Some thoughts about elastic waists

[Chokkii]

It was a welcome variation after almost 2 decades of skinny fit dominance.

Trouble is, there's no variation from the v v v high waists now, so in a similar vein, we still have little choice. I wasn't a skinny trouser/jeans fan, so the relaxed styles were a godsend, but it is the waist heights that puzzle me.

Worst of all, for me, is how it has taken over pyjama bottoms. I prefer how they used to sit, straight legs with flat mid high waistbands that just didn't pull on the skin. Now they are all super high rise with scratchy exposed elastic, so bunch up around me with tons of waist fabric when I sit down.

And they seem to have taken over everything, growing higher by the year. Now I can't find a sensible middle (what used to be high!) rise anywhere apart from young teen stores, and as someone who used to buy a lot of stuff from Toast, I can't get past the inordinately massive wide legs on everything and enormous elastic waistbands that sit like a rolled up carpet against my ribs. They don't even sell anything tapered anymore.

What do others think? Is it going too far? A high waist used to look neat and decent, but they have really gone nuts now.
I do believe the stores are stuffed full of elastic waists to minimise customer returns. Also probably connected to higher BMI's and are easier/cheaper to manufacture, without having to worry about shaping or higher standards of tailoring.

Most of these offerings are in the £145 mark, and if you go higher, it seems to get worse - consider brands like Oska for instance, over £200/300 for a drawstring sack. Even if there are nice shapes and fabrics, the 'duffle bag' style waists look cheap.

If they don't want to put buttons on things (it's a fair enough idea) then why not create more flat, elastic waistbands that streamline the belly and hip area without the dreadful pull string bunching?

Thank you for listening to my grump

Wrap London aren't too bad at present.
I have located a shirred elastic waistband on some linen trousers (pic) which works much better, no billowing fabric, and a flatter silhouette. I don't like them personally, it's far from perfect, but it's a good deal better than the Toast designs.

I love a high, stretch, waist, having a large arse and a long body.

I feel the pain. I like an elasticated waist, but I find that they either have a great front (and so kid me that I look great) but when I see my back view my buttocks have flown south to join my knees for winter, or the back fits well and looks good but when I sit down it bunches at the front and I look as though I've got an enormous erection.

Cotton Trader for me fits best, unfashionable and untrendy though they might be.

We seem to have gone in a different direction now - and whilst I often agree with @Floisme about having much more choice than ever before, we don't have a good amount of choice regarding waists, crotch length or quality.
That's a very fair point @Chokkii Higher waists work better for me but they won't always be around like they are now.

I've just been looking at Toast skirts. (I want a change from trousers anyway, just because I get bored far too easily.) Guess what, out of 21 skirts currently on their website, I've counted 4 that weren't either elasticated or drawstring waist or in a wrap style (also much easier to fit as you only have to move a button). They even have the nerve to claim the elasticated waistbands are 'for comfort'. Cheeky, cheeky fuckers.

I like a subtly placed, slim side zip that I can leave undone a touch if bloated:)
Or again, a flat elastic waist, easier with a skirt you'd think.

Perhaps we are supposed to wear a very structured or loose top over the bunched up waistbands, or the lumpiness would show through. People often suggest neat tops to wider bottoms, yet I can't see how that would work with the lumps!

I will be honest and say the only time I have seen these awful chunky waistbands work well is on 90's inspired teens with very cropped tops aka Urban Outfitters. I still think they're awful, but the space between waistband and cropped top offers some respite from the masses of fabric.

Another thing about skirts now, if they are below calf I would need every one of them shortened since they often skim the toes of a 5.11 model, and I am of average height.

Just knocked this up on my phone - same skirt, different waistbands, both elastic. Surely tops would lie better over the left skirt and sit comfortably?
The waistband on the right is what we see most often now, for comparison.

@Chokkii Shirred waists are just lazy. I don't object to drawstring waists provided I'm not expected to draw an elephant-covering quantity of fabric round my waist - I think limiting the material that has to be gathered in is part of what keeps the silhouette flatter and that's down to cut.

All this talk about Toast I thought I'd take a look… Not my style, but I'd give them good marks for photos that show the trousers clearly, including shots of them lying flat. I think that it's fairly clear what you're getting. Although perhaps I'm better than average at assessing trousers from website images and info after a futile couple of years trying to find what I want…

Why they need to add elastane to casual cotton trousers with a fully elasticated waist is a bit of a mystery. Charging 135 quid for them is, however, simply daylight robbery in my book (nothing in their social, environmental and governance reporting to justify it and info I'd have expected to find not provided).

