For awhile, I had given up on my want to fill my closet with pants that I could wear almost anywhere. I succumbed to the fact that it’s either shorts, dresses, or pants that will drag on the ground if I don’t hem them. And honestly, getting pants hemmed all the time is expensive and time-consuming. I’m fortunate enough to have a grandmother who knows how to hem clothing, but I don’t want to make her my automatic seamstress.
As of recent, I have been focusing on how to make clothing I want to fit my petite frame instead of just giving up or only allowing myself to shop the petite section. It’s a limited section and there are clothes in the “regular” section that I want too. In Stephanie Vasilidias, I shared tips on how to make dresses and skirts fit without hemming, and today, I’m sharing my tips on how to wear pants as a petite.
SHOP THE POST:
{{Photos by Stephanie Vasilidias}}
My first tip for wearing pants as a petite is to start with the high-waisted style. High-waisted pants are trending and I guarantee you already have a few pairs of high-waisted pants in your wardrobe already.
This style of pants is great for petites because it allows you to raise the waistline without altering the pants at all. Typically, for me, I’ll buy high-waisted pants and raise them above the set waistline that would be considered “high-waisted”. This allows me to not have the pants dragging and I can pair it with a variety of different styled tops. I can wear a crop top, a tucked in blouse, or even un-tuck the shirt and have it hanging over so that you can’t even see the waistline at all.
A second tips for wearing pants as a petite comes to the slightly obvious, and little bit annoying for some, wear a pair of chic and comfortable heels.
I’m not one that likes to wear heels all the time, but I do have a selection of various heights, colors, and styles of heels that I can pair with almost any outfit. I even have a pair of heeled booties that I designed for just for my uniquely petite foot that I wear with a variety of my non-petite sized pants.
I try to pair my heels with the type of pants that I am wearing and the look that i am going for. If I am going for more of a sophisticated look, I’ll wear a pair of pumps that are within the color palette that I am working with or a neutral nude tone.
For a more relaxed look, I may go with a fun type of block heel or a wedge that matches to the top that I am wearing to accentuate the color of the heel rather than the color of the material of the wedge (like the cork).
There are so many variety of different types of heels that you can wear to pair with your heels, and for the most part, many of the petite, like myself, own a lot of heels anyway and often go to wearing them on various occasions when heading to a variety of events.
I won’t say that I wear my heels when going to work very often, but I will wear a heeled block sandal on occasion and I get through my entire school work day without feeling like I need to sit down every single second. The trick is just in the size of the heel itself and, sometimes, just finding a good pair of insoles that fit your shoes.
My tip on the insoles is to pick a pair that connects to your day-to-day activities and to your “way of walking/stepping”. I’m flat-footed, so make sure that my insoles actually help my flat-footedness instead of irritating it and leaving my foot aching at the end of the day.
One last tip that I have for wearing pants as a petite is to use fabric tape.
So this trick is somewhat like hemming, but without the needle and thread. You’ll be able to raise the pants in the right places by only spending a maximum of about $10 depending on the amount of fabric tape that you want to buy.
When I want to stop some of my pants from dragging and I don’t really want to wear heels, I will scrunch up the pants in my upper thigh and around my knee and secure it underneath with fabric tape. The scrunching will look like it is the movement of the pants and adds to the style of wear, and you’ll have the ability to not have your pants dragging on the ground.
Most of the time, I’ll scrunch the pants in the back so that it is not too noticeable and it doesn’t catch the eye (unless someone is really staring down your backside) because most of the drag is in the back anyways.
