Why Are They Called Violin Hips?

The Visual Comparison

The term "violin hips" comes from a visual similarity: when pronounced, the indentation at the lateral hip, combined with the curves above and below it, resembles the curved waist of a violin body. The iliac crest forms the upper curve, the trochanteric depression forms the inward curve, and the greater trochanter forms the outward curve below. The three together create a silhouette that reminded someone — probably a tailor in the 1940s — of the shape of a violin.

The Tailoring Origin

The earliest sustained use of "violin hips" in print appears in tailoring and home-sewing literature of the mid-20th century. Pattern-making books used the term descriptively to identify a body shape that required specific garment adjustments. A skirt or trouser that fits smoothly over a rounded hip is straightforward to construct. A garment that must accommodate an indentation is more complex — the fabric must dip inward at a specific point and then curve back out.

In tailoring literature, "violin hips" carried no evaluative weight. It was used the same way as "prominent shoulder blades," "long waist," or "high instep" — a body characteristic to be measured, accommodated, and engineered around. A tailor describing a client as having violin hips was not commenting on the client"s appearance, only on the work the garment required.

The Name"s Longevity

"Violin hips" has been in continuous use for at least 70 years, surviving multiple shifts in fashion, beauty standards, and medical terminology. The newer term "hip dips" emerged around 2020 through TikTok and Instagram and has largely replaced "violin hips" in mainstream usage.

But the older term persists because it is more elegant than the clinical-sounding "hip dips" and because it reflects a visual metaphor rather than describing the feature as a flaw to be corrected. A "dip" suggests a depression — something missing, something to fill. A "violin hip" suggests a shape — a contour, a silhouette, a form. The framing is different, and the framing matters.

Why We Use This Term

This site uses "violin hips" intentionally. The feature we describe is normal, present in roughly 30% of women, and caused by bone structure — not weight, fitness, or health. Calling it a "dip" implies that something is wrong. Calling it a "violin hip" describes it the way a tailor would: a shape to understand, not a flaw to correct.

If you arrived here searching for "hip dips," you are in the right place. Everything on this site applies equally to what you call hip dips. We just prefer the older, kinder name.