Cropped pants, cuffs, and the psychology of fashion

July 28, 2023July 27, 2023 / edebock / 3 Comments

I’ve always been very particular about the length of my pants. From the time I was a child, I’ve loved wearing capri pants, or pedal pushers as we called them way back then. On the other hand, I’ve never liked wearing cropped pants. They look great on other women, but they feel all wrong on me.

The difference between capris and crops is simply a matter of a few inches. Capris end at the calf and crops fall 2 to 4 inches above the ankle bone. They’re a great way to show off your ankles, cute shoes or booties, or even a fun pair of socks, but I just can’t convince myself to wear them.

Why is that? Why such an aversion to something that is admittedly stylish and cute? I think it has to do with the fact that I have long legs and back in the day when I was young and terribly self-conscious, I often had trouble finding pants that were long enough. The thought of being mocked for wearing pants that were too short horrified me. Pedal pushers were intentionally short. Everyone knew that. I could wear them and fit in, but cropped pants were not a thing back then.

This summer, I’ve discovered something odd. I have 3 pairs of summer pants that are designed to be worn either full length or with the cuffs rolled up which essentially makes them the same length as cropped pants. Those, I love wearing! Again, I have to ask myself why and again, I go back to my early memories of growing up on the waterfront. When we played on the beach and waded in the tidal pools, it was natural to roll up our cuffs to keep them dry. Now, when I wear my cuffs rolled up, that carefree feeling of childhood play is what comes to mind!

Amazingly, how we dressed as a child or the fears that we might have had back then about not fitting in can affect the way we dress and shop for clothing decades later. Can you think of any examples from your own life?

Capri pants… flattering or frumpy?

May 27, 2022May 26, 2022 / edebock / 8 Comments

One of the bloggers that I follow recently wrote a post listing several items that she thinks women over 50 should eliminate from their wardrobes. She used words like frumpy, dowdy, and matronly to describe how she thinks these items make us look. First on her list was capri pants! Several readers agreed with her, but I most definitely do not! Capris are easily my favourite summer pants.

To be fair, I should mention that the blogger in question did specify that “capri pants that end at the widest part of your calf, are unflattering and can look dowdy.” Capris come in a variety of lengths and widths and a few inches can make a big difference to how flattering they look. A tapered pair that ends either just above or just below the widest part of your calf will look much more flattering than a wider, baggy pair or one that ends at the widest point.

Capris are still very much in style for 2022 and those of us who wear them find them to be very versatile. They can be worn with heels or flats and dressed up or down depending on what you wear them with. The downside to capri pants is that they can make your legs appear shorter which is particularly challenging for women whose legs are already proportionately short. One easy way to overcome this is to tuck your top into your pants. Personally though, since I’ve been blessed with long legs, I prefer to wear a longer top that skims over and hides my muffin top!

Everything that I’m wearing in both these photos is old and has appeared on the blog before. The nice thing about living where we have distinct seasonal changes is that we have something “new” to wear twice a year! I always look forward to bringing my capris out of storage in the spring.

Do you wear capri pants? Do you consider them flattering or a fashion faux pas?

Dream jeans

August 6, 2021July 30, 2021 / edebock / 2 Comments

When I spotted these yellow capri length jeans in one of our local thrift stores, I immediately recalled a message that I received from my daughter a few months ago.

I had a ridiculous dream that you were in last night. We went shopping together and you tried on this pair of bright yellow skinny jeans. They looked fantastic on you, but you weren’t sure you wanted bright yellow jeans. So I thought I’d just carry them while we looked around this HUGE store more, and then forgot I had them. You left before I did and then after I’d left the store I realized I was still carrying, and had accidentally shoplifted, these jeans! So the rest of the dream was me trying to sneak them back into the store without getting caught! But then I wandered the store for a long time, still with the jeans, trying to decide if I should just buy them for you! hahahaha!

I’m not a great believer in dreams, but this one seemed to be telling me something! I’ve never worn yellow pants before, but I had to at least try them on! They fit perfectly and at $2.50 they were pretty much a steal, so now they’re mine.

Of course, once I got them home, the challenge was to style them with pieces that were already in my closet. I was surprised to find out how many tops I had that looked good with yellow! In these photos I’ve styled the pants with a sleeveless top that was also thrifted. Though black and white tend to look too harsh on me, the overall geometric pattern gives the appearance of a softer grey which is much more flattering to my complexion.

