Lengths are my thing. The way they create and affect the proportions of our outfits is of particular interest to me. I can split hairs over half an inch, because it makes a visual difference to my eye. On that note, here is a particular set of outfit proportions that I’ve been seeing the last few seasons, and that I greatly enjoy wearing. It involves combining a longer coat with shorter length pants and jeans. The visual result is fresh, playful, and interesting.
Here are some examples.
The lengths of the coats are knee-covering or calf-covering. The lengths of the pants and jeans are cropped or at the new shorter full length where the hems graze the vamp of the foot, or just cover the ankle bone. The hem widths of the bottoms can be wide or narrow. Footwear ranges from high-shaft boots to loafers, sneakers, oxfords, pumps, and sandals. Shoes can be heeled or flat. With high-shaft boots and shorter bottoms, there is the option to insulate the ankles by wearing socks, thereby not exposing any skin to the elements.
I have an assortment of cold-weather knee-length coats and a few maxi coats that I wear with several pairs of jeans and casual or dressy pants at the new shorter full length, or slightly more cropped. I wear high-shaft boots or hi tops with trouser socks with the “long coat and short pants” combination so that my ankles are completely covered and warm. It’s nice to showcase more of our shoes. It avoids soggy hems in wet weather. I love it!
Of course, I also wear my knee-length and maxi coats with long hemmed pants and jeans that cover most of my shoes. But am loving these more playful proportions too. How about you?
