The story of how I fell in love with Popeye pants.
I didn’t want to like them, much less love them. But then, in that cozy lighting of the Nordstrom dressing room, it happened. I fell for the pants with the most difficult (read: potentially ugly) cut to pull off. Cropped. Wide-leg. Jeans.
This new trend – cropped jeans with a wide leg – would normally send me running for the hills. Being short and with hips (my friends tell me I have solid Portuguese-stock breeding hips), I generally avoid anything cropped and voluminous. It doesn’t look elegant on my body; more importantly, it doesn’t feel good on my body.
Dressing well, at least for me, is a matter of understanding the lines of your body and creating silhouettes and shapes that feel good to you. And, at least at first glance, these jeans shouldn’t create nice lines. The large leg and short length just don’t seem conducive to that sort of thing.
And then … these pants happened.
| Tank also from Topshop here | Kitten-heel mules here (on mega sale!), similar here | Bag from Kate Spade, similar here, here, or on sale here
You know that feeling of slipping into a new pair of jeans, and the fabric slides over your skin as you shimmy into them, and at every inch you think, “well, it’s going ok now, but as soon as I get these over my hips I’ll see that they don’t work”?
But you keep pulling those suckers on over your butt and hips and you get that button buttoned and zip that zipper and the angels sing and you don’t know how, but the sun has began to shine in the dressing room and the harps are strumming while you do that dance of “my God, I am truly thankful for even the most minor of miracles”? Is there an Our Lady of Jeans?
You know, that feeling?
Well, that’s what happened with me and what I now lovingly call my Popeye pants (take a gander at Google results for Robin William’s Popeye and you’ll see what I mean).
It is ALL about fit.
So, why exactly do I like these seemingly ugly pants? It’s simple. They fit me, and they fit well. The waist is high, hitting right at the smallest part of my waist which assists the blunt lines of the short hem and wide leg. And, more importantly, they just felt good – so I bought them (actually, my very generous and understanding mother did J ) and I am so glad.
What to wear with your cropped jeans:
It’s best to look for clean and simple lines in choosing your top and accessories. This way, the focus is on your badass jeans and how cute your booty looks and how they set off your sparkling personality.
A week or so back, Rodrigo and I grabbed some coffee at the original Peet’s Coffee in Berkeley. It’s very unassuming, with no special markings other than a small sign next to the door. They are much too cool to be bothered with any fancy markings. Anyhoo, I paired the cropped jeans with a white, slightly cropped tank (so that it fell right at the waist). I went for simple gold accessories and called it a day.
Although … it’s worth mentioning the shoes. I love them. I call them my Portuguese Cinderella shoes because they have the classic Portuguese tile embroidered on the toe box. They elongate the toe, and therefore the whole leg. And they are comfy. Win-win.
Thoughts? Are wide-leg cropped pants your thing or do they make you cringe?
If you’d like more daytime outfit inspo, check out our Rose Garden date.
Love
Stig
Product List:
- Topshop pants here
- Tank also from Topshop here
- Kitten-heel mules here (on mega sale!), similar here
- Bag from Kate Spade, similar here, here, or on sale here
