For the last fifteen years, the de facto cool-guy pant silhouette has been low-slung and rockstar tight, the kind popularized at Dior Homme by Hedi Slimane. But recently we’ve noticed that waistbands are slowly rising across the men’s fashion world, and now the freshest pants in the streets and on the runways are high-waisted rather than low.
In the past few seasons, pants have been hiked up by high fashion heavyweights like Giorgio Armani, Bottega Veneta, and Louis Vuitton, who have embraced intriguing waist-down silhouettes featuring pleats, drapey fabrics, and waistbands that hover near navel height. GQ Style summer cover star Brad Pitt wore the best of them in our Ryan McGinley shoot, and style legends like Stefano Pilati embraced the look at this month’s European men’s shows.
There was certainly a practical reason to avoid tight trousers in Florence, Milan, and Paris, as the continent was in the midst of an abysmal heat wave. But the breadth of interpretations we saw this season by radically different designers and street style tastemakers alike drove home that high-waisted pants have become the advanced style move of the summer. Some self-belted or pleated high-rise trousers had a strong vintage vibe, like at Dries Van Noten and Fendi; the high waist was also a defining element of the wide, flowing trousers shown at Louis Vuitton and Lanvin. Several designers showed that a prosperous waistline needn’t only come on loose and pleated pants—Lemaire raised things up on a sleek silhouette, and Miuccia Prada (a trend-creator if there ever was one) sent out over a dozen models in short-shorts and Velcro-strapped pants that hit well north of the hips. Even Rick Owens did the high-rise trouser, and did it in true Rick fashion, trotting out models wrapped in leather pants that topped out mid-torso.
It isn’t a coincidence that high rises swarmed the runways this season—they’re the perfect pants for the current fashion moment’s formal-casual balancing act. Loose-and-long high rise trousers are dressy by definition, but beg to be worn with a t-shirt and sneakers. They can also be easily styled with intentionally-oversized shirts and sweaters—just tuck and roll. Some say high-rise pants make your legs look longer, some argue the opposite. eAnd if you don’t believe in the transformative power of a raised waistband, ask yourself: why do throwback jeans-and-white-tee fit pics look so good? (Almost any vintage Levi’s 501s you’ll find at a thrift store were made with a generous rise.) You can also just look at more photos of Brad Pitt. Below, check out the best high-waisted looks we snapped at the European shows.
Forget street fashion, it's the designers behind the scenes who have the most style.
