There are discoveries that change lives.
For me, it was Radiohead's music, a certain book by Celine, the adjective "callipyge", the end of Usual Suspects, grandma's tomato soup and so on, it would become too intimate. Everyone has their own particular share of revolutionary experiences for themselves. We share some of them. Like the pants that fit perfectly for example.
Until you wear one, you can't know...
When, in the overexposed space of the fitting room, you button the belt and, after a quick examination of the pants and yourself, you take your hands out of your pockets to applaud like crazy. Because finally!, you have found these pants, your pants, the ones that fit well, that fit just right, as right as a Michel Audiard line sounds.
There is a before and there is an after this moment.
What are well-fitting pants?
The venerable Yukio Akamine and his pants that fit just right. (This is a topic about pants, but we also don't forbid ourselves from examining his way of combining colors...).
It's a pair of pants that are the right length, as we talked about in a previous article , but it's also a pair that is well positioned at the waistline , where it will be most flattering for your figure, depending on your body shape.
So, the million dollar question is: is it better to go low-rise, mid-rise, high-rise, or somewhere in between?
I could tell you right away that it should be neither too high nor too low on the hips, but that wouldn't help you much, would it?
So let's start by trying to understand what it means to "flatter your figure, according to your body type".
What is a successful silhouette?
A silhouette is successful when an impression of harmony emerges when you see your outfit.
And this general harmony is, among other things, made possible by the balance between the upper and lower parts of your silhouette. This means that these two parts must be equal in their respective dimensions (head and feet included). In short, you don't want a disproportionate result.
An excessively long bust, mounted on short legs, lacks harmony.
Very long legs visually encroaching on a tiny trunk is no better.
Ok.
Look at the proportions. Everything is harmonious. The high-waisted pants balanced by the jacket establish the balance. In this way, we have an impression of length but controlled. If the jacket had been shorter, the impression of leg length would have been excessive. (Photo credits: Maomao from Styleforum)
Now, look at yourself in a mirror in your underwear. Yes, yes. Or maybe you already know: are you more of a legs person or a torso person?
Nobody is perfect. Except perfect people, of course.
Again, the one who dresses well is an illusionist who shows or conceals according to his will and for a specific purpose. Thus, if you have short legs, the game will consist to make them longer. If you have a short bust, you will have to make it appear longer so that, to the eye of the person observing you, the upper and lower parts of your silhouette are equal, or nearly so.
If we all wore gas station attendant overalls, how much easier it would be! Everyone would look their size, no more, no less, and appearances would be less deceptive.
In short, two equal parts or so, I wrote.
In this "almost" we have everything. It is the gray area that we must learn to turn to our advantage.
That's what this "approximately" contains. What makes you appear taller are your legs. You can have, like me, a long neck and a long torso, be 1m80. If your legs are short and you don't take this information into account, you will have lost. You will be remembered as less tall than this guy, who is just as tall as you, who wears pants high at the waist.
The silhouette is made up of two equal parts... but with a slight advantage for the leg length. These are well-worn pants. 😉 (Photo Credits: Men in this town)
If you are all legs, on the contrary, harmonizing the upper part with the lower part of your body will reduce the impression of your body being slender.
But how exactly to do it?
Three ways to do it
There is no secret, the way to wear pants is when the crotch is close to the penis. Okay, strange sentence I agree, but nevertheless true.
The crotch is the seam at the crotch, the point where the two legs meet. It has to be well positioned just under the sex because otherwise, it's unsightly. It's called a sarouel. And it's never done anyone any favors for their figure. I can tell you, I've worn them. Just once. To try. I was young and stupid.
Brief !
So, the crotch measurement will always remain the same if you have all your pants cut to the same length. What is more likely to change from one pair of pants to another, from one brand to another, is the length of the rise: the part that goes from the crotch to the waistband and includes the fly.
This is what you have to pay attention to.
"Low waist": very small rise, you can see the hips; "mid waist": moderate rise, this is the most common nowadays (the crotch is normally a little lower than here); "high waist": the waistband is at navel level, the rise is long.
There are also of course pants that hug the natural waist (higher than the navel). These are the real high waists from a tailoring point of view.
James Stewart wearing high-waisted pants in the tailored sense of the word. That's a lot of fabric...
But to speak in contemporary language, let us stick to this diagram and the three versions it offers.
I would like to point out that these three ways of wearing pants are only indicative. There are not three, there are a thousand! And a thousand more! But these are the paradigms that we can take in order to understand each other here.
