Dress pants that flatter: reading the fit in the mirror

“Flattering” sounds like a matter of taste, but with tailored trousers it’s mostly a matter of fit, and fit can be read. Fabric pulls, folds and creases in predictable ways when a pair is too tight or too loose somewhere. Learn those signs and you’ll spend less time in fitting rooms and less money on alterations that can’t work.

Read the creases

Stand in front of a long mirror, relaxed, in the shoes you’d wear with the trousers. Look at the front, then turn and look at the back.

• Lines running across the front, just below the waistband or over the hips, mean the trousers are too tight there. The pockets will usually gape open as well. Try the next size up, or a cut with more room through the hip.
• Curved lines fanning out from the crotch towards the hips, sometimes called whiskers, point to tightness at the top of the thigh or a rise that’s too short for you.
• Loose folds of cloth under the seat mean there’s more fabric than you need there, often because the back rise is too long.
• Diagonal pulls from the inner thigh towards the knee usually mean the thigh is too narrow.

What you’re looking for is a straight, quiet line from the hip to the hem, front and back. A pair that hangs like that looks better in photographs and feels better at six in the evening.

Choose the rise for your body

The rise is the distance from the crotch seam to the top of the waistband. It decides where the trousers sit, and how long your legs look.

A high rise that sits at or just above the navel lengthens the leg line. It works well with tucked tops and cropped jackets. If you have a short torso, though, a very high rise can swallow it, and a mid rise that sits a couple of fingers below the navel may balance you better. Low rises rarely suit tailored trousers: the waistband slips, the back gaps when you sit, and the crease loses its line.

Sit down in the fitting room. If the waistband digs in at the front or stands away at the back when you sit, the rise is wrong for you, however good it looks standing up.

Match the leg shape to the cloth

• Wide leg needs a fabric with drape (wool crepe, a fluid twill, a wool and viscose blend) so that it swings rather than standing out. Wear it long, close to the floor in your chosen shoe.
• Straight leg is the safest shape for work and suits almost everyone. It looks best with a sharp front crease.
• Slim or cigarette trousers usually end at the ankle bone and work with flats and loafers. They need a little stretch in the cloth to stay comfortable.
• Flared or bootcut legs balance wider hips and look best with a heel.

The cloth matters as much as the cut. A stiff, shiny polyester holds every wrinkle and shows every pull. A good wool crepe, or wool with a small amount of elastane, hangs more kindly and recovers after you’ve been sitting.

Decide on the shoes before the hem

This is the mistake tailors see most: trousers hemmed in bare feet and then worn with heels, or hemmed for heels and then worn with flats. A wide leg hemmed for a heel drags on the ground in flats. A slim leg hemmed for flats looks short with a heel.

Pick the shoe you’ll wear most with the pair and bring it to the fitting. As a guide:

• Wide legs: the hem covers most of the shoe and sits just off the floor at the back.
• Straight legs: a slight break, one soft fold, on the top of the foot.
• Cropped and cigarette styles: the hem ends cleanly at or just above the ankle bone.

If you wear the same trousers with very different heel heights, you’ll have to choose. Most people are happiest hemming for the shoe they wear on ordinary days.

Details that keep the line clean

A few construction details change how a pair sits on the body.

• Pockets. Slanted front pockets gape when the hips are tight. Pockets set into the side seam, or no front pockets at all, keep the front flat.
• Lining. A lining to the knee helps wool hang straight and stops it clinging to tights.
• Waistband. A band with a little give, or one split at the centre back, can be taken in or let out by a tailor later.
• Front crease. Pressed in, it lengthens the leg. On a wide leg it gives some structure to a lot of fabric.

What a tailor can and can’t fix

Some changes are routine. Others aren’t worth paying for.

Easy: shortening the hem, taking in the waist, narrowing the leg from the knee down, pressing in or removing a crease.

Possible, depending on the seam allowance: letting out the waist or seat. Trousers with spare fabric inside the centre-back seam can usually gain a little room.

Hard or impossible: adding length when there’s no fabric left in the hem, giving more room through the thigh, or changing the rise. If a pair is tight at the thigh or the rise is wrong, put it back. No alteration will save it.

That last rule saves more money than any other. Buy for your hips and thighs, and let the tailor deal with the waist and the length.