The Z’s want to be hip, but millennials have a bone to pick.
Sure, Y2K fashion had its highs and lows like cowgirl flare jeans and dresses over jeans.
However, no style trend went quite as low as the ever-revealing ultra low-rise jeans phenomenon, a peek-a-boo pant popularized by 2000s “It” girls such as Britney Spears, Paris Hilton, Lindsay Lohan and Christina Aguilera.
However, now that the itsy-bitsy teeny-weeny bottoms have recently resurfaced as a fashion “do” thanks to nostalgia-obsessed Gen Zs, millennials — thirty- and forty-somethings who lived through the original low-rise craze — say the kids’ denim just don’t make the cut.
“The low-rise of today is not the real low-rise of millennial time,” declared Yasmeen Scott, 33, a TikTok content creator, in a viral vid.
Schooling her over 300,000 viewers in the risqué ways of the look-at-me jeans, Scott, from London, shared a series of throwback photos featuring herself in the tiny togs.
“Look how short. That’s my bone,” she said, pointing at the amount of exposed flesh “true” low-rise jeans, which often boasted a one-inch zipper and offered glimpses of gals’ undies, once showcased.
“That’s how low we were wearing our jeans.”
But not everyone of the era loved how low the look could go.
Anna Kendrick, 39, recently referred to the fad as “the dark age of low-rise jeans,” and begged younger generations to “never look back,” saying it was “a hateful time, and we don’t need to go there again.”
Disdain for the hip-baring bottoms can be traced back to the “thin worship” movement of the late 1990s and early aughts when fashion praised extremely slenderized bodies — on which low-rise jeans were believed to look the best.
But now, thanks to the current societal swing towards body positivity, Gen Z tastemakers have modernized the low-rise look to include a little more coverage and a lot more retro edginess.
And while most millennials can appreciate the Zoomer modifications, many seem more than happy to tell the teen and twenty-something know-it-alls that they’re doing it all wrong.
“Kids today don’t know how low rise looks from the back with the ‘right’ underwear,” penned a commenter beneath Scott’s post.
“If you aren’t afraid to sneeze, they aren’t millennial low rise,” another chimed.
Victoria Blafferty, a millennial content creator, separately called out Gen Z for failing to slay true low-rise jeans style.
“I keep seeing new generations talking about, ‘We’re bringing back low-rise jeans,’” says the voice-over audio in Blafferty’s trending snippet, which garnered over 3 million clicks.
The brunette shared old high school snapshots of herself and friends in the barely-there bottoms.
“And then, the jeans that they’re wearing are the most retailer-length jeans you’ve ever seen in your life,” continued the audio.
“If you don’t have to consider shaving before putting your jeans on, if you have to take your jeans off to shave — those are not low-rise jeans.”
