How to get away from body con styles - YouLookFab Forum

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How to get away from body con styles

Liz A.

Veteran

I was reading Angie's thread about wider trousers earlier, and is just did a little shopping yesterday, so I've been thinking. I'm still buying body con items, especially when it comes to pants. My issue is the I can't stand for the waistline of my pants to be loose. I do like the look of a looser fit in the legs, but the waistline must fit for me to feel comfortable.

To compound the problem my thighs are large in comparison to my waist. So in order to get a loose fit in the thigh, the waist generally will be huge. And I can't do the low slung on the waist thing because the pants just get caught up on my thighs and the waist sits there all loose and sloppy taunting me.

I bought three new pairs of pants, two j. Crew Minnie, and one Calvin Klein ultimate skinny, and they're more or less skin tight. Am I hopelessly out of style?

Dressing

14 replies

Latest reply was from Greyscale

Helena

Veteran

Hi there, I'm no expert by any means ... but I am loyal to what Angie calls "tailored" styles - not body-con but not fluid, loose or flowy. I am quite small and get lost in bigger things. If it works for you, I would say, stick with it - or imagine the trend as a spectrum and just move a tiny bit in that direction, rather than feeling you have to go the full way. Does that make any sense?

deb

Veteran

What about getting the waist taken in by a tailor?

Anonymous

If that is what works for you and that is what you are comfortable wearing, then you are in style …. regardless of what the fashionistas say. You have to wear your clothes, not have them wear you.

Diana

Veteran

I wouldn't worry about it too much. I don't do body con in general except for pants. I do have other pants silhouettes like slouchy trousers or BF jeans, but I also have a good number of skinnies and formfitting bootcuts, etc. I think there is plenty of opportunity to go for the trendy fluid fits in tops and dresses and skirts, etc so you don't need to go oversized for everything, you know?

cinnamon fern

Veteran

Do you feel happy with the skin-tight pants? Or are they a compromise, because you couldn't find what you ideally wanted (fluid legs with a fitted waist)?

ATLynn

Veteran

You're definitely not out of style with your skinny pants, they're just not as fashion forward as some of the newer silhouettes.

I find that changing silhouettes on the bottom half is harder for me than on the top half. So you might want to start looking for more fluid tops and blazers, and adding some "unstructured structure" as Angie says to your looks.

Agree with Deb that to get trousers to fit larger thighs and a smaller waist, alterations are key.

Liz A.

Veteran

Sorry to post and run. I'm on my way to see my friends new baby, but I will be back to digest and comment

kkards

Veteran

Liz,another thing to remember, Angie's post was made after watching rhe fall 2014 shows, if you read hear posts about what she has seen so far at retail for spring, it's still a lot of skinnies. So it's likely that there will still be skinnies for fall as well.
Also want to agree with the others re alterations. I have the waists on almost all my pants, as well as the hems on many altered.

Gigi

Veteran

Angie also said in her post--if I remember right--that skinnies are not out of style, nor will they ever be. She views them as a classic now that will be with us for some time. So I wouldn't worry about it.

I am a small person, like TorontoGirl, who gets lost in more voluminous cuts. And there are a of people like that who won't be able to embrace such a wide-pant trend. And I think that a lot of women view skinnies and tight-fitting pants as sexy, so these women aren't going to ditch them for fluid-fit trousers. At least that's what I think...but you never know with fashion!

Laura (rhubarbgirl)

(website)

Veteran

I tend to prefer tighter jeans and cords - not so much suiting pants - for the same reasons of comfort and fit. Otherwise the waistband creeps down to my hips and I'm always tugging it up. I wouldn't worry about it that much, but you certainly could give going up a size and having the waist altered a try, see if that gives you more versatility.

Angie

(website)

Fashion Stylist

Got to jump in here.

Wider Pant Legs are trending for Spring 2014 already. I mentioned that in the trend forecast. It's #10.

http://youlookfab.com/2014/01/.....ring-2014/

Skinnies are by no means out of style - in fact still on trend. But things are finally moving towards a more relaxed bottom fit - 10 years down the line.
Skinnies are too practical and too mainstream to disappear. They sell. And when things sell at retail, buyers will keep on putting them into stores.
Would I call body con skinnies classic? No. More like a trend that is on its way out.
Straight legs and roomier skinnies = Modern Classic. Yet they also happen to be more fashionable. I know it's confusing.

I'm trying to steer my clients away from body con skinnies and suggesting we go the tailored and relaxed route. We are still shopping for skinnies and straight leg styles - absolutely - things just aren't as tight.

Gaylene

Veteran

I think that whenever fashion hits the extreme ends of a spectrum--skin tight vs. loose, ankle length vs. super mini, extreme shoulders vs. minimal shoulder, or whatever--it takes a while for our eyes to adjust and for our personal tolerances to re-adjust when the pendulum starts moving back, especially if we are in the group that enthusiastically embraced a particular look.

As Angie wisely points out, skinnies do NOT have to resemble leggings to be skinnies. Maybe sizing up in a less stretchy fabric (and nipping in the waist) might be a way to dip your foot into a less body-con fit? The fit would still be close, but not skintight.

Liz A.

Veteran

torontogirl, I'm not small myself, more like average, so I guess I can't use that excuse

deb, getting the waist taken in is definitely a thought. I haven't had a waist taken in on a pant since college, when I had a pair of Diesel jeans taken in. I was not happy with the result at all. They just sewed two little tucks along the waistband, which was very uncomfortable where it dug into my skin.

Diana, my pants fit very similar to yours. And yes, I do try to incorporate fluidity into my tops. That's a lot easier for me with my body type actually, because the shirts just hang off my wide shoulders, so looseness is not a problem.

cinnamon fern, I think I'd really like to have a good mix of both fits.

Laura, yes lightbulb moment! I do prefer a tighter fit in jeans and somewhat looser in work pants. A few of my work pants are uncomfortably tight right now, and I'm not liking it.

Angie, thanks for clarifying.

Greyscale

Veteran

Liz, I think some of this will fix itself once designers start selling looser fits. They'll add a bit more ease everywhere *except* the waist/hips area - so a size 6 pair of jeans will still fit a size 6 person but with looser legs. Right now, most things sold in stores are still cut quite slim. So to get looser fits for now, we're going up one size (and wearing a belt) or jumping like lemmings onto the few looser options like the AG jeans everyone bought last week!

But even once cuts are looser, you might still be happiest getting the waist taken it. It can make a huge difference, for sure.