The front-to-back vs side-to-side thing makes sense to me. I have a prominent derriere, so to speak, but from the front my hips aren't very wide (narrower than my shoulders even, so I guess I'm a V according to Imogen). This means a lot of curvy fit pants are unflattering on me because they have extra fabric that poofs out at the hips. I also find a lot of so-called "curvy" cuts are just larger overall and I end up being sized out (usually a 0/25). High rises have generally been my best bet, although sometimes I can get away with a slouchy "hip-slung" fit, though it's been a while since we've seen that look at retail.
My biggest pants fit issue is having larger-than-average calves. There are so many pants out there that I can't pull past my calves, even when the waist is huge. This was never an issue back in the good old bootcut days, but ever since skinny jeans took over, I've had a hard time.
