Your new fall waistline

Get high and waisted for fashion this fall.

Designers raised the bar with high-topped bottoms, from 3.1 Phillip Lim's jumper skirts to Chloe's corporate-cool slacks. Still others lift the look further by bagging waists with extra fabric scrunched, then tied with a narrow sash. Among the freshest are Nicole Farhi's skirts and Tommy Hilfiger's flannel shorts.

The silhouette evokes the panted power girls: '40s film icon Katharine Hepburn and the '70s Charlie girl who strode through Revlon ads. Such fashions also are a natural retort to years of dresses and dropping waists. “It's time,” says Adrienne Jones, fashion design professor at Brooklyn's Pratt Institute. “This suits the more modest era and mature consumer — and it's a trend with staying power.”

Contrast looser styles with fitted jackets or tucked-in tops, Jones suggests. If you're short-waisted or big-busted, stick to one hue. Not ready to commit? Don't, says Marissa Webb, VP of women's design at J.Crew: “Pull up any oversized skirt, shorts or slacks and cinch with a belt.”