The Great Cropped Debate

She could wear no wrong...

About this time of year, every year, we see cropped pants for sale. No one ever declares "This is The Year of the Cropped", but every spring, like mosquitoes in Texas, they come back. As if finding pants weren't hard enough, what exactly is meant by cropped only adds to the dilemma.

Fall and winter cropped pants are a novelty, usually shown with tall boots or boots and tights, so never a broken line. In summer your actual legs come into play. While cropped pants easily flatter long limbs, the rest of us can wear them too. The trick is the ratio of length to width to limb. Simple, like trigonometry.  

Another season, another look...

As with hemlines, the length of pants in favor at the moment may vary. And like hemlines today, there is no one "right" length. The length depends most on the cut of the pant itself, what the designer intended and what suits you best.

A quick recap on basic pants styles:

STRAIGHT-LEG: Straight-legs hang straight from the hip, which can result in a slightly fuller leg, more so if the pants are pleated. I know what you're thinking, but pleated pants are making a comeback. They should hang straight to the top of your foot. In other words, with no drape. 
BEST FOR: Everyone and those with legs thinner in proportion to torso

The classic menswear cut

WIDE-LEG: It's important to determine what shoes you will wear with wide-legs. They should be as long as possible without tripping you up—about 1/2" from the floor. The pants legs will be wide enough to hang straight with maybe a slight drape.
BEST FOR: Everyone and those with heavier thighs

Wide-leg but safe

PALAZZO: Palazzo pants are super wide and usually made from a soft, drapey fabric with a tendency to move as you do. One assumes you won't be a moving a lot in palazzos as they are more decorative than practical. As the recipient of a hairline fracture while wearing palazzo pants, I know what I'm talking about.
BEST FOR: Those who love to look dramatic and enjoy swanning about. In other words, an affectation no matter your physical characteristics

Dangerously wide

SKINNY-LEG: A skinny-leg pant stops just at or short of the ankle. They sometimes have a slit at the hem side seam for ease in putting on and taking off. A skinny-leg pant should be your choice when wearing an overblouse or tunic top.
BEST FOR: Those with slim legs and thighs

Now to harvest the crops...

Cardinal rule: For obvious reasons never depend on the photo of a model for what the pants length will look like on you. 

A CROPPED STRAIGHT-LEG at one time might be called clam diggers, self-explanatory if you are digging for shellfish—although I couldn't find one photo of someone wearing them while clamming.
BEST FOR: Everyone—a universally flattering cropped pant 

Clam diggers w/o the clams

 A CROPPED SKINNY-LEG was known as pedal pushers or Capris back in the day. Today these are more likely just called "crops".
BEST FOR: Those with slim legs, thighs AND ankles

Stylishly pushing those pedals

WIDE-LEG CROPS are the trickiest to get right. The best rule-of-thumb is a wide-leg crop should fall slighter above your ankle, otherwise you will look like you are suspended by toothpicks. This is, obviously, tricky to determine without trying them on.
BEST FOR: Everyone, including petites, and those with heavier thighs. 

 

Wide-leg crops

Shorter than that and wide-leg crops become culottes. They can even be as wide as palazzo pants. Culottes are more often out of fashion than in, which is probably a good thing.
BEST FOR: Those who don't give a damn but not petites

Most unflattering pant ever?

Shorts are not cropped pants. They have their own criteria, but since I no longer wear them I don't care.

Not pants here

Petites do have one advantage over others: If you are 5'4" or under and adamantly don't want a cropped pant, but you like everything else, try the same pant in its "regular" option. You may have to go down a size for the best fit, but nobody minds doing that, right?

I Laughed When I Saw This...

...but then I didn't. 

The jelly (pliable plastic) sandal by Chloe that I saw in a recent Harper's Bazaar sells for $590. I laughed, not only at the price, but because it seems to be more foot than shoe.

Of course I had to right away search whether anyone's knocked it off yet, and of course they have. And if I must admit, the cheaper version looks more graceful.

This, by Jeffrey Campbell, is $60.

They both come in a few standard jelly colors, although the Chloe version is more translucent.

Which would you rather buy? Neither? Me too.

 

 

Cheers to the Future of Shopping?

Neiman's Bubbly Vending Machine

Saks Fifth Avenue bought the ailing Neiman Marcus in December 2024 and immediately closed the flagship store in downtown Dallas. This sent shock waves through Texas, which, as you know, is a very big state. It's not like there was much business. Shoppers prefer the Neiman's in North Park Center, Dallas' biggest and most upscale retail destination. 

Here in Houston there has not been a department store downtown since the mid-priced Foley's closed in 2013 (after becoming a Macy's in 2006). Ironically that Foley's was the last downtown American department store built from the ground up (1947).

Worthy of its own postcard

There are still 35 Neiman Marcus locations nationwide, and one is in Houston's Galleria Mall. I went there on Saturday for lunch. Neiman's still has a restaurant, "Mariposa", on the third floor, tucked between Better Sportswear and Children's Wear. My friend and I both grew up with mothers who loved nothing more than a nice department store lunch, often with their daughters in tow. Our mothers didn't know each other, but we suspect they would have been friends as well.

On the first floor, heading to the escalator, I passed a Moet & Chandon vending machine dispensing splits of Brut ($27) and Rose´ ($35), maximum 2 bottles per person, must be consumed on premises. I didn't see glasses, but I presume they would somehow be dispensed. I can't imagine they would be dispensed with.

On the second floor landing was a more conventionally stocked bar, the vending achieved by an associate. 

It's pretty clear what is happening here.

Many moons ago, when I worked at Nordstrom in this same mall, there were exclusive evening shopping hours for their high rollers. Entry was by invitation only, soft music permeated the store from the in-house pianist, complimentary hot and cold hors d'oeuvres were passed by uniformed waiters as was gratis liquor. The later the hour, the more had been consumed and imbibed, the greater the sales. I was told the sound of cash registers ca-ching-ing may have drowned out the piano.

I was never assigned to sell on those nights. Nordstrom associates worked on commission, and there were high rollers in that group too. But I often worked the next day or days after. That's when the returns came in. Buyer's remorse. Most likely very relaxed, slightly blitzed buyers.

Of course the booze makes you linger longer and open your pocketbook wider. Neiman's is making you pay for the booze, but the idea's the same.

The retail world has been waiting to see how Saks will navigate Neiman's recovery and how they will deal with malls, such as Houston's, where there is also a Saks. A former Neiman's executive doesn't think it makes sense to have both “unless you’re going to push one more toward accessible luxury and one toward pure luxury.”  

So what's the definition of accessible luxury, and what's pure luxury??? A question for another time...