A rookie mistake: the petite chinos
April 16, 2011
A perhaps silent resolution on the subject of clothing has been breached.
After being introduced to the world of petite bloggers, I’ve continued to follow them fairly regularly, Alterations Needed, Jean at Extra Petite, to admire their forays into fashion, not to copy as I’d not quite be able to pull off for either PF or charismatic fortitude, but to learn from their self-editing and creativity.
As they’ve pointed out at time or two to a fairly clueless, probably troll, commenter, the offerings available to the petite community are limited and so what they share with each other is then taken across the petite blogosphere to become part of each woman’s own style. It’s really fascinating how one piece of clothing can be worn so uniquely and well when someone has a sense of how to style oneself.
*looks at self*
This is not the case. *waves hand* Hereabouts.
Since entering this community, though I hadn’t much to share of my own, I had resolved to learn what I could and the first lesson was to stop buying clothes that almost fit or was close enough in regular sizes. I’ve been really good about that.
The thing I’ve been total crap at is putting pieces of clothing together that don’t just say: BLAH. This partly stems from lack of creativity and from buying clothes that look fine by themselves but having no vision of how to wear them in outfits.
It’s taken me all year to stop just wearing a standard uniform of: button down shirt, trousers, plus a sweater and flats. I’ve been practicing really really hard this past month to try and create outfits: combining different layers of shirts and blazers (I only own two with odd length sleeves). For about two weeks, I did do a decent job with that.
But I’ve gone and done set myself up for failure again.
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| My shoes and I aren’t so fashion-forward. And the pants aren’t actually long enough to do THAT. |
I needed a pair of more casual pants for the weekend that weren’t jeans.
When J.Crew had their chinos on sale, knowing that I wanted something practical, I ordered some to try on for size. They’re practical, durable material. They’re like workman pants. I can do home reno projects in them, I bet.
But they’re straight, almost tapered leg, hit me just above the ankle so I can only wear them with maybe .. flats? Certainly not my sneakers which are few inches off the ground. These’d look like high waters. And they gap in the back a few inches (hello memories of regular sizing!)
Hm. I really want to keep them but I think this sounds like it should be returned, doesn’t it?
I really do need a shopping buddy for these less fun clothing items!
Those would work if you wore really high heels or had ostrich legs.
Tapered pants in my opinion, do not do any favours for anyone but supermodels and ostriches 🙂
If you want casual pants that aren’t jeans, go for straight-legged chinos that are hemmed to skim the ground so you can wear flats with them.
I need a shopping buddy, too! Wish I could hire one of the petite bloggers to be my fashion consultant since I feel like I have a blah wardrobe and I’m also extremely petite. 🙂
And I agree with FB re: tapered pants.
If you don’t think it looks good, don’t keep it. But straight leg chinos, khakis, and non-blue denim would be a good investment that still looks casual and put together.
I’m a secret sneaker lover, so I wear bootcut pants with my sneakers so they match better. When it comes to clothes, we all make mistakes but as long as we learn and grow from them, them we can become better at it. =)
Why not ask one of the salespeople at Banana or Nordstroms to help style you? The service is free and they receive training–at least at Nords.
I’m not a fashion person, but for what it is worth, I like tapered/skinny pants.
I do agree that the sales people at the stores can sometimes be helpful. My problem with them is the almost never pull sale items, and often offer things way out of budget.
In conclusion… I’m no help! But if you don’t love them, return them. You can do better. Good luck!
Maybe you could roll them up so they’re calf length (assuming you like calf-length pants and they flatter you–I like them but not how they look on my calves) and wear them with flats. That way, it looks deliberate and not like you’re wearing highwaters.
Or if you’ve got the frame and spirit of Audrey Hepburn, just rock the pants with flats a la “Funny Face.”