I've messed up SYB --- June's budget was already spent on shoes in May, and now I'm drawing on July! Again with the mad math! And I'm blaming my shoes :-p

Sona's Birkenstocks are not just comfy, they're apparently a lucky charm, like I was saying here: http://youlookfab.com/welookfa.....d-slippers --- fitting, I suspect, coming from an angel!

Because on Sunday, at the mall, they led me to these pants. I'd just been trawling M&S and Debenhams, my usual haunts for formalwear that fits my style and longer rise (okay, the second store is typically way beyond budget; but I was just looking...)

At M&S, *every pair* of dress pants or smart-casual I tried was just tight enough to be straining in size 10 (my usual size) and just loose enough to bag/wrinkle around the crotch in size 12. EVERY. PAIR. Tried about 14 different pairs. Legs were great, which was sorta nice, given that in most other brands they aren't... but so close, yet so far!

Don't even ask me about Debenhams. Or Esprit. Or a few of the other 'working women's' brands in India (Park Avenue Woman, Van Heusen Woman, Arrow Woman, Wills Lifestyle for Women...). They refused to so much as slide up my thighs in sizes up to four inches over my actual waist size. I didn't even get as far as the usual cameltoe issue.

Then, just for the heck of it --- because 'leave no stone unturned' --- I walked into an old favourite brand I'd fallen out of love with a couple of years ago, as their designs turned too teenybopper/college freshman's first job-ish for me. They're called Westside. The store brands are typically a value-for-money range (think H&M or Primark, depending which side of the Atlantic you inhabit? Not great quality, but good value for that price point, being far better than similar-priced peers).

Most of their range remains distressingly (for me) 'youthful'. However... They had these charcoal ('anthracite', per label) dress pants, two pairs, the last of the line. Size 28 (my actual waist size) and size 30 (what I sometimes have to choose to accommodate my behind and my 'traditionally built' banana-tree thighs).

BOTH fit! In rise length as well as hip circumference. The size 28 fit great in the waist (naturally). BUT. They were too tight in the thigh --- looked like I was wearing jeggings to the knee, and then trouser legs below that. A year ago, I would have bought them and told myself I'd lose weight and fit in... one day. The size 30 was of course gapping at the back waist, but the thigh fit was perfect.

I usually prefer a little 'nicer' detailing around the pockets, waistband etc and a better 'hand' in the fabric --- but this is about $30, compared to the M&S pairs at $60-80, so perhaps I shouldn't complain too much. Yes, it IS a compromise. Hopefully, 'style' can come from other elements, though. So I exercised my credit card...

Now, I'm not sure about the waistband alteration --- the material is a viscose/polyester blend with elastane, which gets tricky on the traditional old-fashioned mechanical sewing machines our tailors still use. So I'm going to first try moving the buttons and adding a belt. I wasn't sure what length to alter them to either --- the lower heel of my new black Clarks (worn here) or the higher heel of my black Hush Puppies wedges and brown mary janes. And I was wearing Birks at the time! So I didn't even ask about the free hemline alteration at the store.

But hang on... I'm getting ahead of myself! These are the first dress pants I've bought in 6-7 years! What do YOU think of the fit, folks? The shape and pattern...? The fabrication is unusually forgiving (you can really see my short waist, sway back, big butt and thighs, and apple belly in these UNforgiving pics, can't you!) and drapes well, but is it too clingy? Colour seems versatile. What say you? Any niggles? Problem areas I'm being blind to?

Will need to buy a black belt or grey, which I don't have, if I'm to tuck (I'm not much of a tucker generally). Concerned about the absence of a belt loop in the center back, where the waistband dips on me (so belts tend to pass visibly *over* the waistband, which is a V there), which you can see in the side views but not the back, where I was fiddling with the waistband and pulled it forward. Not sure how to fix that issue. Or what kind of belt to look for. The brown pairs I have are pretty casual, jeans-worthy, and the narrow coloured ones are too dainty for the wider loops here. I've never really had a formalwear belt! Do I look for a style typical for menswear, or is a feminine version in existence? Ideas, please, if you have any?

PS: Don't panic! Will NOT wear with this T-shirt. And I never tuck in knits. Just couldn't wait to show you...