Wary of wide-legged pants

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Angie is co-founder of YLF and its resident fashion stylist.

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Outfits Ensembles Trends Advice

Wary of wide-legged pants

— by Angie

on May 27, 2008

This has been the season for wide-legged pants. They are the “it” pant silhouette in America and I too fell in love with high-waisted wide legged jeans. I have tried on several high-waisted wide-leg and mid-rise wide-leg styles and they look great when I wear heels and sport a slim-fitting blousy top.

But my wide-legged styles from last season are wardrobe orphans because I don’t feel fabulous when I wear them. There is a strange something about the excess fabric around my legs and feet that “gets in the way” when I’m charging around town. They feel like excess baggage. Perhaps this is why I’ve seen so few of them while in Paris over the last couple of days.

Women often look wider in wide-legged pants. It’s actually a hard silhouette to wear well and it has not been a popular style amongst my clients. Height and heels are a prerequisite and getting the silhouette of the leg line right is key. For those of you that fancy wide-legged pants and wear them well, I’m interested to know what it is about the style that appeals to you?

On the right person, I like the way wide-legged pants look. I’m probably alone, but I don’t like the way they feel.

33 comments · Add a comment

Deedre

I am a pear with narrow hips and large thighs. The wide leg seems to be the pant that fit my thighs.
I think they look okay on me. I am very tall.

May 27, 2008 at 2:05 am

Cathy R in Melbourne

I am also pear shaped. My thighs are also wide. I try to use the wide pant leg to smooth out the bump that is otherwise visible protruding from the sides of my thighs when seen front-on. I usually (when not pregnant as I am now) have a small waist, especially compared to my hips and a smallish rib-cage and rather narrow shoulders. I would have too many curves in the wrong spots if I wore pants that followed the shape of my legs too closely.

May 27, 2008 at 3:26 am

Ronni

I don’t wear super wide legged pants but feel they make everyone look slimmer and as people have mentioned hide a multitude of sins. I do like them but not the super wide ones, then I feel as you do.

May 27, 2008 at 4:10 am

Therese

I love them. Love love love love love them. I can’t stand anything else when it’s hot and humid (aside from shorts and skirts, which aren’t acceptable in the office), but I’m also tallish and generally look good in them.

May 27, 2008 at 4:51 am

Jenn @ Frugal Upstate

(website)

Hmm, I’m short so I don’t know how this shiloutte would look on me. I am more interested in the “High Waist” Personally I would love it if a super high waist came in that would act as a sort of “girdle” around my apple middle

May 27, 2008 at 5:09 am

Tanya

I love them, have a couple of pairs and wear them pretty often. I’m 5’6″ with short legs, so I need my 3″ wedges with them. I am also an hourglass with thicker thighs, so I like the way the pants disguise them. Another plus for them is that they look very nice with my favorite wrap-style tops. I guess the main thing I like about them us they way they gracefully fall down from the hips. Very Marlene Dietrich and Kathryn Hepburn – like.

May 27, 2008 at 5:20 am

Ola

I agree Angie, I tried several pairs of wide leg jeans on the weekend and was annoyed at how the extra fabric was swishing around my legs. I worried I’d get tangled if I was hurrying somewhere!

May 27, 2008 at 5:25 am

Amy T

I’m a 5′ pear and love them! Not super wide, but definitely a full pant seems to make me look taller and accents my small waist (with heels and a fitted top). My only caution is to not walk fast in them and maybe wear a wedge or platform since twice I have caught a pointed heel in them and fallen to the ground. I must love them since I keep wearing them!

May 27, 2008 at 6:30 am

Stephanie

I was wary of wide-legged pants when they were first thrust into the forefront again, but after deciding to give them a try I fell in love. Being an inverted triangle I love wearing my wide legs to give me that equalizing volume on the bottom while wearing fitted tops to give me a waist. I’m average height, therefore heels are a must with my wide legs and I think the overall effect is I look a lot taller. I love the silhouette that the wide legs, heels, and fitted tops cut so I was very excited when I tried this look and it worked. Definitely one of my favorite items I have in my closet

May 27, 2008 at 6:32 am

Kate G

Wide-legged pants work very well on my athletic, square 5’6″ frame; when I wear a slim-fitting top and high heels of some substance like built-in platform I feel just fabulous. I never wear my wide-legged pants with a jacket as I prefer them paired with something slimmer. I like the fluidity of motion that the pants create and I like the feel of all that fabric, particularly when it is a high-quality light-weight wool. However, I tend not to wear too high of a waist as then it starts to feel like too much pants!

