Your Stylist: Cute and cropped pants for spring
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Image stylist and market editor Melissa Magsaysay soothes your sartorial woes in the weekly Your Stylist post.
In this installment of Your Stylist, we address another trend in denim besides the ‘70s-style flare. Cropped, 1950s-length pants, à la gamine Audrey Hepburn, are as big a trend as bell bottoms this season, and they’re chic and feminine.
Brands such as Current Elliott, MiH Jeans, J Brand and James Jeans are making obviously cropped-length pants that look great with a demure ballet flat or a low kitten heel.
Current Elliott is making a style called the Pony Boy crop that is unmistakably above the ankle. The length looks so great with a nautical striped top, slouchy T-shirt or even a short-sleeved girlie blouse.
J Brand is making a style called the Gigi with a kicky flare at the bottom that feels fun and quirky.
MiH Jeans has the Paris jean, which looks fresh in white, especially with a soft-colored blouse and a cute pair of flats; they’d look great on vacation with a colorful top and pair of flat sandals in brown or metallic leather.
Because this length of pant can cut off the silhouette, play with proportions. Someone who is 6 feet tall can get away with showing a good amount of ankle. A shorter woman needs to think about extending the fabric -- without losing the cropped style. And remember not to wear this kind of pant like a legging even though it’s slim and tailored. Tops and jackets should hit at the top of the hip, not cover the hips and behind. You might even want to try pairing cropped pants with a body suit or tucking in your top to really play up the super-feminine and polished appeal.
So this spring, if the ‘70s aren’t a decade you feel like repeating, and flared legs aren’t your bag, think about a more form-fitting, tailored look and try on a pair of cropped, above-the-ankle-length pants for that confident and pixie-like feel reminiscent of Hepburn, Brigitte Bardot and Jackie O.
Send your style queries to melissa.magsaysay@latimes.com.
-- Melissa Magsaysay
Photos, from top: Audrey Hepburn from ‘Star Style,’ by Patty Fox. Credit: Angel City Press. Twiggy crop jean, $136 at American Rag from James Jeans. Pony Boy cropped jean from Current Elliott, $208 at Stacey Todd, Studio City. ‘Gigi’ cropped jean from J Brand $163 at Bloomingdales. ‘Billie’ cropped jean, $150 at Boca from James Jeans. ‘Paris’ cropped jeans, $187 at www.mih-jeans.com, from MiH Jeans.