Musings
an Online Journal of Sorts

By Alyce Wilson

A particularly bad fit from 2001 near
my top weight

I still buy clothes in consignment and thrift stores, but I have a harder and harder time finding things that look the way I want and fit me properly, so I find myself investing more and more in new clothes from department and clothing stores.

One of the things I've never been able to find in thrift stores is pants. Although shopping for new pants isn't easy either. Until recently, I don't think I've ever owned a pair of pants that fit properly. This is mostly because I didn't have a clue what I was doing.

I never believed my dad when he told me I have long legs, because I always thought that meant, say, a Swedish bikini model, and I'm definitely not one of them. I'm average height, but apparently a good portion of that is legs and hips.

There's little photographic evidence, since my parents rarely took full-length shots, so I'm not certain I even had pants that fit properly when I was a kid. This might be partially because of my mom, who is petite and who sometimes hemmed up my pants the same way she had to do with hers, apparently never noticing where they fell on my shoe.

Let me just say that those of us who were young in the 1980s grew up with a disadvantage. The very styles that were popular in those days are the styles that are least flattering on the human body, unless you're a European rock star. And even then. I mean, high-waisted, pleated pants? Frosted peg leg jeans? What were we thinking?

Not that today doesn't also have its culprits. Consider the low-rider pants all the teens wear. Few of them have the abs to pull it off, so that it just accentuates their soft bellies, which roll out over the jeans, like baby beer guts.

Or, for example, the stretch fabric that appears everywhere, so that women wear pants far too tight. They justify it by saying, "Hey, I can button them." The sign of your pants fitting too tight is if they wrinkle in the back when you move.

I didn't know this, and since I'd lost a lot of weight over the past several years, I'd started wearing some tighter pants, thinking it would show off my shape. I now realize it wasn't doing anything for me.

Not to mention cropped pants and capris. There are a variety of lengths, making it that much harder to find one that will work. If they're too long, they end up looking like floods. If they're too tight, they make your legs look like sausages. And if paired with clunky shoes, they look really awkward.

I was first alerted to my fitting problem last winter when I was wearing a pair of tan corduroys I'd just bought at the Burlington Coat Factory. The Gryphon asked me if they were cropped pants.

"No, they're not supposed to be," I said. Come to think of it, they did feel a bit short on me.

It was also this past winter that I got hooked on TLC's makeover shows, such as What Not to Wear and the now defunct A Makeover Story. I began to notice that the desired fit was for the pant leg to go down the back of the heel, almost to the floor, or grazing the floor if you planned to wear heels with them. That's when I realized that I'd only had a couple pairs of pants in my life that were that long.

This past weekend I went on a quest for pants, since I knew that cooler weather is coming. It turns out they were having a sale at the first store I entered, New York & Company. Because of the run on pants, I had to do a lot of looking to find pants that were the proper cut, size, color and material. I need straight leg pants, which will deemphasize my hips and thighs, rather than closely fitted pants that would emphasize them. After trying on several pairs, I managed to find two pairs that looked nice, fit properly and were comfortable.

The color this season is black, which is a problem for me. I live with two light-colored pets, a golden dog and a white kitty, and I work at home so spend most of my time in or around the house. I did buy one pair of black pants, but I chose a material that's not as likely to attract pet hairs. I also got a pair in charcoal.

I stopped then at JCPenney, hoping to find a pair of chocolate brown pants to replace the ones I'd worn last winter, which had too high of a waist for me and not enough room in the legs. One of the brands, Worthington, had an interesting way of indicating three different fits for their pants.

They have three basic fits, named after famous actresses. The first is the Audrey, after Audrey Hepburn, which sit at the natural waist and have a slimmer fit.

The second is the Marilyn, after Marilyn Monroe, which sit an inch below the natural waist and are relaxed through the hips and thighs.

Then is the Katherine, named after Katharine Hepburn, which sit slightly above the natural waist.

I, of course, tried on a pair of chocolate brown pants in the Marilyn fit, and they worked perfectly.

So, along with a pair of dark wash, mid-rise, straight leg Tommy Hilfiger jeans I bought at Marshall's earlier that week, I am now set for pants. That is, until cold winter weather hits and another wardrobe update becomes necessary. Hopefully, that won't be for awhile!

Copyright 2006 by Alyce Wilson

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