Hip To It

Fashion’s newest provocateur, the pelvage, is no less than a power move. And it favours the huge of Hip! Carol Singh gives you a peek.

- Carol Singh

For everyone who has had enough of the shoulder peeking out of every fathomable frock or blouse, it’s time to rejoice. There’s a whole new body part that needs our attention right now. The hip. Or rather, that usually-panty clad part of the body where the hip joint meets the pelvic bone, also the ilium, as it is biologically known.

So private and provocative is this new reveal, that it has a unique term to describe its allure: ‘pelvage’, a contraction of ‘pelvic’ and ‘cleavage’ that refers to the slightly concave area that extends into your nether regions. Yes, far more daunting than its predecessors, the sideboob, the innerboob and the underbutt.

Nervous? Understandably. The hip has always been regarded the Indian woman’s nemesis, alongside gulab jamuns. Not only that, it’s a region that has usually been tucked away securely under our low-slung briefs ever since the ’90s. Let’s, for an instant, recall the high-cut leg of the Baywatch babes’ swimsuits. They exposed much pelvage, but back then too, the high-leg leotards were mostly worn with nylon tights to conceal what we intend to show off today. Now these high-cut bodysuits are being worn with low-slung tracks, flashing a slice of taut flesh, by every millennial It Girl worth her millions, be it the Hadids, the Kardashians or the Jenners.