One of the measurements that is commonly long is the rise measurement – that is the distance from leg break to waist. Some people have a long body, but they are short-waisted and the length is in their rise which is long.
1. If you are proportionally like this, skirts can be your best friends – they hide where the legs start and we assume that your rise is shorter and legs longer. Drop waists can flatter.
2. Keep your tops a little longer, not all the way down to your crotch, but avoid cropped tops.
3. Empire tops flatter your shorter waist and bypass your long rise.
4. High waisted pants and jeans are best. You will find that lower waisted pants will pull down when sitting and often feel uncomfortable, as well as showing off your underwear, not classy.
5. Don’t tuck in tops or if you tuck make sure they blouse over the top of your waistband.
How about this…I have a long rise, an apple tummy (after 3 kids) and a big bust. Empire tops make me look pregnant. I carry all my weight from the waist up (arms, neck, face, chest) so I look heavy in any portrait. How I envy my apple-bottomed sisters. Any ideas for someone like me?
This is me. No wonder I have always liked to sport a dropped waist or high rise jeans…
Lots of good advice for me ! I have a long rise, and am high waisted — at least I know that I'm high waisted after I read your measuring method. Before that I used to think I was low waisted…
Oh, this is me! And it's almost all what I already do! Fabulous to know that sometimes we gravitate towards the "right" things.
This is me, long rise. Longer than proportional for my height, too.
I have finally figured out that if I can find pants in a tall size (not just longer length, but proportioned for a tall person – Old Navy does this) they will be comfortable. It has taken me many years to stumble upon this, so I thought I'd share to save someone else the agony.
Hi, Imogen! I´ve been following your blog from Norway for a while, it´s one of my favourites and I love your systematical and logical approach. After reading about Leonardo and how he divides the body into eight head lengths, I measured myself and thought I´ve figured it out: from chin to midbust I´m longer than one headlength, from leg break to knee I´m a bit shorter than two headlengths and from knee to the floor a little longer. Midbust to navel and navel to leg break I found to be one head length each. I have 3-4 cm more above leg break than below. This should give me a balanced body with a short mid-body, like you have explained. BUT – then I read your post about using your hands to find out if you are short waisted or not and can only place one hand and three fingers between my bust and waist. Referring back to the Leaonardo post, I see what confuses me is whether the navel or the narrowest part of the waist should be the referance point. Does this mean I´m short waisted?
Hi again. I posted the last comment, but didn´t quite fint out how it worked, so I posted as "Anonymus". Sigrid is my name.
Thank you so much for this post and your previous posts on this topic. I have a long torso and I always assumed I was long waited, but now I realize that I have a short waist and a long rise. So very differnt.
Thank you!
If the distance between waist and leg break is two handspans (like the short/long waist measurement), is that a 'medium/normal' rise?
Oh, Imogen, you are just a doll for posting this *and* generously jumping in on my YLF forum post last night. (Did you have this planned already?) The Polyvore is especially a great illustration. Thank you so much!
I used to have a drop-waist skirt, but it didn't have the nice long vertical drape of the skirt you posted a picture of and wasn't as flattering. I haven't seen many drop-waist skirts this year but will certainly try one on if I find some.
Unfortunately high rise pants (that cover all of the necessary bits) still pull down when I'm sitting, and I have to re-adjust unless I want a serious muffin top. (You've seen my thread so I don't want to be redundant.) I'm hoping that I can find a better solution.
By the way, do you have any clients who have successfully ordered from the MakeYourOwnJeans.com site that you recommended? I'm cautious about some of the negative reviews I've read about the merchant on other sites, but I'm willing to think about it.
Should this body type avoid belts, hip belts in particular? Are you talking high rise pants that come to the waist, or more mid rise?
Question…is the rise measurement from the top of the leg to the NATURAL waist, or the waist where the garment sits? How is this measured exactly? Why would someone opt for high waisted pants…"mom" jeans are sooooo awful!
Jeans are not the only pants. I only wear high-waisted pants, nothing else works.
Hi there – sorry to be so dense but would you please explain exactly what you mean by "leg break" when discussing rises?
I mean, where do I begin to measure to see what type of rise my body has – I already know I'm short-wasted being nearly 6 feet tall but having to purchase petite-cut tops! Thank you!
Love this topic, I've not seen tips for this figure anywhere else on the net. Could you post some more examples? Thanks a ton.
I see this is an old post, but thanks for this – I'm 5'9" have a very long rise, and I have all kinds of problems with the fit of my pants, just like you described. Does anybody know a brand that makes pants and jeans made for a long rise (other than ON, which isn't the greatest quality)? Actual high-waisted jeans don't really help, since they are a mid-rise on me but taper for the waist in the middle of my hip, so that I have to size up and they end up falling down.
Hi
Do you have any advice for people who are short-waisted, have short torso, long rise and proportionally longer legs? If I wear high waisted jeans I end up looking really disproportioned. I know I have figure 8 shape. I always end up feeling all lumpy and bumpy, unless I´m wearing a dress.
Thanks