All of these are excellent points! Another thing that helps dress pants drape well is a lining. And with wool or wool blends, you have a pleasant silky fabric next to your skin, not an itchy one.

It’s been years since I’ve worn dress pants but of course it’s also been years since I’ve worked in an office. I’ve almost forgotten about them! For those who do work in offices, are they a go-to item for you?

Thanks for these tips Angie, I wear skinny dress pants to work and have a recurring problem of the waist fitting really comfortably at the start of the day, still fitting well at lunch time but by 5 o clock, after 8 hours at my desk, the waist band is cutting me in two.

I think playing around with the rise may help and believe the problem occurs because I’m short waisted. I have also considered having a second button sewn into the waist band which would allow me to let the waist out by half an inch at the end of the day.

Alternatively I could wear a dress :0)

I wear black and grey dress pants three to four times a week for work.
Unlike garmenta, I really don´t appreciate lining – I think it´s very uncomfortable and makes me feel as if I was wearing two pairs of slacks at the same time.
i do have the same problem as you, Julie: waistband fits in the morning – not so much in the afternoon. Since my waist is narrower than my hips, the waistband tends to be too loose anyway – so with some of them I just wear a belt and adjust it during the day.
Perfect fit is hard to find, but when I´ve been lucky, i duplicate!

I don’t really wear dress pants but still think this is a great post, full of useful tips for those that do.

Another fit issue I’d add to your list is the back rise. Too many times I see pants that fit in the front but have too short a seat seam, causing the unflattering “my butt is eating my trousers” look. And it’s not necessarily only on those with rounder bums- often it just looks like a pattern or size grading issue. I just thought I’d throw that out there, as it can easily be missed in the fitting room since you have to turn around to check!

I would love it if you would post about what to pair smart trousers/dress pants with. I am constantly bemused by whether to tuck in or not to tuck in (and most of mine mean if I don’t tuck the waist really pads out my silhouette), belts or no belts, shirts or stretch tops, etc. I never feel like I’ve quite got it right. Any tips would be greatly appreciated!

I second Ele – not a pants girl myself, but COMPLETELY agree with all of these tips.

I have these pants and several more from the Semantiks line. I usually take in the waist at the center back and hem them to lower heel work shoes (I am in retail). I love the fit, drape, and washability!

Thanks, Angie! I’ve almost weeded out most dress pants from my closet, but occasionally I do like to wear them. I found a pair that fits your list perfectly – Trina Turk for a steal, I might add. I love the wider waistband, and the rise is perfect. It does have side pockets, but I plan on taking them out and sewing them shut.

Great tips!

My biggest challenge is finding pants that aren’t jeans, but aren’t quite dress pants. I’d like to avoid the khaki rut, and linen pants will crumple. What’s a girl to do?

Wonderful post, Angie! So useful. I do wear dress pants and I have had a bit of a time getting to the point where I get all this in practice. Thanks to all the help from the ylf ladies, I think I have. I like having some dress pants to have some alternatives for work, which forms the biggest part of my wardrobe.

Great tips! I recently had to shop for dress pants, and in the end settled on the Editor pants from Express in black. I don’t know if they qualify as dress pants (do they, Angie?); they are a tad less formal than several dress pants I tried on at Nordies – but they definitely work for business wear. They have a wide waistband, which I really like. For me (hourglass), the Editors fit perfectly after I had them shortened and the waist band taken in a bit in the back (a common alteration for me.) Even with the price for the alteration, the Editors are a great deal, I think they cost around $60 and select styles are often on sale.
http://www.express.com/catalog.....ord=Editor

Dress pants are an essential part of my wardrobe! These are great tips for getting pants with a good fit.

I used to wear the Editor pants from Express, but now my perfect pants are the Christie fit from Victoria’s Secret.

They come in a wide variety of colors and have different waist bands. The “short” length is perfect for my height (5 ft).

I am a SAHM and I have one pair of perfectly fitting black dress pants hanging in my closet. I wear them a handful of times a year so I’m really glad they are there…despite my uber-casual lifestyle. I have committed to a certain heel height and had them hemmed for that length. I think they are a really important building block of any wardrobe. I’m not a skirt girl so I decided to invest in great pants for my dress-up occasions.

