What kind of pants should a man with an hourglass figure wear?

July 11, 2009 3:20 PM

My boyfriend has an hourglass figure. Help me find him pants that don't make him look like an old guy with his belt cinched around his chest.

My skinny, short boyfriend has a slender waist (29) and generous hips- he has a pretty traditional hourglass figure. Great, if only he were female. He usually wears 30/30 pants which end up making his legs look very long and his chest look small, entirely eliminating a torso and making him look like my Grandpa.

I thought that we could help the issue by just getting larger pants that would sit lower on his hips. Yesterday he tried 33/30's and this time he looked like my overweight 40-something uncle (startling, given that he usually gets carded for X-rated movies and weighs about 120).

I'm at my wit's end- what kind of pants can he wear an not look silly? (Note: he doesn't wear jeans, this is only for khakis and slacks) We're currently a ways from a major city, so taking him for a fitting isn't in the cards for a while.

posted by arnicae to clothing, beauty, & fashion (5 comments total)

You can try short rise or low rise pants. You should be able to find plenty of non-denim options online, and you should be able to check chain/department stores online to see if they carry that style before you go to your local mall. The site I linked to (selected at random, I googled low rise men's pants to see if I could find a link, and that was the first result) has a "find my fit" e-consultant service, that might help.
posted by necessitas at 3:40 PM on July 11

Loose ones, without a belt. You want something that deemphasizes the contours of body. Tight pants that sit high would emphasize the smallness of his waist, and tight pants that sit low would emphasize the largeness of his hips, more so if worn with a belt.

A better approach would be to just have him wear loose shirts and to not tuck them in. This would again have the effect of blurring the contours of his body, but would work regardless of what kind of pants he wears. (Different styles of dressing just work better on some body types than others.)
posted by epimorph at 3:43 PM on July 11

I think the kind of top/shirt he wears will matter just as much as the pants. If he wears shirts untucked, and the right length (shorter than hip length, but longer than waist length), then that could probably go a long ways to camouflaging his hips and his small waist. That said, loose pants that fall straight from the hip will also probably do a good job of minimizing his hips.
posted by Kololo at 4:51 PM on July 11

It's a shame he doesn't do jeans, because there are definitely styles that are designed specifically to sit on the hips. They might be available in khakis, I'm not sure about regular trousers.

It'd be a better option than getting pants that are meant to sit on on the waist but having them in a size that drops them to hip level, because he won't end up with extra fabric hanging between his legs. Plus the pockets are positioned properly for the style too.

Then you just wear a loose shirt that's designed to be worn untucked (relatively uncurvy hem, about butt length) to cover your waist.

It might be worth looking up some of those 'what not to wear' style books or websites - hourglass is an unusual shape for a guy, but I'm sure he's not the only one.
posted by harriet vane at 2:25 AM on July 12

I agree that the top/shirt is just as important as the pants. In addition to a loose shirt, a few other alternatives in the links. Also, consider the colors, patterns and textures.

Dark pants and a shirt/top in lighter colors will emphasise the upper body. This blog suggests: "For Big Hips: if you hold most of your weight on the bottom half of your body, there are a couple of things you can do to help balance your shape. Wear these combinations: dark solid bottoms with patterned, dark bottoms with textured tops. The textured and patterned tops will even out your proportion and re-focus the eye to your top area, taking away the attention from your hips."

(I know this isn't what you asked about, but still: maybe your boyfriend could consider exercise to put some more muscles on his shoulders and upper body in general?)
posted by iviken at 1:02 PM on July 12