Wednesday’s TPS Report: Minnie Pant

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Our daily TPS reports suggest one piece of work-appropriate attire in a range of prices. Many thanks to this week's guest poster, Carolyn Hsu of The Daily Obsession and The Hsu Closet! For skinny pants that are not TOO skinny for the office, nothing beats the Minnie cut from J Crew. For an easy office look, grab a pair in your favorite color and match with a white button down and fitted sweater. The ankle length is flattering on almost everyone and works whether you prefer kitten pumps or sky high heels. These wool herringbone pants are $128. Minnie pant in wool herringbone Seen a great piece you'd like to recommend? Please e-mail editor@corporette.com with “TPS” in the subject line. (L-2)

Sales of note for 1/31/25:

  • Ann Taylor – Suiting Event – 30% off suiting + 30% off tops
  • Nordstrom – Cashmere on sale; AllSaints, Free People, Nike, Tory Burch, and Vince up to 60%; beauty deals up to 25% off
  • Banana Republic Factory – 50% off everything + extra 20 off your $100+ purchase
  • Boden – 15% off new season styles
  • Eloquii – 60% off 100s of styles
  • J.Crew – Up to 40% off winter layers
  • J.Crew Factory – 50% off sweaters and pants
  • Rothy's – Final Few: Up to 40% off last-chance styles
  • Spanx – Lots of workwear on sale, some up to 70% off
  • Talbots – End of season clearance, extra 70% off markdown tops + extra 60% off all other markdowns

And some of our latest threadjacks here at Corporette (reader questions and commentary) — see more here!

Some of our latest threadjacks include:

148 Comments

  1. Early threadjack, hive-ettes!

    Any thoughts on locating a navy pinstripe skirt suit?

    I would prefer a year-round weight…

    Found one Tahari/ASL online at macy* … BB is beyond my price point as I don’t have to wear suits daily.

    All my purple and red shoes are screaming out for this type of suit :)

    Thanks.

    1. I love mine from JCrew’s super 120s line. It’s held up beautifully over the last two years. There’s pants, too (they are unlined).

      1. I know you mention not having the budget for BB, but they have tons of these type of classic suits at their outlets if you live near one. Otherwise, banana currently has lightweight navy suiting and they run 30% off sales all the time. FWIW, I find their suiting to be slightly cheaper and a little better quality than JCrew’s recent pieces.
        Ann Taylor also has some navy suits (not pinstriped sadly) and is running a suiting sale as well.

        1. I second BB outlet. I have a beautiful “seasonless wool” navy pinstripe suit (skirt and lovely lined pants) I picked up there about a year ago for less than $200. I don’t know what their current selection looks like (too pregnant to shop), but their inventory turns over fairly regularly.

          1. I third BB outlet. I got an amazing navy pantsuit suit with a light teal pinstripe there a couple of years ago for less than $200 – it likely would have been cheaper if I had gotten the skirt instead.

    2. I got one from Brooks Brothers, on sale for like 1/3 of what it costs normally.

    3. I bought a navy pinstripe skirt suit at Macy’s that’s some line of Tahari over the summer (it was on sale; paid about $100 for it). I’ve worn it several times and it looks great and goes with a ton of my shells.

    4. try overstock.com? Sometimes they have pretty normal business attire very well priced.

    5. I have a couple of suits from Tahari ASL and they’ve held up really well. I like them. You could also check out Filene’s for lower prices, on Tahari ASL and other brands too – I saw some cute Nanette Lepore in the DC/F St. Filene’s the other day.

  2. Do you ladies agree that ankle pants such as these are flattering on everyone? When I try them on, I can’t get over the feeling that they look “weird” on me.

    1. I agree. I think that they look rather bad on shorter women who have large hips. I’m not short, and I think that I can get away with a few rare pairs (but I’m not really confident enough in that statement to actually buy them), but in general, I don’t find them flattering on many people. Just my opinion, though!

