Musings on cropped pants - my PPL… - YouLookFab Forum

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Musings on cropped pants - my PPL…

Runcarla

Veteran

PPL = Perfect Pants Length.

When I joined YLF almost 10 years ago, cropped pants weren’t so much a ‘thing’ as they eventually became, and I struggled all-the-time finding long enough inseams for PPL. When cropped pants became popular - problem solved! No real worries about hemming to heel heights, and easier to find booties with shafts high enough to close the gap for warmth. A shorter length makes them a neater option in messy weather!

My cropped pants run the gamut from slim to wide legged, and include lantern, straight, and flared silouhettes.

Currently I own 2 pair of full length pants! One pair are straight/slim jeans which I wear mostly cuffed to cropped length! The other is a full leg trouser.

I’m keeping my eyes open for interesting full leg pants, but for now my needs are met via my collection of cropped pants. I’m hoping cropped bottoms remain a viable part of fashion for my lifetime.

FWIW, I’ve read that the shorter ‘pedal’ pusher’ length of cropped pant is going to experience a ‘moment’ in 2023. I don’t know if it will be a short lived fad, or an enduring trend - but I’ll be following with interest.

Do you have a favourite/ideal pant length?

General

27 replies

Latest reply was from kkards

Suz

(website)

Veteran

Oh yes. I love cropped lengths! SOMETIMES I don't have to take a pant to be shortened, nowadays!

I didn't like them when they first appeared. Back then, waists were lower, and designers had not come up with footwear that "closes the gap" so that they were impractical in cold weather. Especially if wider legged (the wind blows up there, brrrrrrr!!)

I sympathize with taller women who dislike crops due to a history of "floods." That would be irritating, too.

Shorter women are often told not to wear a cropped pant because it cuts too many horizontal lines, but for my personal style it tends to flatter more. Ankles offer structure. I love the look of a full length flare or wide leg, too. But it's harder to find the weather for it.

Anonymous

I'm on team full length. Full length seems more elegant to me, and I'll take all the leg lengthening height I can get! I don't mind cropped if I can wear them with sandals or sandal booties, but just haven't made them work with boots.
I like the pedal pusher length for gear in summer, cause it's more flattering than shorts, but will stick to skirts for everything else.

Jaime

(website)

Veteran

I am an omnivore when it comes to pants lengths. I do like the interesting shapes that can be created with shorter lengths, but also like full length and am slightly more in that mood right now. But my crops aren't going anywhere.

rachylou

Veteran

I have to say I like the new shorter full length. I feel crops look good, but that it’s often too cold for me to be happy wearing crops. I’m a wuss about the cold…

Sally

Veteran

I like a mix and often prefer cuffed to cropped. For more fitting pants I like to cuff them but for straight leg I like a full length. Also depends on the shoes.

Jenni NZ

Veteran

Isn’t it “pedal” pusher as in cycling?
Anyway, what I love is not having to hem pants. As a short woman hemming has been the bane of my life.
I do like showing ankle in spring and summer but prefer full length for easier warmth in winter. So if I can find various lengths is all good for variety.

Runcarla

Veteran

@ Jenni NZ - yes. Spelling has been corrected.

Joy

Veteran

I like cropped pants in warm weather but when it is cold, my ankles get cold. For New Years I put on a pant tuxedo suit that I did not wear last year. I needs an inch or half inch removed as I have shrunk an inch and no longer can wear heels. I feel a big pant try-on coming very soon. I am also losing weight. I can not commit to a size right now, or height. I see my doctor toward the end of the month and that may answer lots of questions about what size I will be next year.

LJP

Veteran

I have pants of every length but still prefer a cropped flare or ankle pant at the end of the day. In the winter though, they have to be worn with a high shafted boot .....I've tried them with shoes and it does look choppy and stumpy the way it doesn't in summer. If pants are going to be full length, they have to be wider legs. Nothing is worse than a plain straight leg full length pant - on me. Soooo conservative and asexual and I feel so awkward.

RobinF

Veteran

I also prefer cropped and that is mostly what I wear year round. They can get a little chilly even with higher shaft boots - mostly because I sit at work most of the day - but not too bad. I am really struggling with longer lengths. The short-full length just looks horrible and stumpy on me but longer doesn't seem to work either. I guess I'll stick with cropped until I have no choice. I have heard that too about short women not wearing cropped but I just feel like it looks best on me to see my ankle (or boot).

