Pants are Problematic, and other ePiPhanies

So everyone but me realized long ago I should wear more skirts, or skirts more. Yet, my pants-outfit needs will need to continue as a high percentage of days, for various reasons.

My semi-epiphany is though I need to wear pants a lot, I don’t need a lot of pants to wear, if I wear the best I can achieve. This is not heading toward the French 10-piece wardrobe thinking, but just more practical and more honest.

Since I wear pants a lot, I always thought I should have a lot of variety in tones of colors, and in fabrics. Also that’s my fabric fetish for wools and tweeds and houndstooth and what have you.

The related semi-epiphany that again, everyone else has already had 10x over, is that Pants are Problematic. I’m talking work pants, not jeans. And it doesn’t get better with age! Even with tailoring, partly because of pear shape, partly because I’m a hard critic and I still care about the Rear View (need to let go of that, as I won’t win, but for now….).

So the resulting aha is that I’m asking too much of my pants, and trying to keep too many in rotation. Meaning, lighter colors are harder, heavier fabrics are harder, and my eternal yearning for variety in color or micro-pattern pushes me to keep pants that might not fit quite as well as some that might be plainer, or that I've already got. Dark neutrals just look the best, usually. It’s not all bad, though, since my quest for great fabrics allows me to discover better draping fabrics and occasionally find 10-scale pants.

The related skirt epiphany is actually not that I should just wear skirts more often—though I think I can-- but that I can get more variety in fabrics, pattern and colors in skirts that fit than in pants. So the skirts can provide more of that outlet than the pants. I do not turn up my nose at a great solid black or gray skirts, but there are just more options. Plus, for now I’ve been able to get them at decent price points to change pattern or length year by year. So skirts can be more noticeable and varied.

Pants still need to be updated at intervals, so the focus there is to keep evolving the style and not so much the colors. I know color and pattern are part of style, but here I mean silhouette--wide leg, tapered leg, high rise, low rise, all of that, within the boundaries of what works on me.

Slowly the wheels turn.....

10 years ago

LACeleste

Veteran

Very intelligent analysis with actionable insights! I laughed when I read the phrase " asking too much of my pants" but you are SO RIGHT!

Thanks for articulating so well something I have been mulling over for a decade.

Aleta

Active Member

Oh yes you are so right pants are problematic!! I am also very picky on fit, especially from the rear, it doesn't matter how much others can say a pair of pants looks good, if I am not happy with the fit I just can't get over it.

A number of times I have decided to concentrate on skirts, since they are not only easier to fit but you can vary shoes between flats and heels, another issue with pants. However, I have spent all my life in jeans (for work), and although I may want to get away from pants the truth is that I feel more comfortable in them on a daily basis, tending only to choose a skirt when I am more dressed up. I also feel that they can look more youthful than a skirt, unless it is a mini, and I don't wear anything above the knees now!

This is so true! Skirts are a million times easier for me. I only started wearing non-jeans trousers within the past couple of years, and most of the time I just sacrifice the rear view. It'd be lovely to have trousers that flattered me as well as skinny jeans do, and that didn't bag out during the day, but I think they're a unicorn. For me at least.

Thistle

I hear you!! Why are pants so hard to get to fit? I just don't understand, but I share your dilemma.

Skirts are so much easier to get to fit, and I find they are more forgiving all the way around. I just wish it was warmer where I live as tights are not my friend.

lyn67

Amen, unfrumped!:-) T

This was said from my very own little heart, and much better than I could have ever voice it! Thanx for this quintessential post!

I became a skirt and dress girl a few years ago, when I was tired of ill fitting trousers. I just couldn't be bothered more! A skirt flattered me from all angles and was much easier to build up enough of a variety for my creative self.

This year I bought a few pants and they are back in my weekly rotation, but still preffer the look of a skirt, and I have to disagree with Aleta, about skirt outfits feeling more matronly/ or conventional.

For the record, I started with denim/cotton skirts then, I started developing a taste for the more dressier ones in more curent cuts, fabric, prints and textures (believe me, they are there:strechy wool mix, printed/patterned ones, and the tubes) that are making all the difference and make me feel pretty fab. It may has to do also with my so said shapely legs (at least from knee down), plus the fact that I have a semi formal/dressy casual attire workplace, where my skirts and dresses work well for me. But I pay attention to team them with some great(younger looking if you want) shoes (blocked heeled slightly platform/flatform/wedged ones), booties and flat riding boots. Then I pop some great topers, too. (a denim/leather jacket, or a dressier bazer) and some curent accessories and is all done!

unfrumped

Thanks for laughing along at the quest for the holy grail--good fitting pants.

What helped in my wardrobe review/epiphany is that I will still wear pants a lot but need to repeat more, not buy more, and that the pants should be more in the background and not the star (go team shoes!). This seems so obvious now, but is new to me, as a pants-collector. And as LACeleste noted, I feel better because it's not just, oh drat the pants, it translates into actions.

Alassë

Great to have another epiphany, and I enjoyed reading.

rachylou

Oh you're right, you're so right about Evil Pants. You've encapsulated it so well. And btw, I've noticed my pants have started not to fit again. Arghh!!!

On a tangent, I think Angie's idea of wearing two layers of stockings has finally reached my brain. I have been doing this, and it works really well. I've started wearing skirts again. In Winter.

Thanks, Alasse!
rachylou, not tangential-- warmer layers are part of both WearMoreSkirts plan and extending the season for tropical wool pants.

Suz

(website)

This is a fantastic epiphany and will pay huge dividends not only for closet organization and shopping but in the longer run, for your style. You won't be chasing the holy grail of the "perfect" pant while at the same time you will still be open to the great one. And meanwhile, you can increase your variety via skirts. And maybe jackets, too -- those can come in some of the great high quality menswear fabrics that you love. And those are probably easier to fit than the dread pants, too.

Meanwhile, I still think you wear those Leith pants better than almost anyone I have seen -- so anything like that is your oyster!

pil

Very insightful and you made me chuckle too.

Got to have some humor when the mirror is in use, eh, pil?
Suz, your very good to say that. All those track-y pants are not very warm for winter. I've worn nude hose under and could conceivably do warm tights and forego the nude ankle look but I've not been sure where to go there. For now I've got the Theyskens' pleated pants.

Category