Best Pants for High Hips
Everyone’s body is unique. This lovely fact of life is what makes each of us special, but it can be tough to decipher what clothes will offer the perfect fit. Luckily, we can always learn new ways to dress and wear our clothes that will best flatter and fit our own beautiful bodies.
One common body shape trait is having high hips. Also sometimes lovingly referred to as “violin hips,” having high hips means that the hip bones sit a little higher and are almost level with the navel. This typically shortens the torso and can also give the illusion of a broad hip face and long legs. There are tons of ways to dress that can help you feel comfortable and chic in any outfit you throw on. If you're lucky enough to have high hips, there are some looks that will really make you shine.
Pants can be a hassle for all of us at times, and ill-fitted pants can make high-hipped ladies feel pinched, crunched, or just not confident and comfortable. We’ve selected some of our best tips and guidelines for the pants and women’s jeans that are best for ladies with higher hip bones. If you can relate, then read on for the right pants to help you feel comfortable and confident in your clothes.
Do I Have High Hips?
Some distinguishing features about high hips make them easy to identify. First, high hips are literally just that: highly placed hip bones. You can check if your hip bones are high by looking in the mirror and seeing if the top of your hip bone lines up with or above the navel. If they do, then it’s likely you have high hip bones.
Second, because your hips are longer, it generally means your waist is shorter. If you always felt that you had a short waist or that certain clothing, like swimsuits or low-rise items, didn’t seem to fall in the right place, then perhaps you have higher hips. Some other characteristics are that your hip area has a slight figure-8 silhouette because the space between the top of the hips and the bottom is a little longer.
High-Rise versus Low-Rise
If this sounds like you, then perhaps you have also struggled to find pants that fit the way you want them to, and understandably so. Ill-fitted pants can make anyone uncomfortable, especially when you have a unique body type that most pants weren’t necessarily designed to address. Women of many body types share similar struggles, too — so what kinds of pants or jeans work best for women with high hips?
The best styles of pants for women with high hips are going to flatter your figure and comfortably sit on your body. Our top choice for this is high-waisted and high-rise jeans. High-rise and high-waisted jeans and pants are great for women with highly placed hips. Rather than pinching you somewhere along your hip, the high-rise nature of these pants encompasses the entire hip area without sagging or grabbing in the wrong places.
High-waisted and high-rise pants also help divide the torso area. As women with high hips tend to have shorter torsos, the waist-accentuating nature of high-rise jeans helps cinch the waist, divide the torso, and create a curvier and longer silhouette. This style of pants will help flatter your curves without pulling in all the wrong places. Having an accentuated waist will also help smooth out your frame and better express your natural silhouette.
Some women with high hips can have what are lovingly referred to as “love handles,” meaning areas can give you a beautiful shape, but also make finding the perfect pants more of a struggle. High-waisted and high-rise pants fix all of that. By encompassing the whole hip area, your frame is perfectly tucked into the jeans so you feel like you can move, bend, jump, or walk without your jeans bunching or slipping.
Shape
Creating a streamlined look from hips to ankles helps flatter your body's natural shape. When finding pants for high-hip bodies, opt for styles with straight, boot-cut, or skinny legs. Accentuate those long legs and create the appearance of length to balance the shorter torso by wearing a linear and streamlined pant leg. For this, we love the look of straight-leg jeans and skinny jeans.
What Not to Wear
When choosing pants for high-hip bodies, avoid low-rise pants, as they will only further create the visual of an elongated hip area while also sitting uncomfortably around the hips. Instead, opt for mid-rise pants or jeans, which will give you the feeling and look of low-rise jeans without the discomfort. Wear a pair of mid-rise skinny jeans to get the experience of low-rise pants without the problems.
Some other things to avoid when picking pants are those with visible pockets, embellishments around the hips, whiskering on denim, and anything else that is going to draw more attention to the hip area. These elements, while well-intended, can make the already longer hip area look even longer. Also, avoid tucking bulky shirts or women’s blouses into your pants, as this will visually shorten the length of the body. Instead, allow shirts to flow loosely to give the appearance of a longer shape.
Everyone has a unique body type and shape, which can sometimes cause some hiccups when trying to style and find the most well-fitting and comfortable clothes. Try these tips, and find what feels and looks best for you.