Ah ha. Just seen your sketches. On a skirt, what I like about the LHS style waist is that the gathered fabric kind of arches out and away from the waistband (provided the fabric isn't limp viscose!), giving some shape and structure and highlighting the waist by very much not being flat below the flat waistband. On trousers I prefer a flatter effect, whether achieved by shirring, drawstring or just careful cutting...

Perhaps charging £135+ encourages the buyer to feel part of a select circle or tribe. The price stamp is a sort of seal of assurance that the item carries a certain.....exclusivity.
Even tho you can find it at Bon Marche..

Like I've said, I don't object in principle to a chunky elasticated waist - I quite like them sometimes. Yes I'd team with a loose top that covered it, also I like beltloops so I can conceal some of the lumpiness. But a) I don't want to wear it all the time the time and b) I expect a corresponding reduction in price because as a very slapdash sewer who's scared of zips, I'm fully aware that they're much, much easier and quicker to produce.

@Floisme Very much agree about it being cheeky to charge top dollar for garments produced using easy, size variance-tolerant and thus cheap techniques.

A waist like that won’t last long. The elastic is so thin it loses its stretch very quickly.

youre probably right, and they are pricey too!

I have some previous season silk trousers from Max Mara and another machine washable pair from Ralph Lauren with elastic at the waist and some linen fine drawstring waists and they are all fine. 5 10, long body, size12 (more a generous 12 or 14 if fitted non-elastic trousers).

I’m a size 8-10, love an elastic waist and genuinely don’t recognise this problem. I don’t really buy anything drawstring though, and I love a high waist so much I actually can’t find high enough waisted trousers.

But I bought these last week from M&S - elasticated waist, no pleats, fit lovely and you’d never guess they were elastic.

https://www.marksandspencer.com/jersey-elasticated-waist-wide-leg-trousers/p/clp60689915?color=CARAMEL

I’ve just bought these barrel leg trousers in M & S, flat front, elasticated back

I sew for myself and the current styles are encouraging me to sew a lot more than I usually would because elastic waists, wide legs etc are SO much easier to make than tailored stuff! I see stuff I like in the shops and think pff £100+ for that?! Usually once I buy the fabric it’s not worth it but being only short I can get almost any trouser style out of 2 metres, even expensive linen is rarely more than £30/m (and I enjoy the process of making so much I just ignore the cost of my time!)
best thing is that I can then reduce the waist height, and usually make the width just wide enough that it pulls over my hips without very much excess fabric which means they’re a bit more flattering.
having said all that I’ve definitely put on a few pounds the last few months and have barely noticed due to elastic waists… wouldn’t have got away with that in tbe skinny era!

@Venalopolos the trousers you show work like the yoga pants that the OP posted. Jersey fabric with elastane: dead easy to get a flat waist that fits well and a comfortable yet body-contouring fit lower down, but the penalty you pay is that the fabric doesn't hang well (at least in my opinion, the popularity of slightly stretchy fabrics suggests I'm in the minority).

Oska were mentioned a couple of times above and I think and while they tend to be very wide leg styles, I rarely see a full elasticated waist on them. Linen ones I've owned have been flat fronted, and looking at their current range, pretty much all tailored.
Not everyone's cup of tea, and Expensive. I hunt them down on eBay and Vinted

I hate those high waists. Almost as much as I hate the tapered leg!

"An enormous erection" 😂
I found the same problem while buying jeans recently. I know the skinny cut is very dated (though always suited me as my legs are the only toned part of me!) so I tried some in a looser fit. I actually liked the slightly wider legs but the amount of fabric around the crotch was ridiculous.

Yes, I sent a pair of Community Clothing cotton drawstring trousers back for to this er bulky front issue. Went for a linen pair instead which are still pretty chunky on the waist, but I do like the weighty fabric.

I totally agree, OP. I actually quite like them on other people eg when I see people on reels wearing them but find them so so unflattering on me. I'm 5'3" with a short waist and longer legs so have always assumed that's the reason I don't suit anything with too much fabric in the waist and lower. I'm size 8 so not big (although could do with some toning up). I sometimes buy them for comfort but end up not wearing them because they just don't look very nice.

The M&S jersey wide legged trousers that are £17.50 (or were) are quite good as they're stretchy but smooth waisted (a bit like thick fabric leggings at the top but wide leg) but I found they shrunk up in the wash to an unflattering leg length.

I'm in the middle of altering a Marilyn Anselm for Hobbs linen skirt, probably 80s. maybe early 90s. As with Oska, there's an elasticated waistband but only at the back - the front is flat and tailored. It also has belt loops - a belt disguises much of the elasticated effect. And finally, it's linen but not as we know it today: not heavy, which reduces any bunching, but very tightly woven so, although it creases, it keeps its shape without sagging.

It would have cost a packet at the time though.

Ooh yes Marilyn Anselm, lovely stuff.