      1. Oh, I mean that I agree with Skinny Minnie, as in, I don’t agree with the idea that these are universally flattering.

      2. I agree with Lyssa. I’m short with large hips, and I feel like an upsidedown triangle in skinny jeans/pants.

    2. I do not agree. I am a pear shape, and I only look good in them when I’m at my lightest weight because otherwise my hips look huuuuuge.

      1. Me too!

        Even worse now, with a belly on top of my hips. I hate all the skinny & cigarette pants being sold for pregnant ladies – they make me look like a lollipop.

    3. I think you have to be very careful with these types of pants. I’m short-ish and have, shall we say, well-developed hips and thighs. Not really that big, but muscular, and I think I have rather narrow shoulders so have to be careful about balancing the bottom. That said, I have a pair from Loft and a pair from Gap that I do find pretty flattering. I think they need to hit right around the ankle bone, not taper too much (but no flares!) and they look best with shoes with a slightly pointed toe and low heels; flats just make my butt look big in these pants.

      I myself am obsessed with the bright yellow top the model is wearing. I have no idea if that color even works on me, but I need to check it out!

    4. My experience with ankle pants is that cut (of the whole pant) really really matters. Whereas I can get away with most versions of boot cut, there are ankle pants that look ok on me, and ankle pants that look terrible on me. I am short and hippy.

      This means that I’m less likely to buy ankle pants online, and because I need petite sizing, it also means that I’m generally less likely to buy ankle pants at all because some brands (*ahem* JCrew) don’t carry petite sizes in their B&Ms.

      1. This. Short pear here, and I agree completely. It’s all about the overall cut of the pant, and the exact location where the pants end. I have a pair of cropped pants that look great on me. Hands down one of the most flattering pants I own. But others that I’ve tried have been alarming. And if they aren’t petite sizes, forget about it.

    5. I also feel like sometimes they make my feet/shoes look HUGE. and I don’t know how this balances me out.

    6. agreed, not a fan of ankle pants, which are generally not flattering unless you’re Audrey Hepburn circa 1955 – ? i’m pretty thin/straight but even so, ankle pants seem to bring out the shortest, stoutest version of me. hmm.

      i also dislike the suggestion of wearing ankle pants with sky-high heels – i think that looks ridiculous. someone tell me i’m wrong?

      1. I think that it looks OK if you’re going for a kind of wild look- as in, a party or drinks with friends, or something like that. But I agree that it looks somewhat ridiculous, so I definitely think it looks silly for a professional environment. (Not heels in general, but sky-high heels with short pants)

      2. I think they look kind of silly with really high heels, too, but I also see Polly D’s point about flats. Somehow I think ankle pants make feet with flats on them look like enormous webbed duck feet or something. So I guess I only think they look good with low heels, like the model is wearing, which is probably why I have no ankle pants, although I do think they can look good on other people sometimes.

        1. What’s your idea of low heels? Because if I found the right heel on J Crew the model is wearing 2.75″ heels. To me, that’s a mid heel. Are you talking about kitten heels? If so, I never understood why someone would wear a 1-2″ heel. Why bother? Go flat or at least 2.75″ heel.

          1. i took a look at the site’s photos (especially the side view) and actually, i think those heels are too high for the pants. I prefer high heels to go with either skirts/dresses or long pants .. MHO.

            So – I’d go with 1-2″ for ankle pants like these. Just enough to give you some lift, avoid the webbed/duck feet and butt issues, but not so much that it looks like you’re wearing heels for the flood.

          2. No opinion on the whole skinny pants with heels bit, but I will say that I actually find that 1-2″ heels are more comfortable than flats for my particular foot.

          3. I agree with Miss Jackson on the kitten heel thing. Most of my heels are 1-2″. They are much more comfortable to me than flats, or true heels, and I get just enough height to make the difference.

          4. I love kitten heels – I think they can look very elegant. I have a lot of flats in my closet, but they don’t have the same oomph, stylewise.

