Scary fashion trend alert! The rise of the falling waistline

How low would you dare to go? Some like their trousers so high-waisted that they double-up as boob-cupping-corsets; others opt for a mid-rise option, where belly buttons peak over the waistline like a sunset melting into the horizon.

There is, however, one style of trouser whose name we dare not speak of. The shape that we have collectively barred from ever resurfacing, it’s caused a war between millennials and Gen Z’ers: the low rise.

Not only is the low rise attempting to slide back into our lives again, this time it’s back with a vengeance. It’s made a shock return from its sabbatical and has lost three inches from its waist. The new low rise sits lower than ever. Lower than Keira Knightley’s cropped capris, lower than Paris Hilton’s mini skirts and Xtina’s chaps, even lower than Flo Rida’s ‘apple bottom jeans’. This waistline has worked its way all the way down to the pubic bone.

It reveals the hips completely: with a flash of pubic hair in the front (...or not) and a glimmer of buttock in the back. If anyone is still privately partial to a vajazzle, these trousers would reveal all. Unfortunately (fortunately?), vajazzles haven’t yet made it to Parisian catwalk shows, but genital-grazing trousers certainly have.

Just over a month ago Nigerian-born London-based fashion designer, Mowalola made her comeback after a three-year hiatus with a collection shown during Paris Fashion Week Mens. She received a standing ovation for the big return, titled ‘Burglarwear’ the clothes included balaclavas, crucifixes and - lo and behold - her own version of the ultra-low rise trouser.

Two weeks later, Daniel Roseberry showed his AW22 Schiaparelli Couture collection. Celebrating the opening of ‘Shocking! The Surreal World of Elsa Schiaparelli’ exhibition in Paris, the show heavily featured elements of surrealism and trompe l’oeil - visual illusions, or quite literally, ‘tricks of the eye’.

It makes sense then, that Roseberry would opt for a waistline that deceives onlookers. The deep-set V shape in the front of the trousers conceals the hips but flatteringly dip down towards the pelvic region. They look as if a steamy, invisible thumb is pulling down on the waistband.

It would be impossible to write this article without mentioning the most famous pubic-grazers of them all, the master of harnessing both power and sex appeal, orginator and creator of the ‘Bumster’, Alexander McQueen. The Bumster first appeared in trouser form on the catwalk in 1994 as part of McQueen’s SS94 ‘Nihilism’ collection, with further interpretations showing up in his collections throughout the 90s, including skirt and dress versions too.

McQueen was often referred to as the ‘yob’ of the fashion industry and is said to have been inspired by builder’s bums.

In 1996, journalist Tamsin Blanchard selected a pair of red McQueen Bumsters to win the prestigious ‘Dress of the Year’ award at Bath’s Fashion Museum. Nowadays, the cheek-revealing trousers sell at auction for £3500.