Low-rise jeans plagued many a millennial teen with visible buttcrack, shredded pant hems, and the fruitless quest for “Slave 4 U” abs in the 2000s, but actor and director Olivia Wilde still can’t get enough of them! My American Eagle shopping bag from 2005 can relate.
In an InStyle interview with Beanie Feldstein—the star of Wilde’s directorial debut, Booksmart—Wilde opened up about her decision to forgo college for acting, her pivot to directing, and the transformation of her personal style. Wilde apparently loves a strong shoulder, a killer sneaker, and a pair of low-rise jeans.
From InStyle:
Beanie Feldstein: I have to say the most surprising thing I’ve learned about you is that you love a low-rise jean. It’s something that I don’t quite understand because I want the top of my jeans to touch my bra strap.
Olivia Wilde: I’m still pretending to be a teenager from the early aughts. My most comfortable state is when I’m wearing low-rise jeans, sneakers, and a sweatshirt. In that, I am unstoppable. And if I’m in a high-waist jean, I can’t let my gut expand. When I see pictures of people like Paul Feig directing in full-on outfits, I’m like, “How?”
I suppose the key difference between me and Wilde (there are only a few) is that while she likes her “gut” to hang free, I like mine to be trapped away in a cotton fortress. So I’m with Beanie on this one: If the waistband of my jeans can’t double as underwire, I want nothing to do with them. Cover my belly button or else!
But all trends recycle, and while fashion experts have been sounding the alarm of low-rise’s return for years now, it has yet to fully make a comeback for anyone beyond y2k-obsessed Instagram cool kids. But Wilde’s ode to low-rise acts as a helpful reminder that this shit will probably make its way back onto store shelves sooner rather than later. Get your asscracks ready, lads.
DISCUSSION
Ultra low-rise are ridiculous, true, but I would give anything to be able to find a variety of mid-rise or “slightly” low-rise jeans.
High-rise jeans are only flattering if you have a curvy figure and if you have a butt. I come from a long line of genetically buttless women, on both sides of my family tree — all the lunges and exercises in the world make no difference — and there is nothing more horrendously unsexy than turning around and seeing a long, flat pancake that extends from your upper thighs to the middle of your back.
I haven’t been able to buy jeans or any pants in years, and the few I take a risk on and buy, I end up hating. At least low and medium-rise pants create the optical illusion of a little roundness down there (or at least differentiate your butt from the rest of your back) because the waistband comes almost immediately after the butt part. Sometimes I feel like the only person in the world with this problem.