Who Can Stomach Belly Season?
The bared midriff — it's a look that comes from the combination of low-rise pants and an untucked or higher cropped shirt, and it's had a staying power unusual in the world of fashion trends.
The look is sexy, but it's also tough to pull off, so The Early Show National Correspondent Laurie Hibberd took the streets to find out who's really the queen of belly-baring fashion and just how far the trend will go.
Some may wonder just where the tummy-revealing style originated.
Belly-barers across the nation say the look began with chart-topping, R&B diva Janet Jackson — Miss. Jackson if you're nasty — who popularized the trend when she bared her set of six-pack abs in her music videos, sporting low-slung jeans and barely-there cropped tops.
After Janet, the next generation of pop princesses, including stars Brittany Spears and Christina Aguilera, followed Jackson's lead, and the rest, as they say, is midriff history.
These days, fashion runways and city streets are full of bare bellies. Even television commercials feature models and actresses flaunting the almighty bare button.
But should just anyone who comes down with a case of "six-pack Abs-itis" go for the look? Is it for everyone?
In Style magazine's Hal Rubenstein says no.
"I don't think it is. It's not a fair world, it's as simple as that," he said. There are rules to consider before unveiling one's tummy.
"Number one, you better have great abs. But the other thing is, it's a look for the young for the most part," he said.
But that doesn't mean the mid-section is to be hidden at all costs for all women past their teens or 20s, said Rubenstein. It just means there's a time and a place to show some skin.
"If you're 40 years old and have great abs, fine," he said. "Show them at the pool and show them at the beach, but don't go out for dinner dressed like that."
Hibberd also spoke with Brendon O'Neill of Reebok Sports Club in New York and asked him to explain what it takes to get belly-baring abs.
"Well, you really have to concentrate on your eating strategies, your abdominal work and making sure you get to the gym to do cardio," he said. "It's not just sit-ups."
"There are rather large people that have very strong abs and they do sit ups, and there are very skinny people have weak abs," O'Neill said. "You have to do all three because without all three you're not going to get the six-pack you're looking for," he said.
But genetics also plays a part in obtaining, and maintaining, killer abs.
"For a lot of people, they're just born with them, but other people can definitely get stronger abs which will help lead to a stronger back. Which definitely takes pressure off the legs which leads to a healthier life," O'Neill said.
"As long as people are really taking great care of their bodies I think it's something that will be an element of fashion in the same way that multiple piercings will be an element of fashion or dreadlocks will be an element of fashion."
From music videos and television commercials, to billboards and ads, to street wear and now prom dresses, belly-baring is most definitely the trend for the 21st century.
Copyright 2009 CBS. All rights reserved. The look is sexy, but it's also tough to pull off, so The Early Show National Correspondent Laurie Hibberd took the streets to find out who's really the queen of belly-baring fashion and just how far the trend will go.
Some may wonder just where the tummy-revealing style originated.
Belly-barers across the nation say the look began with chart-topping, R&B diva Janet Jackson — Miss. Jackson if you're nasty — who popularized the trend when she bared her set of six-pack abs in her music videos, sporting low-slung jeans and barely-there cropped tops.
After Janet, the next generation of pop princesses, including stars Brittany Spears and Christina Aguilera, followed Jackson's lead, and the rest, as they say, is midriff history.
These days, fashion runways and city streets are full of bare bellies. Even television commercials feature models and actresses flaunting the almighty bare button.
But should just anyone who comes down with a case of "six-pack Abs-itis" go for the look? Is it for everyone?
In Style magazine's Hal Rubenstein says no.
"I don't think it is. It's not a fair world, it's as simple as that," he said. There are rules to consider before unveiling one's tummy.
"Number one, you better have great abs. But the other thing is, it's a look for the young for the most part," he said.
But that doesn't mean the mid-section is to be hidden at all costs for all women past their teens or 20s, said Rubenstein. It just means there's a time and a place to show some skin.
"If you're 40 years old and have great abs, fine," he said. "Show them at the pool and show them at the beach, but don't go out for dinner dressed like that."
Hibberd also spoke with Brendon O'Neill of Reebok Sports Club in New York and asked him to explain what it takes to get belly-baring abs.
"Well, you really have to concentrate on your eating strategies, your abdominal work and making sure you get to the gym to do cardio," he said. "It's not just sit-ups."
"There are rather large people that have very strong abs and they do sit ups, and there are very skinny people have weak abs," O'Neill said. "You have to do all three because without all three you're not going to get the six-pack you're looking for," he said.
But genetics also plays a part in obtaining, and maintaining, killer abs.
"For a lot of people, they're just born with them, but other people can definitely get stronger abs which will help lead to a stronger back. Which definitely takes pressure off the legs which leads to a healthier life," O'Neill said.
"As long as people are really taking great care of their bodies I think it's something that will be an element of fashion in the same way that multiple piercings will be an element of fashion or dreadlocks will be an element of fashion."
From music videos and television commercials, to billboards and ads, to street wear and now prom dresses, belly-baring is most definitely the trend for the 21st century.
