These are painful. Ugh.

I’m so glad you wrote this article so that I don’t waste my time. Pants like those are tempting in summertime but they won’t tempt me this time.

I am 5′6″ with proportionally long legs. I wear between a size 4 and size 6 on the bottom. I saw a picture of myself in cargo capris once…OMG! I looked squat and my legs looked like stumps. And I looked about 10 pounds heavier. I threw those pants AWAY!!!! I now realize how easy it is to visually elongate or shorten your body just by what you are wearing.

Angie, every time I am tempted by ankle length pants, I will remember this article and refrain. So far I have been doing just that but it’s nice to have this tangible resource. Having said that, I actually own the jeans on the right. I mostly wear them tucked in but I do like them with a pump as well. And, on me there is an inch or 2 of scrunch.

Mu husband calls these “high water in the village” pants. A direct translation from his language… Seeing (generally tall) people with pants like this makes me smile because I think of high water in the village. Maybe fashion industry is saving money fabric this way.

Angie: I thought instantly of you when I saw in the Sunday NYT Style Section a huge full-page Ralph Lauren ad of a woman in a cream-colored suit. Lovely until I saw the ankle-biter pants. Soooooo unflattering and this was 6-foot 110 pound model. Made her look so dumpy. I thought, “eew. Angie would soooo disapprove.”

We call too-short pants “flood pants” or “floods” here, meaning you wear them short so if there’s a flood, the bottoms don’t get wet. I see a woman who works in an office near who nearly every day wears pleat-front “mom” pants that are a skosh too tight and way too short. She has a decent trim figure, but these pants make her look so fat and lumpen. Sad.

Glad to see this article. The times fashion page kept mentioning them in glowing terms!

Glad to hear it, ladies. (Kim, Legacy and Marlene, you crack me up).

Anne, the fashion mags over here are FULL of trying to persuade us to wear this look as well (in slouchy pleated versions I might add). And they go further to suggest how you should adjust the length and volume for your body type. Have you ever! Utter codswallup. My ankle length pants juices are flowing through my veins viciously this morning.

I couldn’t agree more with you Angie. I cringe every time i see these in the fashion magazines. I would never even dream of trying them on, especially with my long torso/short legs body type.

Thanks for posting this Angie. I do not like the length of these pants at all and I can’t believe the fashion mags are pushing this style. Who in their right mind thinks this looks remotely good? I see women at work all the time wearing too short pants in general and I wish I could educate them on the rules of PPL!

PPL is one of the most valuable lessons I’ve learned from this site. If anyone is questioning Angie on this, just go sit and people watch at the mall or other gathering on a warm day. Enlightening.

This post made me smile

Thank you for saving the world from the horrors of ankle pants, Angie! What would we do without you??

So true. I’ve discovered over the past year or so that ankle length pants and skirts are one of the most unflattering things I can do for my body. Right up there with shoulder pads, big puffed sleeves, and baggy tops. I love my skinnies though. They come just over the top of the back of my shoes with a tiny bit of scrunch. I’ve been wondering when this post was coming ever since I saw Express advertising these in January.

Angie, thanks for the reminder. I have to admit that I have fallen for this look in the past. Once I have looked at the pictures, I can see how unflattering it is. At this point, I believe that I have culled all the ankle length pants from my wardrobe and I will keep your voice in my head if I get tempted again!

This has been one of my pet peeves for years! I’ve been seeing the look in magazines and catalogs this spring, and I shudder! What are they thinking?

I think I have always had an innate dislike of ankle length pants, even when I knew nothing about style or fashion. I couldn’t have explained why but I always knew there was just something off about them. However, my hatred is reserved entirely for the first three pairs. I actually love the look of the last pair on the right person and with the right shoes…but it’s true that it just isn’t for the masses.

Personally, I actually do try to shorten my legs, but not too much, and ankle length pants would shorten them too much. I’d rather wear a tunic or a dress that hides where my torso ends and legs begin.

Okay, but I remain stumped as to what length to wear with flats. Having pants dragging the ground looks sloppy to me.

Great comment about people watching at the mall. I usually look for mullets and–um–wedgies . Please advise: what is the best length for those of us who are around 5′4″ or so? I love capris, but where should they stop–calf, knee…? Angie, what is codswallup?

It would be easy for me to argue that these pants are meant to show off fabulous shoes, BUT, these pictures are taken from the level of sitting. If you were standing up and looking at these pants they would look worse. I saw this recently in the mall and the person was trying them on to buy them. I wanted to say something but didn’t get up the nerve.

Proof that even a supermodel looks short and stumpy in these:

http://www.fabsugar.com/2941861

I am not generally drawn to this style anyway, but now I KNOW to steer clear!