I had hoped to show you one or two other combinations as well, but we had a very difficult time getting quality photos for this post. At the time when these were taken, the air was full of smoke from distant wildfires which affected the lighting quite drastically. These were the best we got, so I decided to go with them in spite of the fact that the pants are actually a bit brighter than they appear here. Poor hubby, who had hardly ever had a camera in his hands until I added Fashion Friday to my blog, is my willing and patient accomplice, but I can only ask so much of him!

Back in business, but without a fitting room

July 10, 2020July 9, 2020 / edebock / 3 Comments

Our local thrift store reopened on Tuesday. My main reason for going in that afternoon was to drop off a load of things that I’d sorted out of my closet, the storage room, and the kitchen cupboards over the past few months. I also wanted to see if I could find some more books to read because I’d finished most of the ones I picked up prior to Covid-19. Of course, I couldn’t be in the store for the first time in over four months and not take at least a quick look at the clothes too!

Almost immediately, I spied a cute pair of Simon Chang capri pants. They looked like they might be the right size, but as I’ve mentioned before, I have a hard time finding pants that fit my boyish figure. If they fit at the waist, they often bag at the hips. If the hips fit properly, they’re too tight at the waist. Like many stores, however, there were some restrictions in place due to the pandemic and the fitting room was closed. Should I buy the pants anyway? At just $3, what did I have to lose? There are no refunds, but if they didn’t fit I could simply donate them back.

OR… I could try them on anyway! That’s right. Savvy thrift store shoppers know that not every second-hand store has a fitting room, though most of them do. As I mentioned in a post entitled 18 Tips for Successful Thrift Store Shopping, if you have to try things on in the aisles, you want to be able to do it easily and modestly, so it’s a good idea to dress with that in mind. Even if there is a dressing room available, wearing leggings, a cami, and slip on shoes makes trying things on a breeze, but on Tuesday I hadn’t come prepared. I was wearing pants, not leggings. How could I try on those cute capris?

I wouldn’t do this in a regular retail store, but I simply took those pants over to the circular rack of skirts and dresses which is up against one wall of the store and found a long skirt with an elastic waist. Standing where I was largely out of view, I slipped it on over my pants, and you guessed it… I discretely removed my pants from beneath the skirt and pulled on the capris! There weren’t many shoppers in the store at the time and I don’t think anyone even noticed. Sometimes unusual times call for unusual measures!

The pull-on capris are made of a very comfortable stretch fabric with a nice wide waistband, but it was the tiny polka dots that attracted my attention. Polka dots are very much on trend this season and I’ve been wanting to add some to my wardrobe.

I’m wearing my new pants with one of my brightly coloured golf shirts, my Nordgreen watch with it’s navy leather band, and a pair of Naturalizer sandals that I’ve had for years.

HOOFING IT Across Canada update:

I’ve walked 22.99 kilometres since starting the challenge on July 1st and thanks to many generous donors, I’m slightly over half way to my fundraising goal of $1500 for neuroendocrine cancer research.

Capris by any other name

May 27, 2016May 25, 2016 / edebock / 5 Comments

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When I was a child in the 1950s and early 60s, they were called pedal pushers. I had no idea at the time that the name was derived from the style of pants worn by cyclists which was, of course, quite different from the padded spandex shorts worn by serious cyclists today.

I also remember them being called clam diggers or deck pants, both names that made perfect sense to this coastal girl. After all, who would want to swab a deck or dig clams with pant legs flopping around your ankles and getting wet and dirty?

It wasn’t until I was a little older that I learned to refer to them as capris. Apparently that name also originated in the 1950s though. It was taken from the Italian island of Capri where the pants rose to popularity in the late 1950s and early ’60s. The island was emerging as a popular European holiday destination at that time and American actress, Grace Kelly, was amongst the first to wear the new style there.

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Capris, by one name or another, have been an enduring trend ever since, but the style has evolved over time. Though some use the term as a catch-all for any pant that is longer than shorts, but not full length, the dictionary defines them this way:

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Though I’ve finally started wearing crop pants and I do occasionally wear shorts, capris are easily my favourite summer pants. A tapered pair that ends just above the widest part of the calf is much more flattering than a wider, baggy pair or one that ends at the widest point. Capris are very versatile. They can be worn with heels or flats and dressed up or down depending on what you wear them with.

Here I’m wearing a favourite denim pair that are a couple of years old. I paired them with a t-shirt from Ricki’s that has also been part of my summer wardrobe for the past few years worn over a white camisole. Though it doesn’t show up well in the photos, a bit of bling on the t-shirt takes it from boring to attractive. I’m also wearing my super comfortable flats from Payless ShoeSource with their memory foam inner soles. This simple, casual look was perfect for wearing to a fun / sports day at my grandson’s elementary school.

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