Appropriate both for the description and the possible cause.
Hey cupcake, you have a muffin top
BY JULIE HINDS
FREE PRESS STAFF WRITER
August 3, 2005
Sometimes, crimes of fashion cry out for a new vocabulary.
Like the phrase "muffin top." You know when a woman's midriff bulges out
over a pair of low-cut jeans? It resembles the top of a muffin, sort of.
Fashion police in England and Australia have used the phrase to slam the
familiar style error. One fashionista told an Aussie paper that muffin tops
are "the 'thunder thighs' of the new century."
And trend spotters in New York are calling out ordinary people and
celebrities alike for being guilty of muffin top.
It might not be so noticeable if summer trends for younger women weren't all
about snug jeans and waist-revealing tops. But they are. And it is.
The phrase is still new to metro Detroit. But not the concept.
"I've never heard that and I thought I'd heard of everything," says Elaine
Blumenfeld, owner of Rear Ends, a jeans store in West Bloomfield that
carries a wide range of styles. "I'm conjuring up what it means and it's not
pretty."
It's more of a clothing issue than a weight issue. Whether you're a large or
a small size, a pair of pants that's too tight will smoosh your stomach over
the top of your waistband.
The best way to avoid muffin top is to buy jeans that fit correctly,
according to Blumenfeld. If you're not sure which jeans are the most
flattering, consult somebody who knows their denim stuff, she advises.
As for who first coined the phrase, some claim it came from Australia. But a
graphic designer from New York named Dyske Suematsu thinks he may be a
pioneer of it, at least in America.
Back in 2003, Suematsu submitted muffin top to Pseudo dictionary.com, a
source for slang, after his wife worried about the fit of her jeans.
Reminded of a certain baked good, he called her a muffin top. "She didn't
mind it," he remembers. "She thought it was funny."
A few weeks ago, his wife was watching a local New York TV station when a
report came on about a New York Daily News article on muffin-top mayhem. The
newspaper cited Britney Spears, pre-pregnancy, and Kelly Clarkson as
offenders, among others.
If the phrase earns a place in the lexicon, it will join the ranks of
another snarky descriptive word, "cankles," which has been kicking around
for a while.
Urbandictionary.com defines cankles as "the area in affected female legs
where the calf meets the foot in an abrupt, nontapering terminus." That's a
fancy way of saying it's hard to tell where the calf ends and the ankle
begins.
The word was probably spawned by the stiletto heels, mules and ankle-strap
sandals of recent years -- styles that are unforgiving to exposed legs.
"If you have bigger ankles, it's hard to wear higher-heeled shoes," says
Chamika Cannon, manager of Savvy Soles Etc., a shoes and accessories store
in Ferndale.
To draw attention away from cankles, Cannon suggests trying ballerina flats
decorated with embroidery or sequins, or cowboy boots, which "are a little
more forgiving and it's a hot trend for fall."
Now for a quibble: How come so much fashion slang is directed at women?
Don't we need more words to make fun of male foibles? Like dudes who insist
on wearing Speedos or guys who pair black socks with khaki shorts?
Or men who pull their pants up way higher than their natural waistline? Chin
belt, maybe? Keep thinking.
Contact JULIE HINDS at 313-222-6427 or [email hidden].
Copyright © 2005 Detroit Free Press Inc.