I don't like waist-height belts

[breakinglight11]

I don't really like the look of natural-waist-level belts. I'm not sure why. It's a very popular style these days, but something about them looks... uncomfortable to me. Even slightly dated, really, throwing back to the days when everyone wore their pants all the way up that high. I really really hate high waistbands, and the tying-off-in-the-middle effect just seems off to me. I much prefer the look of belts at hip-level; they look more natural there to my eye.

The weird thing is, waist-level belts can really nip in the look of a woman's waist, and I like when women emphasize the difference between their waist and the greater width of their hips. It's a very appealing contrast; I can even remember reading studies that suggest that men find most attractive not necessarily the women with the smallest waists, but with the most definite narrowness of waist in comparison to the wideness of hip. Belts do a lot to create definite waists when clothing or features of the figure would obscure them. But still, as much as like their narrowing influence, I dislike the look of the belt itself there.

Of course, the style isn't really appropriate for me anyway. I don't really need much in the way of waist-narrowing, as mine is pretty narrow naturally. Where I do need help is in the hip department. My hips are flat and slim. Wearing belts at hip-height somehow has the inverse affect of wearing them at waist-height; rather than narrowing, the hard flat line running acros there creates an illusion of width, serving in the opposite manner to create the look of the contrast I like so much.

So while waist-height belts may be figure-flattering for some ladies, they are not appropriate for me, and for some reason I just don't like how they look there anyway. I wonder if wearing clothes that are cut to be narrow at the waist and flare out towards the hip can do the job just as well, without that banding across the middle I dislike so much, or if that would not have as great an effect.
 

Comments

[breakinglight11.livejournal.com]

Yeah, it's counter-intuitive to me-- I really like the look they create, but I don't like the look of them themselves! :-P