147/ OK, I Admit It...I Need Pants.
...so I ordered 12 pairs: what I chose, what I kept and returned, and why.
Dear readers,
If you’ve followed me for a while, you’ll know my wardrobe is heavy on skirts, and light on trousers and jeans. More often than not, I’ll wear a skirt to work and for day-to-day, skip right over jeans and on to sweatpants. Far from feeling like I’ve “given up and can’t compete in normal society,” I’ve found many delightful ways to dress them up in outfits I feel great in:
The balance in my wardrobe — and lack of trousers — has worked well for me…until recently, that is. After two alarmingly mild winters, we’ve had the frigid, snow-blanketed, and blindingly sunny kind of month that I remember from childhood.
In my effort to stay warm, I repeatedly eschewed my skirts in favour of jeans and joggers — leading me to realize I wouldn’t mind having unfussy, everyday bottoms that aren’t sweatpants AND that I was excited about wearing, i.e. not jeans. I have three pairs of trousers that I’ve had since pre-COVID which I like, but don’t reach for regularly. Maybe because they feel too dressy? Could there be a trouser-like pant out there that reads more casual but still feels elevated and polished?
Why does this gap exist in my closet? Well, it’s partly because I prefer fabrics other than denim, and that my lifestyle doesn’t require me to wear formal trousers. While both are true, when I’m honest with myself, I also know that I avoid pants because they trigger insecurities in me.
I’ve mentioned here before that my midsection fluctuates substantially throughout the day/month/year, and it’s frustrating to reach for a pant to find it doesn’t fit half of the time. Over the years I’ve learned to dress around this with looser tops, roomier bottoms, and forgiving waistbands.
Then there’s the length issue, especially for wide-leg pants. With my long torso, I tend to feel like the figure on the right:
For me, the proportions of my outfit feel off when I wear wide leg pants, and as I wrote here, proportion is the first thing I look at when putting an outfit together:
People often ask me if they can wear wide leg pants if they’re petite, and I absolutely think you can. Not feeling overwhelmed in wide leg pants has less to do with absolute height and more about vertical balance. In general, I think wide leg pants feel best on people with relatively shorter torsos and longer legs (figure at above left). If that’s not you, there are ways to workaround it: wearing higher rises, roomier hips, taller heels, etc…
For clients, pants are usually the hardest piece to get right, and that’s 100% true for me too. It’s crazy to think that I spend so much time focusing on inseam / rise / waist / hips / length measurements to get fit right for clients — whatever their shape — but just haven’t wanted to deal with it for myself.
But dear reader, the time has come. Last week, I bit the bullet and turned to the sale section of Montreal-based retailer SSENSE and ordered 12 pairs of pants that could potentially fill the gap. Like a previous sale try-on, I thought it would be helpful to walk you through my thought process on why I ordered the pieces I did, as well as the reasoning behind what I kept and returned. My hope is that my analysis will help you as you think through your own buying decisions.
The intention of this newsletter isn’t to suggest that you should or shouldn’t buy these particular pants. We’re all in different stages of building our wardrobes, live in different climates and have different lifestyles. Assessing what you want or need will depend on the unique facts of your life. I encourage you to refer to Five Questions I Ask Myself Before I Buy Anything, as well as my Foundational Wardrobe series (Parts 1, 2 & 3).
I’ve broken down my try-ons into four categories: 1) an easy “yes,” 2) an easy “no,” 3) maybes that became a “no,” and 4) maybes that became a “yes”. I also wore the same top and shoe with each trouser so you’re not influenced by the styling.
Easy “Yes”
Needles W.U. Straight Trousers
Immediate yes to these pants. These drawstring, elastic-waist trousers by Needles remind me of Tibi’s Active Knit Scottie Jogger, but crucially for me, they’re slimmer and shorter, so I’m not overwhelmed by their width and length. I find that the puddle of wide leg pants make my outfits feel too bottom heavy, and I also can’t deal with a hem dragging on the ground. The forgiving waist means that I can handle a lower rise than I normally prefer to wear.
I also tried these pants on in khaki, and almost considering taking both, but changed my mind at the last minute.