Don’t worry, the pants have super-high waist lines that climb up to the bottom of your bra, so no one will ever see your belly. 
It’s madness, and it needs to die in a fire.
@TornPaperNapkin: I’m 5’4" with a 31" inseam. I cannot wear high waisted pants (they do just what I describe above). Also, I’ve noticed the zippers have not appreciably lengthened on these super high-rise pants, leaving entirely too much space below the zipper, which looks really stupid.
My flares always had the chewed up cuffs due to always getting caught in the chain of my 10-speed.
Hey! I have fond memories of my clothes from that decade: started with patent leather mod boots and short skirts and ended with bell-bottom jeans, peasant shirts, and military jackets.
Crossing fingers in hopes that “tube tops” don’t make a comeback
No. No they are not back. And you can’t make me admit they are. I hated them THEN, and I still hate them NOW.
Why, though? No one will force you to wear them 
Also: they are already back.
how about Lil Abners? Bad looking shoe, but ngl they were really comfy once broken in.
Right? I’m actually high-waisted, and tall. I’m pretty much the best case for high waisted pants. And when they fit well they look really good on me.
When. They. Fit. Well.
So… I prefer a lower rise of course.
Also totally true about the short zippers, it’s weird. Ideally I think high waisted pants should have a long and really hidden/discreet zipper but a lot of the new jeans I see have a short and really prominent zipper which is then like way up in the middle of the belly which gives it like a diaper kind of vibe which… I dunno… not into it.
Don’t remember those but I did have a fair share of suede Hush Puppies and blue suede Keds sneakers.
I had a pair just like that in HS!
As someone born in 1980 and who is still largely into New Wave, Darkwave, and Goth, a lot of my favorite stuff is from the 80’s. A reasonable chunk is from the 90’s and I discover new stuff I like every few years now but I haven’t changed my primary style taste.
Sure there was lots of garbage but that’s true of every era. I do agree that heavy nostalgia for any “time when everything was cool” is foolish, there was no such time. But the supposed times of cultural lows are also pretty mythical, I guarantee at any point some people were making and wearing cool music, films, books, and clothes in every era, you just had to find your thing and click with your people.
On topic I find the bell bottom comeback pretty funny because they never seemed to really disappear from the festival circuit or various “alt” clothing styles. I’ve been watching burners and goths cycle through various styles of flared pants for decades now, simultaneously with all the form fitting pants. My favorite brand from which to buy leggings for nearly the last ten years, has always had the same fabric patterns with flared bottoms as well, not yoga flared but big swooshy bottoms. The closest thing I personally have is a pair of tight pants that ruffle out after the knee but that’s just a little ruffle. The big bell swoosh does nothing for my personal silhouette.
In more stiff fabrics I’ve seen more wide leg than actual bell flares so that will be a bit of a comeback. But I’ve continually seen that cut in stretchier fabric. Not super surprised to see jeans again, everything comes back around for good or ill. I’ve personally been ignoring the trends since early highchool when I just started wearing spooky stuff I personally thought was cute that flattered my actual figure. That standard has served my since. I pick and choose though whatever is available at any moment based on those metrics.
Words cannot express how much I agree with this. This goes hand in hand with particular body types going in and out of fashion which is an abominable concept.
There really should alway be stuff cut for any body type available with whatever odds and ends used to decorate them being the “trendy” part.
When my hips came in I had to buy shorts from the gap, which I hated, because they seemed to be the only brand willing to acknowledge the existence of hips in the early 90’s. Luckily I loved my hips, and the 90’s, and my family, failed to make me feel bad about it. I actually still wanted more of an hour glass despite no clothing being cut for that figure at the time and ended up getting into corsets, although I couldn’t actually get one until college.
I had very willowy friends that looked super cute in the dresses available then and I hated the counter trend of “real women have curves” even though I personally most liked an extreme hourglass silhouette. Women can and should look all the different ways.
I’ve mostly given up on pants, especially jeans, because of very wide short hips, a tiny rib cage, a high waist, skinny legs, and a tendency to be belly heavy. The rib cage to hip size difference also makes corset shopping very difficult but I care more about that so I go out of my way to hunt down stuff that fits.
I used to have a Shoveler t-shirt, as I used to sign up for sneak previews way back in the day, so many good actors/comics in that film, such a waste of celluloid though.
ETA: Wrong word for funny people
i will say that my windowpane style denim jacket has a striking visual texture which is pleasing to the eye.
on the other hand, the bell-bottoms into which some of my friends sewed fabric triangles into the calves of so they could make the flare even larger had no redeeming qualities whatsofuckingever.
It may be that the elements you find appealing from an era represent to some extent the machinery for change. How many “hold the line” conservatives were listening to Jazz in the 1950s?
I don’t know if they count as “bell bottoms” but in my early twenties (mid-nineties) I found and loved a few pairs of those navy-issued jeans with the high-ish waist, flared legs, flat front pockets, and either the front zipper or the double button fly, always from thrift stores. Those things were the best!
I’m afraid that ship has sailed. They’ve been popular for a couple years now. Particularly face-palm-y when worn in the winter with no coat. 
Crop tops and tube tops never really “went out of style.”
Bell bottoms, on the other hand, have definitely gone in and out, a few times.
