Frugal Friday’s Workwear Report: Extra-High-Waisted Stevie Straight Pants
This post may contain affiliate links and Corporette® may earn commissions for purchases made through links in this post. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.
Our daily workwear reports suggest one piece of work-appropriate attire in a range of prices.
I think Old Navy is one of the best options for inexpensive work pants these days. Not only do they have a wide selection of cuts and colors, but the size range absolutely can’t be beat. This pair of straight-leg pants has some stretch to it, but it also has a pintuck that gives it a slightly more polished look than your typical yoga pant.
I would pair these with a short-sleeved sweater and some loafers for the rest of the summer and add a sweater blazer when the weather gets a little chillier.
The pants are on sale for $25 at Old Navy and come in sizes XS-4X in regular, tall, and petite inseams.
Sales of note for 8/10:
- Ann Mashburn – Seasonal sale, up to 50% off – we just included them in our updated Top 10 Brands for Comfortable Heels!
- Ann Taylor – 30% off your purchase, $99 dresses, and extra 60% off clearance — readers love this blouse and I always love the variety of colors/textures for this jacket (it's a great separate)
- Anthropologie – Extra 40% off sale!
- Bare Minerals – Free shipping over $50! Love their Love thir OG Mineral Veil setting powder
- The Fold – Up to 50% off, further markdowns (new lines added)
- J.Crew – Up to 30% off
- J.Crew Factory – 50% off sitewide
- J.McLaughlin – Summer sale, up to 50% off
- Lilysilk – Anniversary sale, save up to 70%
- Madewell – Up to 30% off
- Me & Em – Sale! Up to 60% off (new lines just added, exclusively online)
- M.M.LaFleur – End of season sale! (Try code CORPORETTE15 for 15% off on other items)
- Nordstrom Rack – Clearance, new markdowns up to 75% off! Nice selection of Vince, Veronica Beard, Reiss and Rag & Bone, a ton of affordable work dresses from Calvin Klein, Maggy London, Eliza J, and Donna Morgan
- Saks Fifth Avenue – Up to $500 off your purchase! Great selection of Veronica Beard, L'Agence, Vince, and more.
- Talbots – Semi-annual red door sale, 50-60% off all markdowns, and free shipping on 150+.
- Theory – End of season sale is on! Love all the colors their best-selling sweater tee comes in, and some colors are on sale.
I really wish pants didn’t have to all be high waisted, or god forbid extra high waisted. I hate when pants are on my stomach – I just want them to be on my hip bones. But super low waisted wasn’t good for my body type either. Just give us mid rise! Or options.
For example, on Old Navy right now the rise options are High, Extra High, or Mid. For work pants + Mid rise, all the pants are wide legged. I’m always on the hunt for mid rise straight pants.
There are tons of high rise pants in every type of leg, so its not just that wide legs are in style or something.
I know, Old Navy has been killing me for years now. I can’t stand it that everything has to be high waisted or extra high waisted. Gap and Athleta are almost as bad. It’s really annoying, since those were some of my favorite places to find decent pants in petite sizes at reasonable prices, especially since I WFH so athleisure is fine most of the time.
People with preferences like yours are the reason I’m hoarding all the high rise pants I can afford! The fastest way for me to hate my body is to see it in low rise and mid rise pants 😂
I mean you don’t have to hoard, they have been the main rise sold for years.
I disagree, I’m the one of the high rise haters who posted above complaining Old Navy, but there were literally several years in a row that they didn’t have a single pair of non-high rise pants. Other stores weren’t quite as bad, but I didn’t buy pants for several years because it was so hard to find pants that were comfortable for me and I had enough clothes that I wasn’t completely desperate. I’m old enough to know that eventually the fashion pendulum will swing back the other way, but that’s also bad. Extreme rises aren’t that comfortable or flattering on most people and people’s bodies vary enough that giving people some choice is a good thing.
In my DNGAF midlife era, I have come to the conclusion that anything extreme is not it for my stylistic preferences, nor my body type. I look and feel best in classic cuts. I’m tired of fighting it. And I’m REALLY tired of the style pendulum swinging wildly all the time.
Same here, high is the most flattering and I loathe mid and low rises.
The solution is for a store like Old Navy that is anyways selling every possible version of every pant to have a little variety. Like one mid rise straight pant. It’s not pitching rise preferences against each other.
Same. High-waisted pants literally give me stomachaches if I’m sitting for any amount of time. And yes, they fit. There is plenty of give … when I’m standing.
Yeah I realized its really not the size or fit. It’s the pressure on my stomach. Equally fitted pants that lie on my hip bones and not just soft stomach are much more comfortable.
Yes, that’s the frustrating thing! If I size up, they are sloppy all over and don’t look right. Wearing my actual size means that I have a stomachache by 10 a.m.
Me too. It’s a choice between buying pants that are so big they won’t stay up when standing and walking or buying the correct size and them being so painful I have to have them fully unzipped when sitting. Mid rise pants in the same size are fine, just really hard to find right now.
In larger sizes I also don’t like that the pant legs themselves get bigger (as makes sense!) and it doesn’t look good.
My problem with most high-waisted pants is that the high waist falls down to my natural waist, making the crotch drop partway down my thighs and the butt sag. High waists only work well for me in tailored pants that are actually fitted through the waist and hip.
I never hear others complain about this but I can’t be the only one!
These pants are a great workhorse. The fabric is thicker than you’d expect from Old Navy with a nice amount of stretch. They are totally secret pajamas.
Ahh that’s great to know!
How does modern citizen fit and is it for short people? I’m looking at a dress that runs SML and wanting the waist and bust to hit at the right parts on me.
Can anyone report on whether Pact’s basics are worth it? I’m right in the middle of two different sizes, which gives me pause. I just want some basic fall tees, preferably in a ribbed fabric that doesn’t cling.
Can anyone recommend a gift card for my niece who recently moved to San Francisco? Mid-twenties, lives with several roommates. She’s a foodie, is into yoga, and she’s on a tight budget. I’d love to support a local business instead of a big chain like Starbucks or Sephora. Thanks!
Adding: budget is $75-$100.