          5. anonymous at 10:56 – I agree, 2.75″ is not a low heel; these heels looked lower than that to me in the picture. I assumed they were between 1″ and 2″ as anon at 11:07 said. I also agree with her regarding why people wear lower heels. Heels are pretty, but they hurt my feet! Maybe I’m a shoe wuss, but I can’t stand being in pain all day, and I’ve never found high heels that were actually comfortable. Also, because I rarely wear high heels, I feel unsteady in them, so I think I look un-confident. Low heels are a happy medium.

    7. Definitely not flattering on everyone. I’m 5’1, and they make me look really…stumpy, even in heels, which is definitely not the look I’m going for. I have a couple pairs from BB, and I always end up wearing them tucked into boots, because I hate how the pants make my legs look *really* short. Really, really short.

    8. They look funny on me because I’ve got really short legs in proportion to my overall height (plus large hips/thighs, versus small shoulders/waist); it’s not a good idea for me to wear anything that emphasizes shortness in the lower body, it makes me look weirdly lopsided. So, no, I don’t think they’re flattering on everybody.

    9. For long-waisted folks of any height, ankle trousers are bad news bears. The proportions (long upper body and way shorter, stumpified lower body) end up being so very odd!

    10. I don’t agree. I’m pear shaped and 6’3″. They just look like they’re too small for me.

      1. Agreed. At 6′ tall, I avoid ankle pants and shrunken blazers (even though I love the look on others). On me it just looks like my clothes are too small, even when they actually “fit.”

      2. Agree–I have super-long legs with skinny ankles, so these could look good on me, but for the Olive Oyl effect–looks like I stole my lil sis’ clothes. These would literally hit me at midcalf or above, so they are then “capris” in a winter fabric, which is just weird. My second beef with the minnie pants is the super-low rise–not professional and just doesn’t work if you have hips.

        Also, there’s something super-offputting about paying ~$90 for UNLINED pants. I am allergic to wool, and JCrew’s refusal to line suiting or fancier pants these days is driving me batty.

        1. agree completely about unlined pants. jcrew has some nice fabrics, but i will never purchase any of the suits due to the unlined pants.

    11. Agree that they provide a stumpifying effect on well-behipped women such as myself. I like the look on an Audrey body type, though.

    12. I think they need to be tried on before you buy, with the shoes you plan to wear them with (read: heels). There’s probably a pair out there for everyone, but this length can be hard if you’re shorter. I’m 5’11 and love ankle length pants, though I still wear them with heels to elongate the leg.

    13. I don’t like dressy skinny pants but love casual skinny pants. I have a couple pairs of skinny cords and jeans that I wear with flats or riding boots. I’m not sure why the dressy ones are unflattering but the casual ones look great. Maybe it’s the different fabric? Anyway, because of this conversation, I bought another pair today for weekend wear. These are marked down to 16.99 http://canvas.landsend.com/pp/SlimLegCords~213914_-1.html?bcc=y&action=order_more&sku_0=::HLZ&CM_MERCH=IDX_Sale-_-Women-_-PantsShorts&origin=index
      Free shipping with code TOGETHER and pin 1759

    14. I do not think ankle pants like these (sometimes called “cigarette pants” in the past, if I’m remembering correctly?) are flattering on nearly everyone. In fact, I’d say they’re flattering on very few or just one female body type — specifically, the lithe, lean Audrey Hepburn shape. Just being on the taller side doesn’t solve the problem. I am 5’8″ and a definite pear, with a narrow waist but larger hips and thighs and I’ve never found a pair of pants like this that work for me. I usually can’t even get them over my hips!

  3. I tried on the Minnie pants a few seasons ago. The fit was really weird, to say the least. They were either really, really tight on the thigh and waist in one size, or really huge everywhere in the next size up. I don’t know who they’re making these pants for, but it ain’t me!

    Not sure why, also, bc I love the J crew “city fit” pants – they fit me perfectly. This style, not so much. I did get a cropped pair of “city fit” suit pants that I wear sometimes with fun mary jane heels or my charcoal/patent witchy lace-up shoe-boots.

