Getting the length right
Getting the length right…
This post goes hand in hand with my previous post on footwear but is often another reason why your outfits can feel slightly off…. So here are a few guidelines:
The ankle length trouser/jean
Whether this is a tailored trouser or a straight leg jean, a barrel or a boyfriend/carrot then it is very often the case that you need this to sit at the top of your ankle bone or a touch higher. The reason for this is that you do often need with these styles to expose the slimmer part of your ankle. It is less of an issue with a lower fronted shoe like a ballet pump but the length of your bottoms is particularly crucial when you are wearing these with a shoe that comes higher up the foot like a loafer. And even more so with a trainer which sits even high up the foot. Having a gap between the top of the trainer and the bottom of the trouser/jean will often make all the difference.
I spend a lot of time when I am with clients, showing them the difference a few cms taken off the bottom of their slimmer legged trousers can make to the overall look. So I would encourage you to play around with the lengths of these shorter styles and find the sweet spot that works for you with all your footwear.
And if you are petite, showing your ankles is a good idea in much the same way as showing wrists.
Full length trousers or jeans
This is exactly what they should be – full length and more or less touching the floor when you have on your shoes/boots etc. You don’t want a wide leg trouser or jean that swings around and is neither one length or another. It may mean that you have to make the decision that the bottom either works with flats/trainers or is right with any heeled styles you have. However, this can often be where a flatform trainer is useful as it allows you to have one length which you can wear with both.
Cropped lengths
Beware styles that are too short because not only will these visually shorten the legs, they may also hit at an unhelpful point for pairing with footwear. As above, I’d go for a touch above the ankle bone.
Dresses and skirts
This is the other area people can struggle with and feel they have footwear issues …. but really it is actually really a length of the skirt or dress that is the problem. I think the term ‘midi’ is a little misleading because you often don’t want a skirt or dress that hits at the mid point of your calf. Firstly, because this will be the widest part of the lower leg so generally you don’t want to put a horizontal line there. But secondly because that will leave you in a funny no-man’s land. A knee high boot can be the solution here but so too is looking for dress/skirt styles that are actually longer, and finish much lower down the leg. This is often trickiest to get right when you are taller – less of an issue when you are short like me as you can always take up a hem but trickier to let it down! But you are aiming to have the neatest part of your ankle visible but not a whole lot more. As with your trousers, it is worthwhile playing around with this in the mirror to see what works.
If you would like to see a few visual examples of this then have a look at this old reel which should hopefully demonstrate visually what I have tried to articulate!
4 Comments
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Claire Lopez
Impossible to say without seeing but it might be to do with the colour balance of the outfit as a whole and what you have on your top half. Maybe they are also a different style and sit higher up your foot as not all loafers are the same..
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Lara
This is really helpful but then I’m stuck with getting the right overcoat length with trousers and skirts. Especially if wide leg. Should the coat be full length like a skirt? A lot of retailers seem to show mid calf so im confused. Any help appreciated. Tnx
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Claire Lopez
Good point – should have covered this too. It depends on the style of the trousers/dress/skirt in all honesty. So a wide leg style needs a longer length coat in the same way as a longer dress and skirt do. Ideally with your dresses and skirts you want the coat to be a similar length and not too big a difference between the hems. If you have a slimmer leg trouser then a shorter coat is fine.
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Lucy Ludwig
Brilliant explanation. Have bought dark brown suede loafers from H&M twice now and have sent them back as I just couldn’t get them to work. I thought it was the heaviness of the dark chocolate brown colour but it could well have been the jeans I was trying them with. Both my M&S horseshoe and carrot (light denim and black) didn’t work with them. Interestingly though all my other loafers, burgundy, tan and silver do go. Confused!