Hipster nonsense.

According to a fashion article I skimmed through recently - you should only ever skim such trivia - “low rise” jeans are making a come-back and causing a bit of a stir. Trousers that, as the fashion descriptors put it, ‘hit below the waist’, are the most unlikely fashion come-back I can imagine at the moment when so many people are complaining of having put on weight during the lockdown. Difficult to wear at any time, they have a tendency to slip just enough to make even the skinniest look as though they have a little roll of chub just around or below the waist. According to the fashion article they were much criticised in the 2000s because they were deemed divisive and were said to exclude “plus-size” women from fashion. The idea is causing a similar stir this time around: 

“A lot of Millennial women are saying they are nervous about low-rise pants coming back in style,” says user Collin McCarthy, “(because when) low-rise pants were popular...your body was the fashion...you weren’t showing off what you were wearing, you were showing off your stomach.”

There you go.

According to the article, “Low risers first appeared in 1993 when Alexander McQueen sent a pair of bottom-revealing “bumsters” down the runway.” It was Kate Moss, so skinny her hip bones stuck out, the only way anyone could wear such trousers. But I disagree with the 1993 first appearance claim. Indistinctly remember back in 1970 having a pair of pale blue bellbottom trousers which hung from my hips, held up by a broad belt. Even though I might have got away with it then it wasn’t the done thing to have you stomach on show, however toned and flat it might be. No, you wore a skinny T-shirt tucked into your trousers.

But we didn’t call them low rise but hipsters, I’m pretty sure. This, of course, was before a hipster was a bloke with a dodgy beard. As Wikipedia puts it: “In the 21st century, a hipster is a member of a subculture that is defined by claims to authenticity and uniqueness yet, ironically, is notably lacking in authenticity and conforms to a collective style.” It goes on: “Members of the subculture typically do not self-identify as hipsters,and the word hipster is often used as a pejorative for someone who is pretentious or overly concerned with appearing trendy or fashionable in a non-mainstream way.”

The word hipster was even older, dating back to the 1940s:

“Hipster or hepcat, as used in the 1940s, referred to aficionados of jazz, in particular bebop, which became popular in the early 1940s. The hipster adopted the lifestyle of the jazz musician, including some or all of the following: dress, slang, use of marijuana and other drugs, relaxed attitude, sarcastic humble or, self-imposed poverty, and relaxed sexual mores.”

There you go again.

Life goes on. Stay safe and well, everyone.