The politics of the waistline Is the high rise already coming back?

Everything has already been done in fashion. Batwing sleeves, bell sleeves, tank tops and lettuce hems, boot cut jeans and skinnies, trench coats and rain capes. A debate that has long been repeated during Fashion Month, the only way for designers to bring something new to the catwalk is to experiment with past silhouettes through the use of modern technology. For SS24, Miu Miu took inspiration from collegiate uniforms, Saint Laurent from the 1967 Safari suit and JW Anderson from the childhood of the creative director. The novelty of these collections was not in the clothes themselves, but in the way they were revisited. At the same time, only two years after the unexpected return of low rise jeans, Prada, Loewe, Rick Owens and Dries Van Noten brought high-waisted trousers into the spotlight. A trend that has been eyed by few on the streets of the fashion city lately, but one that Paris' top designers apparently believe worth trying, high-waisted trousers reflect the economic crisis in luxury with perfect timing. What, exactly, does the waist line have to do with the state of contemporary society? As the designers of recent fashion shows have done, let's take a step back in time.

The cultural significance of the high rise pant 

In 2023, clothes no longer make the man. Just as the aesthetics of rap artists, in the 1990s strongly connected to the world of street crime, are changing, perhaps the time has also come for high-waisted trousers to explore new aesthetics. To understand whether they will actually succeed in freeing themselves from the demodé historical and socio-cultural context that they embody, we will have to wait until the trousers of Loewe, Rick Owens and Dries Van Noten touch the hips of it girls and it boys in equal measure. What is certain, for now, is that a possible return to the limelight of high-waisted trousers goes hand in hand with an unstable economy, the designers' response to the need to pull the handbrake on their creative flair. While Prada and Saint Laurent have responded in kind measures, taming their silhouettes and forcing them into past references between office and safari-chic, Loewe and Rick Owens have preferred to do it their own way, maintaining the spirit of fantasy that has distinguished them over the years. Comical proportions or not, this winter fashion needed to pull up its trousers.