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If you told seventh-grade me that she would wear low-rise, baggy jeans in college, I would have laughed in your face.
Back in the prime years of 2017, the rise of influencers and VSCO fueled an idealization of the ultimate teenage girl look. With such plentiful access to Pinterest, get-dressed-with-me’s, and shopping hauls, inspiration endlessly swirled through the air.
Every young girl attempted to replicate Emma Chamberlain’s signature style: a cropped tank top worn with high-waisted shorts or leggings, Converse sneakers paired with cuffed socks, and a high ponytail tied with a scrunchie.
Needless to say, I was one of those young girls, but weren’t we all?
However, having worn a school uniform all my life, I never really had the chance to discover my own sense of style. The only time I wore clothes of my choosing was on the weekends, and to be quite honest, I didn’t even own that many.
When the summer before college rolled around, I realized my closet hadn’t changed much since the beginning of high school. The same basic staples of tees and jeans had carried me through my teenage years. But college was a reset, I told myself. I needed something new.
One of my friends, who had gone to public school and knew fashion in a way I didn’t, dragged me out shopping in New York’s SoHo (aka the shopping spot for girls). Although I was fully aware of the impending overstimulation we would experience, especially at Brandy Melville, I agreed to go.
The first staple she insisted I update was jeans — and thank God she did.
I tried on everything: bootcut, mom, flare, and styles that felt more familiar. I gravitated toward bootcut jeans because they were the closest thing to skinny jeans (ever since those got “canceled”).
But my friend made me try on one last pair: the infamous low-rise baggy jean.
I swore I wasn’t going to buy them. At first glance, baggy jeans looked sloppy and unkempt, the opposite of put together. When I tried on the jeans, I felt overwhelmed by the abundance of fabric, the wide shape, and the way they could be pulled in every direction.
But then something shifted. I couldn’t help but admire the way they sat on my hips, how much more balanced my proportions seemed, how elongated my torso looked. The jeans seamlessly flowed in every which way as I strutted toward the mirror in the dressing room. I felt like I was stepping into a new version of myself.
So I bought not just one pair, but three. To say they’ve become my staples is an understatement. Low-rise baggy jeans truly go with everything, from oversized hoodies to fitted going-out tops. You can wear them to class, to buy groceries, on a date, or even to McDonald’s.
But it’s not just me; everyone around me has made the same shift. You rarely see high-waisted skinny jeans anymore. Maybe it’s a city school thing, but at Boston University, baggy jeans are the norm. And for the girls, crop tops have mostly been replaced with longer shirts that skim over the stomach.
It’s ironic that the longer shirts my grandma used to buy me, the ones I’d tie in the back with a hair tie or even cut up, are now back in style. Those same shirts I once stuffed in the back of my closet have now become my everyday staples.
Maybe, in the end, it isn’t just about high-rise to low-rise, but rather about growing up. It’s the transition from teenage girl to young adult woman. Perhaps it’s simply our frontal lobes developing; all of us figuring out what makes us feel comfortable and confident in our own skin.
As I packed my new jeans for college, I glanced at the large bag filled with my old clothes to be donated: crop tops, high-rise skinny jeans, and Air Force Ones. It was a bittersweet feeling. Perhaps I was poking too much fun at my younger self…
As much as I may scold myself for wearing such clothes, I realized that those old clothes made me feel confident at the time, too, just as I do now. That girl did have style — her own kind of style. She was young, innocent, and figuring it out.
Now she’s in her second year of college. She’s grown up. But she’ll never forget the path, or the outfits, that got her here.
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