Great stuff to know Angie. Thankyou. I don’t need dress pants but I like to wear them sometimes, not often. I had some from Nordies in black, ink blue and grey until I realized they were the style that were roomy in the thighs and tapered in towards the ankle. I don’t know why this style comes around every so often, but out they went.
I hope a following article will be on the perfect fit for the dress jackt/blazer. At that point we’ll have a suit, right?

Maybe it’s just me, but I don’t see how the effort is justified. I’d much rather just wear a dress or skirt. Much easier to fit and looks 1000x better. I can’t think of any situation where dress pants can’t be substituted with a great dress. I only have one pair of pants and the rise is too low and I do indeed struggle with it, but what to do? It can’t really be helped just by getting a different size.

These are great tips, but I still rarely wear dress pants, like Maya, because I find skirts and dresses to be less fussy. I have one pair of black and one pair of grey, both which don’t quite fit well. I can’t find pants that flatter my hips from the front and accommodate my longer rise (the space between where the legs starts and the hip bones) but don’t make my backside look flat like a pancake. Even the beautiful model looks a bit pancakey in the rear view shot. How does one balance this, a longer top/jacket?

Maya I have to chuckle…I am the opposite: I find dresses and skirts to be way too fussy. I have yet to find a dress or skirt that fits me off the rack. And when I wear them, I spend the entire time fussing with them and trying to keep them from shifting around and exposing underwear. Its just way too exhausting for me. Pants, however, I seem to find easily and I can just put them on and forget them. I feel much more confident when I don’t have to fuss with my clothing. And to be clear…my husband would KILL to have me wear more dresses and skirts. So my choice to wear pants is not without controversy around my household!

Really helpful post – thank you! All the information I need when I go to buy a new pair. I’m particularly interested in the fabric info – it’s the first thing I look at when I take anything off the peg – and am really interested in what everything brings to the mix. I’d love something that could be washed but that wasn’t 100% polyester… Perhaps they have this sort of thing in the UK too…

Great tips! Dress pants are a mainstay of my work wardrobe, so this is very helpful. I’ve found pants easy to fit as long as I stick to specific cuts at specific stores…nearly all of my dress pants are the Martin fit from Banana Republic or from Ann Taylor.

Like several other posters, I prefer lined pants. I think they feel and hang better. A tip I found helpful years ago re. rise is that if you can pinch over half an inch or so in the crotch, they’re too baggy. That one tip saved me from years of grandpa butt:)

Very helpful.. Thanks !!!! I have a dress pair very similar to the ones on the right…I think I am on the right track now:)

Garmenta, I purposely did not mention lining because it *can* tamper with the fit of the slacks. First price is sans lining in my book. Like Phoebe, I too find dress pants lining uncomfortbale. But again, each style is to be judged individually.

Julie, I wonder if you’re after pants with more stretch?

Maya, I don’t wear dress pants either. I have cigarette pants and slacks that work with my suit, but other than that, I choose dresses and skirts above pants because I feel it looks for hip for my style. I also find dresses and skirts a lot more comfortable. But we are in the minority! Most women prefer to wear dress pants for biz casual.

Susan, dress pants will makes ones bottom look pancake-y if you have a flat bottom. The fit is purposely more roomy.

Helen, successfully tucking tops into dress pants depends entirely on the fit of the pants, top and your body type. Rules are hard to create on this topic, especially when you have belt phobia.

What a great article Angie!

I constantly battle with the fit of my dress pants. Having a small waist-to-hip ratio, I always have to take them in at the waist and hem them. But usually there is always at least some amount of whiskering, even if I go two sizes up. I avoid the side entry pockets like a plague. Sometimes I even sew the back welt ones shut. The only pants the fit me pretty well ( but still not amazing) are Theory’s Max C. I actually find dress pants much more difficult to fit than jeans. Maybe because of my long waist, who knows.

Maya, I do not want to beat the dead horse, but in the science field, for presentations and such, dress pants are pretty much the only acceptable solution. Quite a few euybrows would be raised ( and not in a good way) were I ever to show up in a dress.

Tanya, I know it doesn’t work for your field, but in general I don’t think it matters.

I don’t like the look of dress slacks at all, so I guess I’m biased. They are just dowdy and ultra-conservative to me.

I have several pairs of dress pants that have sat in my closet for all of fall and winter season because I just feel dowdy in them and they don’t fit properly. Angie, is it possible for you to show us some dress pants outfit options?

Thanks so much!