Ask Angie: pairing shoes with cropped pants

Hi Angie -- I see you've asked me a question from the cropped pants blog post that I missed because I haven't been on the site for a couple of days, but I'm interested on your take on this so I thought I'd follow up on the forum. Here's your question:
"Aziraphale, do you mean you don’t like the look of pumps with tapered-at-the-hems BF jeans either? I love that look actually. It’s my Summer uniform. With ankle strap pumps too. I prefer my rolled at the hems BF jeans and slim through the leg cropped pants worn with pumps rather than booties."

On me, cropped tapered pants (both slim-cut and looser, rolled-up boyfriend styles) can look good with low-vamp pumps depending on where they end on my leg. The length of the pant seems to matter more than the bagginess (although they do have to be tapered; I've never been able to make wide-leg crops work for me). The pants that end farther up my leg, below the knee, look best with pumps, I think because this exposes most of my shin as well as the top of my foot, and this lengthens the leg. The ones that are hemmed just above the ankle bone look much better with a higher-vamp shoe, like a short boot, an ankle-strap pump, a t-strap pump, or a maryjane. My guess is that the higher vamp of the shoe helps the shoe "blend in" with the pant leg so there's more of an unbroken line. A low-vamp pump leaves just a bit of skin exposed, enough to draw attention to the fact that the pants are cropped above my ankle, shortening the appearance of my legs.

Of course, we're talking pants and shoes that are a lot darker than my skin. I don't own shoes or pants in light colours. Maybe cropped ankle pants with nude shoes would work.

Also, cropped tapered pants only seem to work if they are cropped just above the ankle, or just below the knee. I think I'm too short for mid-calf pants.

12 years ago

Aziraphale

Veteran

bumping -- I'm still interested to hear what people have to say on this!

Angie

(website)

Fashion Stylist

Thanks, Elisabeth. As always, your thoughts are clear, eloquent and make sense. Everyone has to find their "sweet spot length" when pairing either booties or pumps with tapered pants and BF jeans. And how you wear your top with the look - tucked, untucked, or semi tucked - is a further variable that makes a difference to the overall line of the outfit.

Sounds like you've found the way you like to wear cropped pants with heels and booties. Well done.

Ah, I see. So it's not a general rule, then, with the shoes/cropped pants combination. Everybody's sweet spot is different?

I don't think it's a general guideline. It depends on your preferences. What you find flattering and what you don't. Some like to show skin between their booties and cropped pants - rolled or not - and some don't. Some like to create a high contrast, and some like to keep the contrast between the footwear and pants low.

No matter how you slice and dice it - I STILL prefer to wear low heeled pumps and ankle strap pumps with cropped pants and cropped rolled BF jeans. I seldom wear booties with them (although I do from time to time, and even wore the combination for both LG video commercials). I prefer to wear full length pants with booties full stop.

I mostly wear shoes, not booties, with cropped pants too, actually. It's a weather thing -- if it's warm enough for cropped pants, I like sockless shoes, not booties!

But I still think that ankle strap/maryjane/t-strap pumps are quite a different animal than regular, low-vamp pumps. Low-vamp pumps nearly always make your legs look longer, whereas pumps with something else going on on the top of the foot or the ankle may not, and sort of behave more like a bootie in that way. This is why I don't really wear the latter with short cropped pants -- not enough leg shows. I end up looking chopped off at both the ankle and the knee. But this type of shoe seems to work better (on me, at least) with pants cropped barely above the ankle. Low-vamp pumps with ankle pants leave this weird little blank space...I'm not sure if I'm explaining this right.

Regardless, I think you're right in that our own personal preferences are as important as anything. Like how some people can't stand the look of skin showing between black boots and a dark skirt -- they have to fill in the space with dark tights -- whereas I just love that look.

Suz

Interesting discussion. Thanks Aziriphale, for raising it. I feel the way you do about my "sweet spots" for cropped trousers. Have never liked the look of mid calf on myself. And I am careful about footwear with cropped pants due to leg shortening concerns.

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