    1. I tried them last year and found the same thing. They were either way too tight through the legs or way to big in the waist… I’m a pretty regular size gal and am not sure who the target market is for this particular fit. I wear all the other J Crew fits with no troubles. (I got the “city fit” cropped pants as well and I love them!)

  4. While 95% of the time love everything from J Crew, I have had absolutely NO luck with these pants. They are not flattering at all on my hippy, curvy body. I have tried them on many times, hoping that they will work … but unless my body type changes overnight, I won’t ever be able to wear them.

  5. Stuck in Worcester, MA on business with a senior colleague. Any recommendations for a good restaurant for dinner?

    1. I went to Holy Cross too long ago to give you a good recommendation. Sorry you’re stuck there — I’m sure you’d rather be in Boston.

    2. Thanks for all your great suggestions! I made a reservation for the tapas place tonight.

  6. I agree with the posters that say the Minnie is not for them. Many friends have tried to convince me that this is the “all body” pant. I’ve heard people sing the Minnie’s praises that it fits absolutely everyone. Yet, it takes my “straight up and down” body and makes me look hippy where’s I’m usually not, and quite stout. I’m a total Minnie-fail. Sigh.

    1. If your straight up and down body AND my curvy, hippy body look bad in these pants … I’m wondering who they DO look good on?

      1. Their creative director who is about 6 feet tall and thin I’m guessing.
        At roughly 5’5, thin, and very straight up and down they’re not at all flattering on me either despite the many times I’ve tried them on. Oddly, JCrew’s skinny jeans work just fine on me but these are a disaster.

        1. I have a couple pairs of their skinny jeans, too, that are great! Maybe these should be called the Jenna pant instead of the Minnie pant?

          1. I love the minnie pant. I’m short and somewhat curvy (perhaps more muscular than traditional curvy, but I certainly have hips), though thin.

            I have two pair (one casual and one wool) that I wear all the time.

    2. See, I am straight up and down and absolutely love ankle length pants (and JCrew pencil skirts) because they give me the hips that I don’t have and make me feel super feminine. As with the posters above, I love them with high heels.

      I have always wanted a curvy body. My hips are literally 4 inches bigger than my waist, and my bust is approximately the same size as my hips with an A cup. I’m like a 5’10” 12 year old boy.

      1. I can relate at 5’10”. I have curves in the hips and waist, but with an AA cup, wearing baggy clothes in gender-neutral colors w/o makeup or jewelry ends up in situations in which people call me “sir.” (Sigh)

    3. I’m short and hourglassy and I love this style of pants (I guess they’re cigarette pants?). They don’t make my legs look shorter so long as I wear them with a shoe with a low vamp.

    1. Those are stunning and the price is fabulous! I wish I could wear heels that high but I’m too much of a klutz / would surely break an ankle!

  7. I like herringbone but have never been a fan of the ankle pant. It always feels like I’m wearing pants that shrunk. Maybe because I always need to get the hems let out (5’11” here) this type of pant is too counterintuitive for me.

    1. Are you my twin?!? I spent my entire Junior High career battling “high water” pants and I just can’t see intentionally going there.

  8. I *love* the color of the model’s shoes.

    The pants are nice- just not my style.

    1. I have a pair of shoes in this color from Brooks Brothers. They usually have a couple of styles in this tan/brown every year.

      1. me too – i have a pair in this color and receive so many compliments on them.

    2. I have some this color from Ralph Lauren. I believe I’ve seen either Cole Haan or Stuart Weitzman shoes in the same color. I took notice of them because I love the versatility of my RL pair so much I’ve considered buying a second pair.

  9. I believe these are the pants that Michelle Williams (as Marilyn Monroe) is wearing in this month’s Vogue. She, of course, looks fabulous in them … maybe that’s the body-type they work on …

      1. This look seems like it would even more difficult to pull off. Cigarette pants at least usually look intentional (even if they aren’t universally flattering) but these just look like (unintentional) highwaters.

        1. Those remind me of something that Kat once said about (I think) open-toed booties- they strike a look that says “I’m so hip that I don’t need to wear things that actually look good.” (or something like that). As in, worn the right way, they could be cute, but not because they look good or flatter the wearer, if that makes sense.

