High waisted jeans are back. With Grey Ant (www.greyant.com) leading the way, and celebrities photographed wearing the higher risers, fashionistas proclaimed the denim sea change.

One problem is these high-waisted designer jeans aren’t that high. See for yourself, … if you can find them. 

Two weeks ago an e-mail from Saks (www.saksfifthavenue.com) appeared in our in-box proudly trumpeting: High waisted denim and more!  Inspired, we searched Saks from top to bottom at the Short Hills Mall (www.shopshorthills.com).

We found no Mynk Hauteur as advertised on the store’s website (http://tinyurl.com/2zulqx). No comfy Cambio (www.cambioamerica.com) either. “They’ve been discontinued,” explained a Saks sales associate.

The story was much the same at Nordstrom (www.nordstrom.com) and Neiman Marcus (www.neimanmarcus.com), where “high-waisted jeans” are much touted but available only in small numbers, and don’t really rise to the occasion.

We found only one style labeled “high waisted” at Saks—pricey Seven Jeans (www.7forallmankind.com) that rose just one inch higher than the rest of the store’s jeans.

Don’t be fooled: these jeans sit nowhere near your waist. Unless somehow, your waist has been lowered four inches closer to your hips. And if your hips aren’t narrower than a size seven the new style is hard to wear.

So what gives?

Perhaps the stores have figured out what we (and Saturday Night Live, www.youtube.com/watch?v=KTl6aJDlDiY) already know… lower-rise jeans, low-ded with plenty of spandex are more flattering. 

We’re waiting for the next round of designer high-risers, which may actually rise high enough to do some good!