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I am so confused about pants :confused:

Jay Gatsby

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There has been some talk on the board lately about the waist and its location. I measure around my belly button and I get 30. I wear size 30 pants and I have so much slack that I can stick my hand in my pants (if the urge to do so should strike me). I wear size 29 j crew pants and they seem to fit fine, but they're not at my belly button.... they're at the top of my hips. My size 30 jeans also have a lot of slack.

Another thing - when I try to hike up my pants to my belly button area as an experiment, I get camel toe. So I'm pretty sure that the pants in question aren't meant to be up so high. Please help me understand pants
frown.gif
 

celery

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Originally Posted by Jay Gatsby
... I can stick my hand in my pants...

Looks like you've got the hard part well in hand.
 

cioni2k

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Just because pants are tagged 30 doesn't mean it's actually a true 30" at the waist. Just try on a smaller pair until you find something that fits. Don't get so caught up on measurements
 

ter1413

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Originally Posted by cioni2k
Just because pants are tagged 30 doesn't mean it's actually a true 30" at the waist. Just try on a smaller pair until you find something that fits. Don't get so caught up on measurements

Thank you^^^! We are really thinking too much with this. Every 30 is not cut the same. Here is a novel idea: when you are buying pants, try them on. If they fit-buy. Small-get bigger. Large-get smaller. That should do it! Really not that hard!
 

Jay Gatsby

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Smarty pants, explain the problem with the camel toe. There was a lengthy discussion on SF a week or so ago about pants needing to be at the waist, and the waist being about where the belly button is. When I experiment with hiking my pants up to the belly button, I inevitably get a camel toe. So something is wrong. Do more casual pants sit lower, ie. 'on the hip'?
 

MrG

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^^ You're getting the toe because of the rise of the pants. The rise isn't high enough to sit at your waist, so when you pull them up that high the crotch of the pants hits the nerts. This means one of two things: The pants are intentionally low rise and meant to sit below your true waist, or, if they are intended to sit at the true waist, that particular pair's rise simply isn't high enough to fit you.
 

random-adam

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Originally Posted by Jay Gatsby
Do more casual pants sit lower, ie. 'on the hip'?

Yes. Measurement 5/6 in the diagram below determines how high up it sits on your hips/waist/chest.

pant_measure.gif
 

JohnsNotHere

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It depends on the length of the rise. High rise, wear at the waist, low rise, wear at the hip
 

Ianiceman

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What hasn't been mentioned yet on this thread is that using the navel is only a guide, as from one person to the next the navel gravitates like the moon.

Your TRUE waist is the narrowest circumference between the top of your pelvis (iliac crests) and the bottom of your rib cage. As we are all built differently this is usually approximately at the level of the navel but not necessarily. Just like with shoes I am sometimes, but not always, a size 9, follow Phil Spector's advice and try them on.
 

Nicola

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Originally Posted by Jay Gatsby
and the waist being about where the belly button is. ?

Oh Tailor is going to slap you.
 

Despos

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Everyone has two waist measurements. Over the fullest part of your stomach is the coatwaist and tailors use this to determine the girth of the jacket waist where the jacket buttons.

Just below this and with the tape pulled much snugger is your trouser waist due to the fleshy nature of this area. Can be anywhere from 1 to maybe 6 inches smaller than your coatwaist. If you use your coatwaist for your trouser, the trouser waist is too big. Use the trouser waist for the jacket and you can't button the jacket.

Trouser that sits with the waistband seam just above the hipbone stay up the best. Go up or down from there for your styling preference. It is an individual thing to the wearer's taste.

I found this info here on Styleforum in an old post from Despos. Found it to be helpful IRL.
 

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