  10. Sorry for an early threadjack, but I need advice: I have a job offer from another company, and they want an answer ASAP. I like my current position, though, so gave current company the chance to match the salary (which is a significant raise). Current company is slow-rolling me a little. I need to speak with a rep from the new company today; can I mention that I am trying to wait on current company’s response so I can weigh my options, or do I need another excuse to stall? In that case, what excuse would you recommend? Or no excuse at all, just restate that the contract demands a response by Friday and I will certinaly have one for them by then?

    Re the pants: I’ve never tried on this particular fit, because I don’t think it does any favors for pear shapes like me. Maybe in 10 lbs… I do love the styling in this photo, though.

    1. I wouldn’t tell them about your current company negotiations at all. At best it’ll look like you’re not interested in their job that much and at worst, it’ll look like your current company doesn’t value all that much.

      Just make an excuse about needing to think over a few logistical things and that you will certainly be back in touch by Friday COB.

    2. Current company may match only until they can find your replacement. Take the other offer. Good luck.

      1. Agreed. They know you’ve been looking for other jobs now. They also didn’t respond to your offer to stay with “Yes, we’ll do anything to keep you!” ~ instead they’ve been dragging their feet and making you keep the new company waiting. Probably best to move on now.

        1. Agree. I was in a similar situation before, and my company’s attitude was “tell us what you want and we’ll give it to you to make you stay.” If they’d dragged their feet, I’d assume they didn’t want me to stay badly enough to invest in me, and therefore I’d leave before they fired me.

        1. Thanks all! New company has a lot of things going for it and I was about 80% decided I would take the job unless my current company came back with something fantastic.
          Good point that I need to acknowledge my expendability–I would be getting only a raise, not a promotion, and why keep me when someone will do the work for less (like I did for a long time)? I hadn’t thought of that. Scales decisively tipped. Love this community!

      2. Counteroffers are for suckers – take the job from the company that made the offer and don’t look back.

    3. there was a good article on here recently about why accepting the counter is usually a bad idea – current company will question your loyalty/know you’re looking, etc.

      1. We have an executive legal assistant who looked for other offers solely to get a raise at my job, and I think it worked. I’m in state government and in some cases another offer is the only way anyone is going to give you a raise. That’s just the way it works and it’s pretty well known. I think it really depends on the field and what is expected there.

      2. Yeah, it really depends. When I had another offer, my current employer’s response was that they didn’t want me to leave and they wanted to know what I would need in order to stay. After a discussion, I came up with a salary number, which was higher than what I actually wanted; they offered me something a bit lower, which is what I actually wanted, and I accepted and decided to stay. Since then I’ve felt more invested in the job because I feel valued, and my bosses feel more invested in me because they’re paying me more and they recognize what I’m worth to the company.

        FWIW, I wasn’t currently looking at the time I got the offer. I had been looking previously, at the same time that I was seeking a promotion at my current job, which I had received. But I still had outstanding applications, and after a really long wait I got an offer on one of them. If you’re actively looking, and you have complaints about your current job other than the salary, accepting the counteroffer is probably not a good idea because all the other things about your job will remain the same.

  11. Saw a woman in a dark cordouroy pencil skirt walking to work today, and it looked really good. I’m not sure whether it’s appropriate for my office. FWIW, I work in a trendy business formal law firm (women rarely wear full suits) and we have business casual Fridays but can’t wear jeans.

    1. From your description, as long as the raised part of the corduroy (what is that called?) is close together, then I think that it would be good for casual Fridays as long as you wear a business-y shirt and some nice accessories.

    2. I associate corduroy with casual, not business casual. I’ve been relying on corduroy pants a lot for my casual Fridays because I’m not so sure about wearing jeans to work. I think I would still associate cordoroy skirts with casual attire, even though generally skirts are more formal than pants. My sister bought some corduroy skirts the last time we went shopping, but her company is casual. I tried on one, but unfortunately, to me I felt like the cut made me look like a school girl.