When you have more legs than bust...
...and that we are rather tall
Here are some chinos worn rather low or medium waisted. If you have long legs and are tall, this is the solution. Visually, it lengthens the bust. It reduces the impression of height. (Photo Credits: The Sartorialist)
Visually, you need to lengthen the bust and shorten the legs . To do this:
- Choose a low waist.
- Choose pants that don't break or break slightly.
- Do not wear short jackets (they should cover your buttocks instead).
- Pay attention to the sleeves of your shirts, sweaters, jackets which should not appear too short.
- For mismatched outfits, opt for dark on the bottom and light on the top.
...and that we are rather small
Visually, you need to highlight this leg length but not overly accentuate it :
- Mid-rise pants will pay tribute to them.
- It should be fairly short or straight with no breakage.
When you have more bust than legs...
I don't know his height, but he does everything to look taller: high-waisted pants, short cut, high cuffs on the bust.
...and that we are rather tall
Well, what you need to do is rebalance your figure :
- Choose a high waist.
- The length of your pants should not be too short but not too short either. It is a good idea to have them fall straight without breaking.
...and that we are rather small
It's a bit more problematic here:
- You need a high waist, that's for sure.
- The pants should be short (at least fall straight without any break).
- Opt for short jackets.
- If you wear a jacket, it shouldn't be too long. But too short is counterproductive. It needs to stop at just the right length to balance the two masses top/bottom.
The principle is not difficult to grasp.
A silhouette must be easily readable by the person looking at you. Therefore, the two parts that compose it (the top and the bottom) must not be disproportionate. Thus, depending on your morphology and the natural distribution of your body between these two parts, you must rebalance in a certain way.
Friend Kamoshita is a good student. His pants are medium-sized.
If you are of average to tall height and your bust and legs are well balanced: do as you please (as long as you don't opt for a low rise). The low rise, in fact, serves to shorten the long legs of tall gentlemen.
The medium size is easy to wear for most people.
When you have a big belly
I'm talking about those who really have a big belly. I insist. Because the others, those who have a little, know very well how to accommodate themselves to the pants that you find ready-to-wear.
In the past, when pot-bellied men went to the tailor, the tailor would make trousers at the natural waistline that these men wore with suspenders. One thinks of Hitchcock, Churchill or even Oliver Hardy of the comedy duo Laurel and Hardy.
Pappy O'Daniel's character, in the foreground, in the Coen brothers' O'Brother. The plot takes place in the 1930s in the United States.
This silhouette being quite dated, it is appropriate nowadays to use a slightly less radical method: high-waisted pants at the back and low at the front. That is to say, pants with a biased waistband.
When you really have a belly, it's clear that the perfect pair of pants can be found in a tailor's workshop. If you have the budget, the time and a tailor nearby, it's likely that they will become your favorite pants.
The case of jeans
Yes, some jeans will fit you better than others depending on the rise length . But if you are petite with short legs and can't find high-waisted jeans, it's not really a problem.
Sure, you'll look a little short, but that's the silhouette you get from wearing jeans. Nothing too shocking.
If you want a James Dean look, 501s up to your belly button, white t-shirt with a pocket tucked into your jeans, anger in your belly, that's totally possible too.
In short, we readily forgive a person for jeans that are ill-suited to their body shape , rather than dress pants, because the former is less rare and its style codes more loose.
Straight jeans, worn James Dean style. (Photo Credit: Garcon Jon)
And I have to say that I don't particularly like denim fabric that has been cut into the shape of pleated, pleated dress pants. In my humble opinion, it doesn't work. There's too much study, too much care given to a fabric that's meant to be rebellious, nonchalant, even neglected.
But still: run away from low-rise jeans, you fools ! Unless you're a giant with giant legs.
The final word...
It must be said that once you find the right pair of pants, you feel like piling up all the pants you've ever worn in a dumpster, setting them on fire, and watching the flames of truth feast on the wool and cotton skin of these poorly cut traitors.
Otherwise, if you are one of those people who have what is called "greatness of soul", tell yourself that that's life and move on. Each to their own style.
Because then we realize with discernment that all these pants that seemed to do the job are in fact cut admirably for people who are cut differently.
The good news is that from this blessed day on, a very cheeky future opens up to you. Because from now on, you will know the difference between a pair of pants that fits you and one that would look better on someone else. And that is still a big advantage over most people.
