After some initial resistance, my clients are adding cropped wide leg jeans and pants to their wardrobes. Generally, the silhouette has grown on them because it’s tailored, comfortable, polished and above all, looking fresh. 

Although retailers are styling cropped wide legs with tucked tops, semi-tucked tops, and long oversized tops, most clients want to wear an untucked top with a bit of structure with the silhouette because it’s forgiving on the midsection, yet hints at the contour of their figure. In this case a shorter top with a boxier cut works well. The top needn’t be oversized. Tailored on the shoulder and bust area, and fluid on the waistline is good.

The short length is important because it showcases the tailored fit of the bottoms on the hip area, which gives the outfit structure. A longer top might make you feel overly “blocky”, “busty” or long in the waist. Here are some visual examples of the style of top I’m talking about. The models are sporting their wide crops at a fabulous length (two to four inches above the ankle bone).

I have two pairs of cropped wide leg jeans, and like to wear them with a shorter and boxier top. Some of my tops have waist welts, which provide even more structure. Here are the exact wide cropped jeans from my wardrobe, and the tops that I enjoy wearing with them. Some of the tops look long in the photo, but they’re shorter in person. The necklines are high because that works best for my body type, but wear a V-neck or scooped neck if that’s more to your taste.