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Oh Hatrack Wardrobe Mavens, I need your HELP! I am running out of jeans - they've finally shrunk so much that they are too tight. Unfortunately, I can go shopping for hours to every store in town and not find jeans that fit. The problem is that my waist is at least a size smaller than my hips. I hate it when the waist gaps, but I don't want them so tight I can't breathe. I also have longish legs, so petites are too short.
Where can I go? Will I forever have to pay out the wazoo for tailoring if I want Jeans That Fit?
Posts: 3141 | Registered: Apr 2000
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Sorry, jenny, I've NEVER found jeans to fit. I wonder about this myself. My best luck is Victoria's Secret, but they aren't perfect.
Posts: 6367 | Registered: Aug 2003
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We young ignorant teens look for jeans that do NOT fit, because it's hip to have your waist below your crotch. It's coooooool to look stupid.
Posts: 2258 | Registered: Aug 2003
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I like shopping at Old Navy for jeans. Their just below the waist ever-so-slightly-stretchy short size 8's fit *perfectly* on me. Posts: 5948 | Registered: Jun 2001
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The best fit I've found so far are stretch-fabric jeans with a lace-up front. Problem, though - the lace-ups are leather and keep coming untied. I hate low-riders - I don't like feeling a breeze on my lower back. I get cold enough as it is.
Posts: 3141 | Registered: Apr 2000
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Amka: Jeans that are now too small were a bit tight and too short in the leg. Now they are several inches above the ankle! I have in the past had someone take in a couple inches on the waist of some other jeans, but it looked kinda dumb. I have a couple pairs that fit, but they ride kindof low, and I have to wear extra-long shirts to feel decent.
Posts: 3141 | Registered: Apr 2000
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As the result of years of going shopping with someone who has hips, I gleaned the following bits of wisdom:
Try the designer jeans. They are often tailored better to fit the shape of a human female.
If you find a brand that fits your shape, buy in bulk! Chances are, the cut will have changed drastically by the time you need another pair and you'll have to start your whole search over again.Posts: 22497 | Registered: Sep 2000
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For my shopping helpers, I am about a size 4 waist in standard sizes, and about a size 6 hips. I am in no way an "average" size. I'm starting to think they don't make jeans my size.
Posts: 3141 | Registered: Apr 2000
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Try www.llbean.com - I have a good friend who has a very small waist in proportion to her hips, and likes her jeans to ride at the waist (I also have a very small waist, but I like a slightly lower waistline). Anyway, she is very particular about the "no gapping" issue, and seems to be happy with Bean's. They have inseam lengths for petites, regular, medium-tall, and tall, and a bunch of different cuts.
I have found, though, that with shopping through catalogs it's often a good idea to order your first pair of jeans or whatever in a range of sizes/lengths, assuming you'll pick the one that fits and send the rest back - or exchange them for other colors of the size that fits. (So, for example, when I recently ordered new jeans, I ordered two 8's and two 10's, each in both petite and regular. I expected to want the 10 petite, but as it turned out, that particular cut rides in such a way that the 8 regular fits better.) That way you get your jeans as soon as your order arrives, and not after going through an exchange.
I'm also enjoying Bean's because the jeans I'm finding in stores are generally a) more expensive, b)less well-made, and c) faded in weird patterns across my butt and thighs.
Oh, and I've been getting my orders 2 days after I place them, even though they say not to expect them for 3-5 days after they ship.
Probably way more information than necessary, but I don't have a car, so I take online/catalog shopping rather seriously.
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My wife has had good luck with one of the styles of jeans available at J. Crew--she hates that waist gap thing too, and with whatever style this is she's able to avoid it. They have a number of different styles, though, so you'd probably have to find an outlet store and try a bunch of stuff on in order to find the one that worked for you.
Posts: 16059 | Registered: Aug 2000
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You could try Land's End custom fit jeans. You enter in your various measurements, including hip and bum shape, and they piece it together for you. If it doesn't fit, I believe you can just reorder.
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I'm too small, really. I need a 28x30 men's size(don't you dare laugh!). You know how rare those are?
Posts: 550 | Registered: Jan 2004
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It's an urban legend that teens want their crotches above their pants. We just want unconstricted leg movement when the weather doesn't permit shorts, and the "floppin' crotch", as I like to call it, is a negative side effect. As a teen, I'm sure the preferred style is that of the large, elastic-waste, sweat pants. Those look stupid and are too hot for outdoor activity, though, so big, baggy pants with a belt is the next best thing.
Posts: 2292 | Registered: Aug 2003
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My pants always fit fine on the waist (or slightly big). They fit fine on the hips. But I always get the bunch affect at the zipper! It's driving me nuts. What am I doing wrong? Posts: 944 | Registered: Jun 2001
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Ask yourself, do you wear jeans every day? If so, then it is probably a good idea to spend more money to buy quality jeans and to have the altered as needed.
Posts: 3037 | Registered: Jan 2002
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Jaiden, if your zipper is bunching, then your jeans probably don't fit properly. Take them into a tailor to be analyzed and/or try on different sizes.