May 27, 2008 at 7:13 am

Lannie

I like wide-legs that just fall from the hip, but not ones that are as wide as the pants in the photos here. I think it makes sense for us pear-shaped girls because they’re more forgiving.

May 27, 2008 at 8:28 am

Becky

(website)

I’m fairly short-waisted, and I love wide-legged pants, especially with a fitted top (as someone else has mentioned). I look taller, and feel chic and confident and relaxed. I think they have a classic, Old Hollywood look, and the style just suits me much better than skinny pants do. (I wear skinny pants occasionally, but at 5’6″ I always feel too short for them, and so I never feel totally fab in them)

FWIW, I’m not crazy about wide-legged pants with a suit — I don’t particularly like any of the looks you’ve included with this post. Only the one on the far right even has any promise, I think.

May 27, 2008 at 9:24 am

Dana

See, now, I’m an apple with nice legs and a rather squishy waist that I hide successfully for the most part. Wide leg pants hide one of my best features. I do have one pair of grey cuffed wide leg slacks that I wear with flats. I’ve tried several denim pairs and wind up taking them back or giving them away. I want them to work, but they usually don’t.

May 27, 2008 at 9:47 am

Cedar

I’m not a fan of wide-legged pants, and it’s because they’re unflattering on me. I’m okay with them when I’m looking in a mirror, but as soon as I’m talking out and about, I feel like I’m swimming in fabric, and just sloppy looking. I have one pair, and I rarely wear them.

I’m relatively short, and I wonder if that’s the issue.

May 27, 2008 at 10:19 am

i love them — though i actually prefer fit and (wide, dramatic) flare to unangled wide legs — and i ahve been buying pants like crazy before this trend disappears. why? because they transform me from drably brown to Foxy Brown. well, i don’t have pam grier’s height, but with a bust, stacked heels and a bad attitude, wide legged pants are the essence of kick-ass femininity. (anyone interested in attitude on the cheap should check out delias, i bought kelly green flares for 30 bucks, which add a Spring Freshness to the basic theme)

May 27, 2008 at 10:36 am

alicat

LOVE wide legged pants. I am a pear with a tummy and they balance out my wide hips beautifully. I do wear heels and fitted tops with them, and it’s almost my uniform at the moment. Comfy and stylish. Now if I could just find some nice denim ones…

May 27, 2008 at 11:37 am

I purchased one pair of wide legged pants (just because – which was a bad a idea) and I have never felt comfortable in them. Too much fabric; I feel and look wide; I don’t feel well-put together in them.

May 27, 2008 at 1:02 pm

Renee

I don’t mind how I look in them, but I am too clumbsy to wear them. I got the cuff caught in my heel and took an awful tumble down the stairs. I ended up hyper-extending my right achillies tendon. I was in SO MUCH PAIN! A fellow student carried me to the health center and stayed with me until I was taken to hopsital by ambulance. I STILL have problems with that ankle.

May 27, 2008 at 1:19 pm

Maya

I know they disguise heavy hips and thighs, but it’s just too much fabric swinging around the leg. Also on gals with small thighs, they actually make them look bigger–it looks like they’re trying to conceal something that isn’t there. I’m not a fan of wide leg pants. I tried them a while back and they weren’t any good. I find them dumpy and fussy.

May 27, 2008 at 1:34 pm

Patience

I like wide legs but not super wide on me. 20-22″ is as far as I’ll go at the bottom. I don’t think I could pull off the ones in the pictures. Heels work well, but I also like them with flat sandals. I can see how they would interfere if you walk a lot. If you choose the silhouette carefully I think they can still work, especially if you don’t walk around a lot in them. I feel fab in mine but I will agree that the denim styles can be rather heavy and I probably will stick to 18″ bootcuts there.

May 27, 2008 at 2:42 pm

Judy

Angie you’re in PARIS?? That’s so cool! I like this look too on the right person. What I like about it is that it can look like “men’s wear” or like you’re wearing men’s trousers…and the juxtaposition of that masculinity with the feminine heels looks interesting to me. Having said that, since heels and platforms and I don’t really get along, even though I could look miles taller in this look, I don’t wear it. The denim wide legs I have are flat length, but I walk too much in the city for them to be very practical for me, so like you, mine are a bit orphanned too..have a great trip, Angie!