Angie is right, only the denim picture on the right looks good, and I guess its because they are going for an edgy non-formulaic look, while the other pants are trying to look classic, but look outdated and smarmy.

I need to look up apoplexy.

Such passion in this blog entry and responses! We called the pants “high waters” when I grew up for the same reasons stated above. You might need pants for when the waters are high.

Wow, the link to the photo of Claudia wearing these confirms everything!! Even she looks bad in them! Thanks Angie for the post and thanks shiny for the link to the photo!

Oh, please don’t mock those of us so familiar with the high water look. I was wearing “floods” in middle school, even when my mom stitched decorative ribbon on the bottom to add length.

Yes, you can find pants with 34″ and 36″ inseams but not in a quick run to Target and online purchases sometimes add hip width to the length.

I vowed last week to give away the adorable dark denim slacks that I’ve had for several years based on Angie’s repeated cries to ban the floods. But I will SO miss them. A world of world of ankle pants would provide me with wonderful selection of cropped styles!

I have been seeing these pants flood my school, my neighborhood, and generally my entire town! I cringe whenever I see them–I cannot get away from them! The sight of seeing these pants for a week straight (and girls wearing dresses with high-tops) prompted me to write a blog post about this epidemic: http://whimsicalnight.blogspot.....tions.html

I have actually committed this crime–but that was once, last year. I apparently had a growth spurt (the first one in almost 8 years), and I hadn’t realized it until I walked out of the house wearing Converse All-Stars and short pants. I was uncomfortable the entire day. I’m short, 5′2″, and I know for a fact that these pants weren’t exactly helping my petiteness. To add insult to the injury, the legs flared slightly. Not pretty. That very day, I went home, tried on all the pants I own–discovered about half were too short, but they still fit at the waist so I’ll probably just wear them at home when I will be seeing no one, don’t feel like wearing a tracksuit or my PJs. Or, I’ll probably just cut them into shorts. Yeah, I think i’ll do that.

So what is the fashion industry’s justification for these pants? Is it just that women keep wearing them, so they keep making them?

I’m extremely happy to hear that the ankle length pants wearers are in style rehab. I wish you a fast and leg lengthening recovery.

Linda, the hem length of your pants for flats depends on the width of the hem. Anything wider than a straight leg needs to almost skim the surface of the ground. No dragging and no floods.

Redhead, capris should end somewhere between the knee and widest past of your calf – no longer. Codswallup means “nonsense”.

Angie, you crack me up! I think we should put together a catalog of clothes called Angie’s Apoplexies and Accessories. We’ll make sure to include pants that are cropped or too short. those super long dresses, Crocs, Uggs, pleated pants, and Fleece jackets.

I actually prefer ankle length jeans! I only wear skinnies, and in order to get them as skinny as possible and with no ankle scrunch, I cuff mine 2″ to the perfect just above the vamp length (about an inch longer than Audrey’s), and wear them only with flat shoes. In heels, it definitely looks like your pants are too short, and I uncuff them.

Then again, I am 5′7″ and built like a string bean, so I guess that works.

Regrettably this length has been everywhere in Tasmania – possibly Australia generally – for the summer. It can be hard to find proper length pants! Nearly every woman you see, of any age, is wearing pant lengths between lower calf and ankle.
What is it with the fashion industry? On the one hand, the model figure we’re supposed to aspire to is tall and thin with long legs, on the other hand they keep coming up with leg-shortening and -widening styles – remember turn-up cuffs on cropped jeans?
I used to have to take up to 14 cm off trouser legs (I’m 5′3″ and – let’s not hedge here, dumpy). Now I’m looking at hems to see whether they can be let down!

I totally agree. I think pants work best when they are either longer than ankle length, or capri length. Anything in between looks weird, like you accidentally bought the wrong size or something.

I feel yucky looking at the pictures. I personally prefer to stay away from ankle length

The pants in those photos look like the pants I used to have to wear until I discovered stores and catalogs that sold long inseam pants. Which is why I used to wear skirts, leggings, and jeans from the men’s department almost all the time. I can’t believe they are actually trying to promote this as a look people should aim for.

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I have just read this post, and I glad to finally found an answer to my question (Question – just how do you where ankle-length pants? Answer: You don’t!). I’m glad I found the answer, but I’m sad because I’ll have to give up a couple of really cute Ann Taylor pants. I have tried to pull off wearing these in the summer with high-heeled sandals, but something inside of me kept telling me it was wrong. And now I have my answer.

As a shopaholic, I hate to get rid of anything. Maybe that short-legged, unflattering look will come into style some day?? from reading this post, I hate to admit it, but even if it were in style, it just looks bad…just…..get……rid……of…..them…….argh!!