A Song of Sick Pants

June 12, 2009 11:45 AM

FashionFilter: How can I expand my circle of pants?

Okay, so I haven't been incredibly concerned with fashion in the past, partially due to lack of options, but Ive never ignored it completely and I'm getting more into it after convincing myself that I have a serviceable eye for it.

I'm philosophically opposed to buying new clothes with only rare exceptions, so I get all of my clothes from thrift stores and eBay. This is no problem, except I'm a relatively small guy (5'7" between 140 and 150 lbs) who is sort of picky about clothes fitting well, and for whatever reasons things (especially shirts) that fit me in any way are relatively rare at these places.

Anyway, I find myself in a rut of trousers that I can't escape from. I almost always wear jeans. Light blue ones. I even find it difficult to wear darker blue jeans... they just don't look right. I have black jeans that I do wear, and some brown slacks that I wear sometimes. I feel silly in skinny pants, patterned pants, over-embellished jeans, etc. So what kinds of pants should I try?

In general, I aim for a sort of "understated-flashy," or even "tasteful hipster," meaning unusual, possibly vintage clothes, but not, like, shiny shirts, purple top hats, sunglasses at night, or anything like that. I tend to wear either tee shirts with graphics of some kind on them (no logos) or button or pearl-snap shirts, patterned and/or non-standard (white, blue) colored with the sleeves rolled up. Vertical stripes are too common now, but I have and wear some.

I mention all of this to present a picture of my clothes-psyche. For the sake of completeness, I will also mention that I'm very specific about my sunglasses. I'm looking for an alternative to the wayfarers, which are becoming trendy, though I haven't thrown away my red, tortoise shell, and blue-mirrored ones yet. I think I've found the "next step for sunglasses" in the clubmaster wayfarers.

So, I'm becoming more conscious of and adventurous with my other bodily accessories, but what can I do about pants?

posted by cmoj to clothing, beauty, & fashion (9 comments total)

Corduroys. Like jeans, but you know, not. Plus girls like to pet them.

I'm not sure how we can recommend specific pairs of pants if you only buy them from thrift stores and Ebay.
posted by Juliet Banana at 11:51 AM on June 12

sorry for being heterocentric, everyone likes to pet corduroys!
posted by Juliet Banana at 11:53 AM on June 12 [4 favorites]

I'm really looking for styles, rather than specific pants for this reason. Don't forget eBay!

Also, colors that aren't silly.

I'm in Texas, too, so cords are really only possible in the winter here.

And fwiw I'm heterosexual.
posted by cmoj at 12:00 PM on June 12

I cross halfway around the world to buy Pedro del Hierro. They fit me perfectly and are very well made with reasonable prices.
posted by JJ86 at 12:06 PM on June 12

That's really funny, because I often find myself with the opposite problem. I find it very difficult to wear any light blue jeans and basically wear from faded vintage blue to dark blue - nigh black. What I can speak about though is the fit of the jeans. I'm tall and thin basically can never find jeans in retail stores that aren't high waters. This site takes your custom measurements and factory makes jeans for you. You decide the weight of the denim (for lighter climes) as well as the style. I've never owned a pair of jeans that fit so well. Try it out, it's actually rather cheap.
posted by scrutiny at 12:16 PM on June 12

Yeah - I was surprised when you said light blue jeans, too, I think that's one of the harder things to get right. Anyway, I think Juliet's corduroy suggestion is great! J. Crew makes nice cords, although I see they don't have them this time of year. In general, I like J. Crew's regular fit and straight fit - they're slim but not skinny. You can always try them on without buying just to check the style.
posted by robinpME at 12:33 PM on June 12

Are you ok with shorts? Good grief, you'd better be it's 103 today in Austin.

Classic slack shorts like these Dickies would go great with pearl snaps in the charcoal color. (They go even better with calf tattoos.)

Also if you're going to go the whole second-hand route, you should probably invest in learning how to tailor your clothes. A $40 sewing machine can pay for its self in savings pretty quickly. Jeans can be tailored to an extent, as long as you keep to the inseam. The outerseam, running from the hip to your pinky toe, is a bit thick to topstitch over with an inexpensive machine. Buy jeans that fit at the waist, and you can tighten them up at the crotch and thigh/leg.
posted by fontophilic at 12:41 PM on June 12

JCrew if you are on a budget.

I bring you good news: I know the midwest and south are a year or so behind the curve, but Wayfarers are "last year".

This is what's happening now (although I will take a pass on them and stick with my Ray-Ban aviators.
posted by Zambrano at 12:43 PM on June 12

As far as pants styles go, I don't think you can go wrong with the flat-front pants (e.g., khakis). I find them to be total panty-peelers. (Sorry Mom.)
posted by Maisie at 3:45 PM on June 12