May 27, 2008 at 7:07 pm

San

I love the look but I think these examples are a bit extreme. When I was in high school in the early ’70’s we wore sailor jeans, demin real sailor pants with the patch pockets. I thought they were flattering to the figure and don’t remember ever having trouble walking in them, but we wore flat sandals all the time.

May 27, 2008 at 8:21 pm

Maya

I did a quick search to find your first post on wide legs.

http://youlookfab.com/2007/04/.....-trousers/

I find those examples a hundred times more flattering than the ones in this post. They seem to be less exaggerated and more streamlined. I like those wide legs on the models, but I still feel they would look schlumpy on most women. The fact that they require a heel is even more annoying, and makes them even less versatile.

Oh well, I don’t regret missing out on this trend.

May 27, 2008 at 11:53 pm

Sara

I love my pair of wide-legged pants!
I’m 5’4″, and unsure of my body type, but I’m a size 0 everywhere. I wear them with a fitted top and heel when I want to dress up, or my converse when I wanto to dress down. I cuff up the bottoms of my pants when not wearing them with a heel.

May 28, 2008 at 7:59 am

Joey

I’m a 5’8″ pear–like several other pears I appreciate the fact that wide pants help hide the bulges. Hooray for wide pants. I also say bring on the higher waisted pants–so nice to be able to bend over or squat and not have to worry about over exposure. Frankly, I’m tired of seeing others thongs and underwear too.

May 28, 2008 at 12:49 pm

Sal

(website)

Gotta jump on the pear-shaped, wide-leg-lovin’ bandwagon. This cut is great if you’ve got saddlebags, but a shapely waist. As mentioned in previous comments, a nicely fitted top can offset the volume on the bottom. I adore this style of pant, and admit to owning more than my fair share of pairs. Whoo, say THAT five times fast …

May 28, 2008 at 2:03 pm

joelle

I think wide legged pants look good on me if they are not overly wide and are made of a relatively thin material–the type of fabric that moves when I walk. I don’t like them when the fabric is thick or stiff because then they feel cumbersome and make me look heavy. This is why I have never bought any wide leg jeans.

May 29, 2008 at 1:03 pm

youlookfab » Blog Archive » 10 must-haves for Spring / Summer 2008

(website)

[…] A superb current trend that can be interpreted in a variety of ways. Whether it’s in the form of wide-legged pants, lantern sleeves, trapeze jackets, roomy tunics, sack sheaths, baby dolls or billowing blouses, […]

June 24, 2008 at 7:01 am

Glamouricious

(website)

i agree with you. i didnt get it on the whole wide legged trend and was very sad when i thought skinnies where going to be pre historic. im very glad they are still in.
i feel wide legged pants look good for work though like you pictured above, but not for grocery shopping or doing other activities where you will be walking on the streets. i can just imagine the bottom of the pants getting all dirty and muddy. ick.

June 29, 2008 at 7:07 pm

Deb Lynch

I am tall with a 33-34 inch inseam. I like wide-leg pants because they give me room to breathe, and I can get my size 12 feet through the hem! But seriously, being tall, I need to wear clothing that does not make me look taller than I actually am.

November 8, 2008 at 9:43 pm

cheryl

I wear more of a flare or wide leg at the bottom for comfort. I have an athletic build but I’m not that tall so it’s hard to find jeans that fit around my calf muscles

December 20, 2008 at 2:23 pm

Rachel

I’m tall, pear-shaped, and proportionately have much longer legs than torso. Also, skinny jeans make me look like death-by-saddlebags (and I’m actually rather thin). Straight leg jeans look like Skinny jeans on me (I have one pair). Most of my jeans are bootlegs.

I agree that fit is everything. Wide-leg pants that just skim the derriere and sides of your hips before widening out are key. Those look stylish and balance out the overwhelming impression of “TALL!” that I give off in heels. Pants that don’t fit right look like you either recently lost a lot of weight or are wearing your (much larger) boyfriend’s clothes. Not flattering or professional. And quality material is a must – the cheap, lightweight material will gather and flutter around your legs as you walk, rather than falling well.

May 27, 2010 at 8:20 am