    3. Sounds like my firm, and I think the skirt would be fine. (For AnonInfinity, the raised part of corduroy is called the “wale.”)

    4. I have a few J.Crew cord pencil skirts that I wear for casual Fridays where we can’t wear jeans (although we’re business casual during the week). I also wear riding boots with them, which I wouldn’t wear on other days.

      Also, agreed that wide wale corduroy would look too casual.

    5. I work in a business casual office (sadly) and I think corduroy would only be acceptable for Fridays. Not denim Fridays, necessarily, but regular Fridays, when people go a little more toward the casual end of business casual.

    6. I think corduroy is on the same level as denim. I only see it at my office on Fridays, when we also can wear jeans.

  12. Feel like I’ve robbed AT Loft blind today. Sweater dress for work, curvy skinny jeans, wool work pants ($15!!!), leggings and a top for $120. The skinny jeans may go back, but I’ve been hunting for a pair of skinnies for months that are cut for something other than twig thighs. Only other luck so far has been Joe’s Honey skinny, which was $170/pair.

      1. Land End (and Canvas) are known for cutting generously, and the inseams for regular pants are (a disappointing to me) 32″.

    1. Joe’s jeans are sometimes sold at Loehmann’s (sp?) for around half the regular retail price.

      1. And ruelala.com has Joe’s boutiques occasionally – usually you can get a pair for about $80.

    2. Same boat only I bought all mine online and anxiously awaiting my delivery. LOFT is my go to store and they have crazy good sales right now and I also found a good promo code for petites. Strongly encourage other ‘Rettes to check them out this week.

      1. I had a cart full on Loft yesterday, but then found I would be charged about $12 for shipping. Don’t they usually ship free on orders over $125? I have a Loft card, does the shipping charge go away when you enter the card info?

    3. I went crazy there yesterday! Two pairs of jeans, two pairs of leggings, a sweater, and a skirt for $120.

  13. Can anyone recommend any good eye creams? I need a new one for under my makeup as well as a more powerful one for nighttime. Thanks.

    1. La Prairie. I’m 39 and still get carded. Ask for a sample, it’ll last forever.

      1. I’m a big fan of Clinique All About Eyes – the cream for night and the roller-bally formula for daytime. Both work great and are affordable.

    2. On the relatively inexpensive side, I like Clinique All About Eyes cream. It’s comforting, but not so emollient it makes my makeup go all over the place. (La Prairie, my raccoon eyes and I are looking at you.)

    3. I like Clarins (not sure of the name, but it is around $70 and it comes in a small red bottle with a pump). Murad also makes a nice one, also for around $70. Eye cream is the most expensive item in my cabinet. I don’t skimp because the eye area is one of the first to start to get wrinkles.

    4. PS , for preventing wrinkles around the eyes, sunscreen is more important than moisturizer, especially if you are in your twenties (which I’m guessing from your handle.)

      Try to find one that you can tolerate near your eyes and wear it daily!

      1. Exactly! Sunscreen on your entire face daily. UVA and UVB. Plus sunglasses. Plus, once you reach your mid to late thirties, preventive Botox or Dysport. Also no smoking, eat real food, exercise and practice good sleep hygeine.

        I am 45 and igot carded buying a lottery ticket (must be 18) three years ago.

        1. Yo Missy – I got carded buying wine this weekend – I’m 46.

          I was delighted beyond belief!

          Have been wearing European sunscreen daily (and I mean daily, overcast, rainy, whatever) since the age of 30.

  14. How do you reconcile the shorter length in a winter weight with the fact that the only way these pants work is bare-legged in heels? I pulled my boots out last weekend and polished them up anticipating that I will probably start wearing them full time in the next month. I just don’t get how this could be practical other than for a few Indian Summer days each fall.

    1. i think you don’t buy them. i don’t like these pants for all the reasons that posters have mentioned above, and you just added another one.

      if you live in northern california, then maybe it will work.

