Bell-bottom blues: ELLE South Africa plus sized column
By: Samantha Steele
Tags: Fashion Trends, Plus Size, Fashion, Body Positive

Since ELLE South Africa shut down, I am republishing my (unedited) columns on my Medium account. This column was originally published in the October 2018 magazine.

Bell-bottom blues: jeans and pants edition!

and pants are tricky to get just right, especially for plus-sized ladies — there are simply less options than for other shapes! Body positive sartorialist Samantha Steele explores the issues here.

The universal struggle: jean shopping. There are just so many ways jeans and pants can go wrong.

I think we’ve all had our fair share of change-room trauma when it comes to pant shopping, but really nothing beats the PTSD flashbacks I get from the 90s and the era of the low rise jeans.

Low rise jeans — a torture device invented on the runways that dominated my formative teenage years. If you were shaped anything like me — that is to say, not the popular, androgynous figure that was so “in style” during that dark decade, but rather curvy with what my bestie nicknamed a “bubble butt” — low rise jeans were nothing short of a nightmare that emphasised the worst parts of your shape. Gaping at the lower back, pinching at the belly button with muffin tops mushrooming around your waist, and of course for any shorty — dragging hems, counted amongst the jeans’ many sins against plus-sized figures.

None of this was a good look.

This was, of course, before the popularity boom of the butt. J-Lo was one of the first curvy figures to start breaking the barriers in the 90s, and was under huge pressure to conform. Since then we’ve had Beyonce, with her glorious thighs, Nicki Minaj with her perfect derriere, and of course the epitome of the rounded behind: Kim Kardashian, all of whom become symbols of beauty that inspired a rash of surgeries and exercise routines of their own. Truly, #RepresentationMatters!

Unfortunately, none of this has really changed jeans and pants. Low rise was fortunately just a flash in the pan and certainly a 90s fad, and we see today that women of all sizes today prefer a flattering, higher waisted trouser (just look at Iliza Shlesinger’s high waisted trouser on her Netflix special, Elder Millennial.) The majority of women have curves and want their pants and jeans to work with their real shapes. Despite that, it’s still difficult to find a flattering pair of pants for, well, pretty much anyone, but especially ladies with curves. Why are bums in pants a niche item?

Brands still don’t capture the nuance of different shapes, and larger sizes are most often just enlarged versions of the smaller sizes. As plus size fashion blogger Meg Ringdal from Mind the Curves said to Elle, “I find very few pants that fit me and are comfortable. My biggest problem is pants that fit around my hips and thighs are super loose in the waist area. I often end up having to buy pants two or more sizes too big for me, and belting them, or getting them altered at the waist. Another problem is when pants don’t come up high enough in the waist as a result of patterns being incorrectly scaled.”

Follow our tips on how to buy pants and jeans for a slightly less traumatic change-room experience of your own.

Buying pants and jeans

GO SIZE AGNOSTIC. Says Meg Ringdal from Mind the Curves, “Don’t look at sizes, and don’t feel ashamed to get pants altered to fit you. Remember that clothes are meant to be made to fit our bodies — we aren’t meant to change our bodies to fit into clothes!”

Says Meg Ringdal from Mind the Curves, “Don’t look at sizes, and don’t feel ashamed to get pants altered to fit you. Remember that clothes are meant to be made to fit our bodies — we aren’t meant to change our bodies to fit into clothes!” HIGHER RISE . No need to worry that you don’t have ripped abs. A soft stomach can be held in a mid-to-high rise pair.

. No need to worry that you don’t have ripped abs. A soft stomach can be held in a mid-to-high rise pair. DARKER COLOUR. Dark washes are more flattering and you can jazz up your look with a fun top or jacket.

Dark washes are more flattering and you can jazz up your look with a fun top or jacket. A BIT OF STRETCH. This is forgiving and comfortable.

This is forgiving and comfortable. SKINNY SILHOUETTES. These elongate your legs for a more flattering look.

These elongate your legs for a more flattering look. WIDE HEMS. If you’re concerned about wide hips, a wider, flared hem will balance your shape.

If you’re concerned about wide hips, a wider, flared hem will balance your shape. GO CUSTOM MADE. Apart from alterations, a very real solution all women should consider, you can also get jeans and pants made from scratch for your figure. An example is Tshepo: The Jean Maker who can be found in Victoria Yards, Johannesburg, and who does exactly that.

Curve friendly brands