I will not be doing the pedal pushers even if trending. They are a poison eye for me.

Joy

Veteran

I like cropped pants in summer but they are too cold for our winters. The booties that would. Over the gap rub painfully on my ankle bones or heels. It is a seasonal thing for me.

sabimct

PPL is a hot topic for me this year!

I know that Angie has mentioned that she is a stickler for finding/creating the precise length.

My problem is that I don't know what is the right length for me.

Goals for 2023!

Dee

Veteran

I enjoy wearing cropped pants in summer, I think it looks really nice with the lighter footwear and summer tops.
I also wear boyfriend jeans cuffed up in winter with a higher shaft Chelsea boot, and I’ll wear regular length boot cuts and straights with these boots or ankle boots. I like that it lengthens the leg more, and it feels warmer as well, I don’t wear my cropped pants in winter.

Hmmm.. pedal pushers, I’ll have to see about that.

Irina

Veteran

I used to like full length pants and initially had hard time finding my length for cropped pants. Once I found it, I enjoy freedom not to think what shoe to wear, all of them work with cropped pants, imo. I’m going back to full length now but still prefer cropped pants for winter - like to show boots more, less slush gets on pants. So, I’m sticking to them for the late fall/winter months.

LJP

Veteran

I have to find another word instead of conservative . I fear it conveys a judgment I don’t mean. Plain straight trousers don’t make me feel modern or fashionable , but that’s a “me” thing . And pedal pushers ? Nah - too retro for me but I’m sure the Genx’rs will be rocking them with cute cropped tops .

Lesley

Veteran

I love cropped and exclusively wear cropped (or cuffed to a cropped length) but I have learned that I prefer cropped=above the ankle as opposed to any higher than that.

Roberta

Veteran

I really like them in the winter, with tall boots and in heavier fabrics. But I find I don't like them so much in the summer. Maybe because my shoes are so much lighter visually. I usually end up wearing shorts once it's warm enough.

Angie

(website)

Fashion Stylist

I have pants in ALL lengths these days, and love the variety! From very cropped to skimming the surface of the ground. I cannot pick a fave....

Jonesy

Veteran

For the reasons you've mentioned, Carla, I too prefer cropped pants! I have several pairs of new-ish full-length pants, and I still don't reach for them as much as the cropped ones. I find that I need to work a little harder in the styling of full-length pants to counteract what feels to me to be a '90s/'00s office vibe (I think because I wore pants like that then).

Style Fan

Veteran

I have a 70s flower child inside of me. My favourite is full-length, especially when I am wearing wide-legged pants. Also, footwear is more manageable with full length.

Cardiff girl

Veteran

I am with you on the cropped length.l love the elegance of a full length trouser but we just don’t get the weather for them very often and the crop saves on soggy,muddy hems.Also l happen to think that the proportions suit me.

nuancedream

Veteran

What Style Fan said.

Barbara Diane

Veteran

Cropped fan in hot weather, long in colder weather.

Isabel

Veteran

I have all lengths. And always have. It used to be more seasonal. now I wear high shaft booties with my shorter pants. I can't see myself every changing. I once read that showing wrists and ankles will always be "elegant" and "fashionable".

MsMaven

Veteran

Carla, I think you look great in cropped pants. You've master the art of putting them together with other clothing items.

I tried different lengths of pants, but I'm done with cropped pants. I find it difficult to proportion tops with them. I like narrow pants to be ankle length and dress pants to hit the right spot on shoes or boots. Getting pleasing proportions has become more difficult as I've gotten older. And I live in casual suburbia, and most of the time feel I'm more dressed up than anyone else.

I still have cropped jeans I will wear in warmer weather. I don't plan on buying more, but never say never.

LaPed

Veteran

I am on Team Variety, although lately I've been leaning away from cropped/ankle and into full-length. Might just be the season, as I'm enjoying the extra insulation on my ankles and not having to think so much about what my socks look like with a given outfit. I'm sure I'll get back to rolled/cuffed and cropped lengths when it's warm enough for bare feet (which feels like it could be any day now here in New England, where it's been bizarrely warm, more like March/April than January...).

kkards

Veteran

What Jamie and Angie said….I love them all.