smaller than my hips - from behind, i have an exaggerated hourglass. just that at some point, someone snuck a pillow under my boobs so if i find pants that pull up perfectly fine, there's always this glob blobbing directly in front to mess things up.
but what i mean about these jeans is .... okay, take a cylindrical lampshade - then pull in the top so that it's very much smaller. that's what i mean - no taper at all - just a drawstring bag.
kplods I am just like you.....I can stick a double fist in some jeans.....but I have found Lee Riders are pretty good for me. They have a bit of stretch in them......fit in all the right spots....and look pretty good on (at least that is what bf said LOL). My problem with them is that it is hard to find my size.....seems like everyone in town wants my exact size when I need new jeans ~pout~
I remember going to Old Navy once when they had 5 rises of jeans. (they may still, I don't know). I have very narrow hips and a wide waist. The highest ride - at the belly button I was a size 10. JBW I was a size 8, Hipsters size 6, low rise, size 4. Very low rise aka "you need a brazilian to wear this" I was a size 2.
A tip I learned when pregnant. If the button is the reason pants don't fit, take an elastic, put it around the button, through the button hole, and back around the button. As long as your shirt is long enough to cover the button in the front, it's not really obvious and a lot more comfortable than having your circulation cut off all day.
I have the same problem. I am a typical "apple" (although some would say inverted triangle), so my belly tends to be bigger than my hips/thighs. As a result, jeans that fit my butt and hips nicely are way too tight at the waist. Jeans that fit my waist just sag around my butt/hips.
I think MOST women tend to be "pear" shaped, meaning they tend to carry their extra weight in the hips/thighs/butt. So jean designers take this into consideration, and cut their clothing accordingly.
I do know that Old Navy has various rises/cuts that are supposed to be for a variety of body shapes. (The signs will tell you which cut is best for you.) I have tried them, but unsuccessfully.
For me, built this way, I find that Juniors sized jeans tend to fit best. I think this is because younger girls generally have slimmer hips/butts than, say, more mature women who have had a few kids, etc. I have had pretty decent jean shopping results when I hit the Juniors racks.
My other choice is to opt for "jegging" type jeans. These are not my personal preference in terms of style. Old Navy makes a nice quality jegging they call RockStar. Anyway, because they are supposed to be very snug through the hips/thighs, I find that if I size up, they'll also fit my waist without too much butt sag.
i don't know if this will help anyone, but this is exactly why i seek out jeans that have a lot of stretch. i can't wear jeans that don't have a good amount of stretch anymore because i feel like i'm wearing cardboard.
My other choice is to opt for "jegging" type jeans. These are not my personal preference in terms of style. Old Navy makes a nice quality jegging they call RockStar. Anyway, because they are supposed to be very snug through the hips/thighs, I find that if I size up, they'll also fit my waist without too much butt sag.
For me, built this way, I find that Juniors sized jeans tend to fit best. I think this is because younger girls generally have slimmer hips/butts than, say, more mature women who have had a few kids, etc. I have had pretty decent jean shopping results when I hit the Juniors racks.
My other choice is to opt for "jegging" type jeans. These are not my personal preference in terms of style. Old Navy makes a nice quality jegging they call RockStar. Anyway, because they are supposed to be very snug through the hips/thighs, I find that if I size up, they'll also fit my waist without too much butt sag.
ROCKSTAR JEANS ARE AWESOME. I have worn them throughout my size changes. My mom loves them too and she's inherited all of the ones I bought while losing weight. She keeps asking me if I have any but I already gave her all of mine, haha. Whenever mine start to get big I really get sad
I also have more luck in the junior's section too. I didn't think of trying there until this fall and I found the clothes fit me much better. I never could shop there before I lost weight, so I think while losing sometimes we need to try different things
This is why I wear leggings, 99% of the time in the winter months, lol. I got so sick of jean shopping. I guess I'm a pear shape. My waist is tiny, but any weight I carry is all in my legs, butt, and thighs, so the waist of the pants is always too big and I have to wear a belt. But if I wear to go by waist, the pants would be too tight in the thighs, etc. I swear they make pants for people who are straight up and down.
I don't have this issue with shorts in the summer. Probably because shorts are open at the thigh...idk.
Have you tried Levi's curve id jeans? It sounds like you have a larger waist than hips so the slight curve might work really well for you. I think fashion bug/lane bryant also carry some pants that go by both your waist/hip measurement.
Understand that every woman is built drastically differently. Even when we have the same measurements fit can be different! I have slim hips/thighs and a big butt. A women with the same hip measurement but with wide hips/flat butt has to go up in pants a size or two while I need to go down (a butt is more squish-able than hips and depends more on the rise of the pants than the extra room built in). So even with the same measurements there can be issues. When it comes to pants there's the waist band, rise, thigh size, calf size, length, hip size etc that all need to be built into them. Yet women's bodies vary so much that it's impossible to get a perfect fit.
The best thing to do is keep trying on pants and understand what retailers fit your body shape best. Like I said, look for pants that vary the hip size and you might have better luck.
I'm going to pimp Talbots again. I love their jeans. They have four different styles for different body shapes. I get the ones that are relaxed in the waist and snug at hip and thigh, because I'm an apple shape. Soooo nice not to have to buy jeans that are humongous on my rump but still cutting me in half.
They are really expensive though (high quality). I'm sure other jeans brands have similar options as well.