Posts: 3037 | Registered: Jan 2002
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The problem is, at first they fit fine... about half way through the day is when they start bunching *sighs and will visit a tailer next pair of jeans she buys*
Posts: 944 | Registered: Jun 2001
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Maybe it has to do with the denim stretching or something...
I personally have started buying almost entirely from Lucky Brand...because they make extra-long length. But I've learned it's usually best to buy them a little on the tight side because otherwise, after a bit of wear, they get too loose in the waistband, and I have to keep pulling them up, lest the whole world learn the color of my underwear.
I really need to find another belt that fits....I wore my last one so much that it broke.
Posts: 9057 | Registered: Nov 2000
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The only jeans I EVER found that fit nicely were "Zena" - and for wahtever reason I can only find them in the second hand store so apparently they didn't work for anyone else. But for those of us with little waists and fleshy thighs, they're a dream come true.
Mrs. M - who makes those?
Posts: 5609 | Registered: Jan 2003
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I'm curious about this- intuitively I think no woman's hips fit into the little curve near the waistline of most affordable jeans like JC Penny or Land's End. I don't understand why anyone would bother to make jeans that look like that, and I don't know how they stay in business. Do you know what I mean? Does anyone look good in those jeans?
- just to make sure I don't sound like a snob, I can't afford the good looking jeans myself. I wear carharts right now and I'm going to deal with the day I have to dress for civilization when it gets here
Posts: 377 | Registered: May 1999
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Actually, at one point my Lands' End jeans fit me very well.
In recent years, I bought Old Navy jeans, which really didn't fit me that well but they were the best I could do at the time. Like most jeans, the waistbands of these jeans are too big for my waist. I was told by another woman with small waist relative to hip size to try Lee Jeans, but haven't yet.
At the moment, I have lost some weight, and those Old Navy jeans are just too big on me overall.
Gloria Vanderbilt jeans fit me the best of any jeans I ever bought, but I haven't seen them in years.
Posts: 5771 | Registered: Nov 2000
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Lee jeans are the only kind I buy. I am quite hourglassy in shape. I should probably try Lands' End, but why bother when there's Lee? They even come in long sizes.
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You know, Mackillian, if you have the money you can get custom made jeans from Buckle? About $80. There is a jeans god, and if you have enough money he will love you
Posts: 377 | Registered: May 1999
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Lara: Yes! Free tailoring...oh, how I love Buckle. I also like how their salespeople will run off and bring you things....it makes shopping so much nicer when someone else is going through all the racks and stuff for you. Posts: 9057 | Registered: Nov 2000
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I have the opposite problem - no waist (and, at the moment a little pot belly ) and very slim hips.
Anything that fits my hips is way too tight on the waist - and anything that fits my waist gives me 'extension hips' that just look dreadful.
So I have to wear hipster pants: I have never found a pair of pants that sits on the waist that suits me. The best pair of jeans I ever had were Bettina Liano - but they're too small for me now and I can't afford another pair. I still have them tucked away though...just in case.
Posts: 4393 | Registered: Aug 2003
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I'm in the same boat as you, imogen. I am pretty rectangular, with not much of a waist.
I have long legs and a short rise, so I usually buy the jeans that are "low rise" (I hate having a waistband right at my waist anyway), but I often have a hard time finding ones that are long enough. A 30 inch inseam is a little too short for my tastes, but it's hard to find pants with a 32 inch inseam that have straight legs - I don't need my hips emphasized, thank you - and a lower rise. At the moment, I think I have 2 pairs of jeans - a pair of Lee jeans (fits great in the waist and thigh, stretchy, straight leg, but a little on the short side with a 30 inch inseam) and a pair of Zana di jeans (fits great in the waist, a little tighter than I'd like in the thigh, stretchy, straight leg, and long enough). Back a couple years ago, before I gained some weight, I had the perfect pairs of jeans - men's Levi's L2 jeans 33x32 and 34x32.
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Mack, Calvin Klein has some good hipster jeans out there right now. And they have different leg lengths too, so hopefully you can find one that fits. I buy mine at Costco for around $20 but I'm sure they will be more in department stores. They also have some of the softest nicest jean fabric around. I have pairs that lasted for 4 and 5 years and are just now wearing out.
I actually liked the old model of non-hipster Calvin Kleins better because I like my jeans at my waist since I also have a long torso and I don't like the whole gap at my back thing, especially at work. I've solved it by first stealing from Steve and now buying specifically for myself, guys ribbed sweaters at Target. They are much, much longer in the torso, and still look reasonably feminine because the ribbing allows them to cling to your shape.
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Just as with every other mass-produced item of clothing, the average-body prototype used to make sewing patterns has gotten fatter along with the average American.
Even Levi501s are cut for a fatter body than they were back in the late 60s (which is one of the reasons that vintage jeans command such an absurdly high price, according to a friend who owns a vintage clothing store)
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Mrs. M
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) and very slim hips. 
