The bare facts? We're living in a teenage waist land
By Beth Teitell
Tuesday, September 21, 2004
Is it the end of an error?
After years of suffering through mandatory midriff exposure - which was nearing toxic levels - can we finally wave the jiggly bellybutton bye-bye?
Can we leave the plumber butts to the actual plumbers? The visible thong straps and beer guts to the Washington interns and football fans, respectively?
The good news is: Yes!
(This being fashion, there's bad news, too, but let's enjoy this Moment for a moment.)
As you may have noticed, except for the bikinis, there was nary a navel in view on the runways of Manhattan during Fashion Week. Tops actually met - or even exceeded - waistlines. The only rolls in evidence were for eating, not for sucking in.
And if that weren't proof enough, on Saturday night, the queen of the exposed tush and tummy, the woman who kicked off the trouble in the first place by ripping the waistband off her pants - Britney Spears herself! - married in a demure strapless white dress gown - with no key-hole belly cutouts reported.
That's a far cry from her first bridal ensemble: torn jeans, a baseball cap - and a very tan midriff.
Maybe it's time for Levi Strauss & Co.'s ad firm to update the singing bellybutton commercials. This time, instead of crooning ``I'm coming out'' like they did a few years ago, the navels would sing ``So Long, Farewell,'' from ``The Sound of Music.''
And yet, it's not time to break out the brownies and put away the ab flex machine quite yet. Designers giveth, and designers taketh away.
The word coming out of New York's Bryant Park in mid-September was like a punch to the gut:
``It's all about the waist now.''
Not to complain, but have you ever noticed how it's never ``all about the pinky toe''? or ``all about the eyebrow''? Or all about any other area that can be improved with a 15-minute grooming session?
Or all about making witty dinner party conversation? Or all about knowing the name of every reality TV star?
No. It's all about the waist. And this at a time when bustles and padded shoulders are out.
It's enough to make a woman long for one of those track suits Britney gave out at her wedding, the ones imprinted with ``hot mama'' or ``pimp.''
At least if you're wearing one of those, the last thing onlookers are thinking about is your waist.
