Women's Hipster (Panties)

Hipsters are named for where they sit. The waistband rests on the hip, well below the natural waist, and holds the same width all the way round. Sides run wide and straight rather than tapered, producing a squared-off shape across the hip bone.

Width is the working detail. A side panel wide enough to lie flat across the hip spreads pressure so nothing digs in, and the straight cut means the leg opening runs almost horizontally instead of angling upward. Many are finished with a wide flat waistband that smooths under leggings. The low rise puts that band exactly where a low-rise jeans waistband also lands.

Bikinis curve the side up toward the hip bone and taper it, so they look narrower and cover slightly more at the back. Boyshorts continue past the hip and down onto the thigh, adding a leg the hipster does not have. Briefs sit several inches higher on the body. The one thing a hipster offers that its neighbors do not is a wide flat band instead of an edge. It vanishes under stretch fabrics.

Leggings and low or mid-rise jeans are the obvious partners, and people irritated by narrow elastic tend to convert to these permanently. Avoid them under high-waisted trousers, where the wide band lands in the middle of your stomach and creates a ridge. Longer torsos sometimes find the rise too low to stay put during exercise. Try one with the clothes you plan to wear.

Look at how the waistband is attached: a band sewn on flat wears better and prints less than elastic gathered into the fabric. Real elastane content holds the straight shape, and too little leaves it stretching out of square within weeks. Warm washing does no harm, but a hot dryer curls that flat band permanently, destroying the exact feature you paid for.