    2. I wear uggs on the way to work in the winter and then change into heels in my office.

    3. This reminds me of a story my mother tells of her 4H days. One of the other girls she compete against (in garment making) made a pair of shorts out of wool (heavier weight material, I think). My mother could not, for the life of her, understand where you would wear such a thing. And, if I remember correctly, there was a matching jacket – making it a short-suit, all the way back in the 70s!

    4. I suppose this is one time a warm and rainy climate wins. I wear my cropped pants often in the rainy months because they stay out of puddles. They are bizarrely practical.

    5. I can see this working in a warm climate where there really is no winter (Florida?), but one gets tired of wearing summer fabrics the whole year round. I live in Colorado, and I had the same exact thoughts about wool pants with exposed ankles. Plus I feel colder when my feet/ankles are cold.

    6. You could wear them with tight-fitting, leather, knee-high, heeled boots underneath in cold weather. I see that look a lot.

  15. Anyone look at Gilt today? Check out the section called Pleasure Doing Business With You. I was picturing some edgy sheath dresses and pencil skirts. Unless your business is prostitution, this is way, way off.

    1. ha, saw that. i think the name of the brand – Pleasure Doing Business – is supposed to be tongue-in-cheek. the stuff looks like Bebe’s more expensive sister.

    2. “WHY do you have to be so judgy??? My usual go-to is Forever 21’s career section (http://tinyurl.com/3vfc55w), but sometimes I want something nicer, and I’m like not gonna hide my fabulous body. I swear, this is why I like only have guy friends”

      **totally in jest if otherwise not obvious

  16. I never would have thought to put this color sweater and pant together but I really like the look! I might need to find a way to fit this in my wardrobe…

  17. On the pants, I’m old enough to have worn ankle pants the last time they were around, then spent the intervening 10 years looking at photos of myself and saying, “WHAT was I thinking?”

    They are not really flattering on anyone except Audrey Hepburn. If you watched What Not To Wear in the good old days, the BBC version, you saw them throwing these out of every woman’s wardrobe, because they shorten the leg and widen the hips. Unless that’s the look you’re going for, I’d pass.

  18. Not to be all snarkface about it but what is the big deal about appearing “hip-py”? I understand wanting to look proportional and not having stumpified legs and whatnot but all these comments about emphasizing hips as if hips are evil makes me feel sad for some reason. Some women have hips. Just let them be.

    1. I think the word “hippy” is being used as shorthand for having a waist-to-hip ratio that is a bit on the small side (small waist, bigger hips, do I have that right?). For me, it just means that if I wear the wrong kind of pants, I look more pear-shaped than I like. And it makes my upper body look smaller than I like. I certainly appreciate having a bit of a booty, but it does mean that some types of pants will just make me look bottom-heavy and stumpy.

      Let me be clear – it’s not me, it’s the pants. I’m totally fine with my body, but recognize that some clothing styles look good on me and others don’t. It’s the pants’ loss, not mine.

      1. Same here! If I wear the wrong pants, I look like an ice cream cone. I love my body, just don’t love every pant.

      2. Agreed. My hip-to-waist ratio is very pronounced and I love wearing clothes to show it off. My issue with ankle pants is that I find the length unflattering, not the fit.

    2. Completely agree. I like to emphasize my curves a bit and hip-hugging pants do that nicely. I think that pants that hang straight actually make hips look wider, because they hang from the widest part – I never understood why women thinks that style covers up wide hips.

  19. hmm. im everything that supposedly looks bad in ankle pants–short legs, hippy, pear-shaped, etc. I always have loved them and now i’m wondering if I look awful and simply can’t see it! on the other hand, i would say that the minnie pant makes me look waaaay too bootylicious

    1. I’m sure you look wonderful. I’ve never looked at a pear-shaped woman and thought to myself that she looked too hip-py, unbalanced, or wayyy too small up top.

      I understand that slim cut low waisted ankle pants are more revealing on pear-shaped women, which may not be one’s preference at work but seriously ladies, most people are not thinking, “look at her, walking around all unproportional and therefore unfashionable and lacking, how dare she”.

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