Muffin top is quite common, no matter your age or body shape. Take myself for an example, even though I am overall skinny, I do notice a muffin top quite often, especially when I am not wearing the right style jeans.
Besides, I also have a petite clothing line for women 5’4″ and under, so I receive a lot of feedback from thousands of my customers on what look good on women with a midriff and what doesn’t.
Based on my first hand experience, as well as feedback from my customers, I’ve put together this comprehensive guide of how to find the best types of jeans that can make you look great even with your muffin top.
Table of Contents
Styling Goal
A muffin top (also known as love handles) is a type of belly fat around the midsection part of your body, just right above your hips. In this era where we have learned how to fully embrace our curves, styling a muffin top isn’t as tough anymore.
Some tend to think that wearing baggy jeans is the only way to keep your muffin top at bay. That’s totally not true because it’s really all about the right fit!
The key is to find a pair of jeans that hugs your midsection perfectly in a way that won’t look unflattering on your muffin top. Let’s take a look at the types of jeans that can give your gorgeous body shape a nice, prominent silhouette.
High-Waisted Mom Jeans
The trend of high-waisted mom jeans continues to skyrocket in recent years. One main reason for it is that it looks good on pretty much every body shape!
Its high-rise cut efficiently conceals your muffin top all while giving you a comfortable and snug fit. It elongates your upper body which makes your muffin top less obvious.
Additionally, high-waisted mom jeans provide more room for your legs so it’s more comfortable to move around in this pair. Note that not all mom jeans have the same fit on the waist so it’s important to consider where the waist lays. It should be high enough to go over your muffin top.
Black Skinny Jeans
This is proof that you don’t always have to go for baggy or loosely-fit jeans just to work around your muffin top. Black skinny jeans are great for highlighting the shape of your legs.
As skinny jeans draw more focus on the length and shape of your legs, it helps veer the attention away from your muffin top. Of course, you also need to go for skinny jeans that are either mid-waist or high-waist.
One quick styling tip for wearing skinny jeans for women with muffin tops is to carefully choose your fabric. Don’t go for ones that are too thin and too stretchy.
A pair of skinny jeans that have very stretchy fabric tends to make your muffin top more obvious. Thicker, less stretchy denim fabric should be able to hold your curves much better.
Tapered Leg Jeans
If you’re torn between wide-leg jeans and skinny jeans, here’s another option that can look just as good for your body shape. It gives a wider fit around the waist while also giving your legs a nicer shape as it narrows down to the bottom.
The wider ankle opening and waistband create a better balance to the apparent curves on your midsection. It nicely conceals your muffin top while also giving your waistline more definition.
Choosing the right fit is a given but for tapered jeans, the proper length of the pants is what makes it tricky. Go for a length that leaves at least 7 to 9 centimeters of the gap from your ankle to give your lower body a slimmer look.
If ever you end up with a pair of tapered jeans that’s a bit too long, you can always easily fix it by folding the bottom part. It adds a stylish touch to it, too!
Bootcut Jeans
Now if you are looking for a pair of jeans that has a modernized Y2K touch to it, you will surely adore the nice flare of bootcut jeans. It features a slim fit on top and a gradual flare at the bottom that gives you a more flattering shape.
High-waisted bootcut jeans should give your lower body a slimmer and taller look. The key to flaunting this style to a hundred percent is for you to choose a slightly tighter fit.
When we say “tighter”, this doesn’t mean that you have to force yourself into an uncomfortable fit. This only means that a slightly tighter fit especially on the thighs would enhance your shape even better.
The best thing about bootcut jeans is that the flares towards the ankle become the center point of the look. This helps take the attention away from your midsection area where your muffin top is.
Straight Leg Jeans
Straight-leg jeans are considered a fashion staple in every wardrobe. Its timeless cut makes it a classic pair that looks good on all types of body shapes.
This type of jeans is also one of the best styles that work flawlessly with women with love handles. Its relaxed fit is not just visually pleasing to look at but also provides immense comfort to the wearer.
Since there’s more room for your legs in this type of jeans, it balances out the weight of your midsection area. This effect drowns your muffin top in a subtle way.
Mid-rise Jeans
High-rise or high-waisted jeans will always be considered a better option in terms of hiding a muffin top. However, some aren’t really a fan of the snug fit many high-waisted jeans have.
This is where mid-rise jeans can be a better alternative. It does not have the wider hold of a pair of high-rise jeans but it serves the same purpose of subtly concealing your love handles.If your muffin top isn’t as apparent and doesn’t give too much weight to your midsection, mid-rise jeans would help give you a more defined waist. This also works better for shapes that feature a shorter upper body.
High-Waisted Distressed Jeans
Don’t we all love a bit of a rockstar moment from time to time? Other than the statement distressed jeans make, they are also good for neutralizing a muffin top.
The dramatic tattered detail on the leg area is one effective way to draw attention. With this said, it keeps the eyes away from your midsection area where your muffin top rests.
What you need to do is to find your preferred distressed jeans with a high-rise cut. The high waistband should be able to cinch your stomach and give you a more defined shape.
Dark-colored Baggy Jeans
Before you freak out and say baggy jeans will only highlight your muffin top, even more, hear us out first. The loose fit will definitely give more room to your body but the key point here is your choice of color.
Dark colors instantly take a significant amount of kilograms off your weight, visually of course. So as the baggy fit of your jeans effectively hides your muffin top, the dark wash of the jeans also gives you the illusion of slimmer and longer legs.
Dark colors instantly take a significant amount of kilograms off your weight, visually of course. So as the baggy fit of your jeans effectively hides your muffin top, the dark wash of the jeans also gives you the illusion of slimmer and longer legs.
Avoid Low-cut Jeans
Did you notice how we keep on mentioning that you go for either mid-waisted or high-waisted jeans all throughout the article? It’s because any rise lower than those two is straight-up unflattering for ladies with muffin tops.
Low-cut or low-rise jeans are just simply not capable of holding the lower belly. Wearing jeans with such a low cut will only highlight your muffin top and it even gets more unflattering whenever you sit down.
Depending on your body measurements, it’s important to consider the length of the space from the waistband to the crotch. This will help you determine the right sizing to give your waist, hips, and legs a nice balance.
Non-stretchy fabric
Another thing to avoid if you have a prominent muffin top would be clingy elastic fabrics. Thin and overly stretchy fabric tends to make your muffin top even more noticeable.
To nicely style and embrace your body curves, the texture and fabric material of your jeans play an important role. To tone down the appearance of your muffin top, fabrics that are non-stretchy and thick give your midsection a better hold.
This type of fabric will help suppress your belly for a more contoured body shape.
However, the thick and non-stretchy fabric shouldn’t be uncomfortable. Opt for jeans made from high-quality fabric material so you can ensure both style and comfort at the same time.
The key takeaway in this would be the right choice of cut, fabric, and even color to neutralize the appearance of your muffin top. It’s not always a bad thing to have these love handles since we’re all supposed to embrace our natural curves!
It all really goes down to proper styling!
