This morning I was tempted to go thrifting, but I'm on a consumption ban for a little bit longer, so I decided to use that energy & clothes focus to shift my closet so that the warm weather stuff is most easily accessible and the cool weather stuff is more towards the edges (I prefer rearranging to storing clothes elsewhere). In the process, I found myself staring at a collection of warm(er) weather trousers but at a bit of a loss as to what deserves a continuing place in my closet and what does not. Since I was feeling energetic anyway, I got out the camera & commenced to try them all on & take photographs to get YLF input!

Some notes:

• I had no clue my posture had gotten so bad. I have joint and muscle and chronic pain issues, and while I had good posture as a teen, clearly in the past few years things have gone downhill. The profile shots were pretty painful for me to look at, and I almost didn't post them, although I generally have good body image. In fact I showed them to my mom & sister to see if I looked like that in real life (particularly in the midsection), but they said no. I suspect a lot of that thickness is a combination of my pelvis tilting/back curving and pulling my sweater up so y'all could see the waistbands. On the plus side, I'm now working on improving my posture, and I bet it'll help my health too.
• I tried to keep the positions the same in each photo. And for the trousers I always wear rolled/cuffed, I took one of them at full length just in case that plays a factor. (I even measured my cuffs to make sure they were in the Angie recommended 4-6" above my ankle zone. heehee)
• I don't care at all about leg lengthening. I do care about the rear view, and in cooler weather I only wear trousers that I like from that angle, but unfortunately as it gets warmer, I'm uncomfortable in very fitted bottoms. So I end up sacrificing the rear view in the name of not sweating to death, but if you think some of the looser cuts look better than others on my tush, definitely let me know!
• Obviously none of these are styled, I just wore my current top & pulled it up so as to show all of the waistband: in hot weather I tend to wear waist surrendering lightweight blouses that cover the waistbands & often hit at high hip bone or a bit longer. Most of my shoes are flat but I also have a pair of Dansko sandals that are maybe a 1.5" platform. They're all fairly chunky for health reasons.
• Forgive the wrinkles! Some of these have been folded for awhile, waiting for warmer weather, and I almost never feel like ironing. Clearly team RATE.
• I edited the pics of the darkest pairs to lighten them just to the point that they look like how they do in real life.
• I have space for all of these, so I don't have to get rid of any of them.
• For now, I live in a climate with about 9 months of warm/hot weather. I'd say for 6 of those it's too hot to wear skinnies, which is when I turn to this style instead. So I need to keep more than a pair or two! That said I also have a pair of denim cotton capris that work in somewhat hot weather & 2 pairs that would work for the hottest weather but are in my mending basket so I forgot to photograph them. So I could stand to lose a couple of pairs at least, probably more.
• Trousers are a huge fitting problem for me as I'm long in the rise & have a substantial difference between my hip & waist measurement. And then when I find a pair that fits alright, they often bag out by the end of the day. At this point, I'm not looking for perfection, just the best possible of these options.
• My style is a bit quirky & nerdy, so it's fine if the trousers are bit 'square,' lol. Also, I don't have any dress codes to worry about.
• My feelings aren't easily hurt so feel free to be as critical as you want, just as long as you forgive me if at the end of the day I decide I still like the clothing despite its flaws.

Whew. Ok, so now on to the specific photos.

Pic 1: my tightest skinnies, which are so that you can see my actual shape & know what's me & what's the trousers in the rest of the photos. Consider them a baseline.

Pic 2: my favourite trousers, as they never bag out & are super comfortable (just missing pockets). I will cry if you take these away from me, even though I know they're in a weird grey area of length & are too tapered to roll/cuff.

Pic 3: a medium grey trouser that I came across in February & was so excited about! They seemed to fit perfectly in the dressing room, but now I'm not so sure. They're nice quality (Piazza Sempione) but no pockets & do grow a bit during the day. They are very comfortable though & the colour/cut seems sophisticated. I should have taken a pic with them rolled a bit!

Pics 4 & 5: I like how these have a carrot shape and pockets and are very lightweight, but I took in the waistband last summer & clearly I've gained some weight since then. Eek to those views, both front and back! lol I can let the waistband out & see what happens, as these are clearly not wearable at the moment. The front rise is a bit low for my tastes but the back rise is higher.

Pics 6 & 7: These have pockets too & don't bag out too much. Do they and 4/5 fill the same role? If so, which should I keep?

Pics 8 & 9: These are navy with woven polka dots. I need to take the waistband in, so I quickly safety pinned them for the pics, which is the source of the odd vertical wrinkles in the front rise area. Clearly I shouldn't take them in there! They have pockets.

Pics 10 & 11: I thrifted these for when I went to the Amazon last year (& then ended up not taking them), but I thought it might be fun to try the relaxed/rolled chinos look. Is it for me? They have lots of pockets.

Pics 12 & 13: These are a medium blue with a darker 'blue willow' type of pattern on them that I love. They definitely grow during the day and have no pockets.

Pic 14: These are 100% linen so I figured if they didn't work I'd turn the fabric into handkerchiefs. I could dye them. I thrifted them maybe three years ago when all I had were formfitting skinnies & I needed a modest pair quickly, but I've never really worn them except for that one event. I forgot to take a rolled up photo. Do they have potential or not so much?

And there you have it! Thoughts? Do I have a decent collection or should I be actively hunting for replacements? Do you see obvious duplications/holes? I've stuck to tapered legs because I wear waist surrendering tops & flat shoes, but maybe I should try wide legs & go volume on volume? I definitely won't tuck in tops during the summer, as breeziness is my top priority. I do wear dresses but I almost never wear skirts during the summer, because I like skirts with fitted waistbands, which gets too hot, or with fitted tops, which are also too hot, so I wear trousers & shorts quite a bit. Anyway, what with fluid fit becoming more common, and all of my trouser fitting woes to begin with, I feel a bit clueless as to what looks alright and what doesn't anymore.