to start saving your favourite pieces.How To Wear Wide-Leg Trousers, Five Ways
STYLE · HOW TO WEAR
Wide-leg trousers look their best when one thing is defined: the waist. Tuck or half-tuck your top, keep it close to the body, and choose a shoe with some substance, whether a loafer, a platform or a heeled sandal. Hem them to graze the shoe you wear most, then let the fabric do the moving.
How do you wear wide-leg trousers to the office?
VERGE's Homeland Pant makes the case for comfort that still means business. The barrel-shaped leg is cut from a soft rayon-stretch blend that drapes without collapsing by mid-afternoon, and the flat front keeps the line clean under a tucked shirt. An elasticated back panel takes care of the long lunch, discreetly.
Wear it with a crisp cotton shirt, sleeves pushed to the forearm, and leather loafers. For the board meeting, add a tailored blazer that finishes at the hip; any longer and the leg loses its proportion. Black for the boardroom, chocolate for everywhere else.
Shop the look: VERGE Homeland Pant in Black or Chocolate, $250.
What do you wear with wide-leg trousers on the weekend?
Splendid's Angie Palazzo Pant arrives in rouge, the most useful neutral nobody mentions. It sits happily with navy, white, denim and a good mood. The lyocell-linen blend holds its shape through a morning of errands, while the elasticated waist asks nothing of you.
Cropped at the ankle, the hem leaves just enough skin to make a white sneaker look deliberate. A striped knit finishes the thought. On cooler mornings, throw a cardigan over the shoulders rather than on; the waist stays visible.
Shop the look: Splendid Angie Palazzo Pant in Rouge, $229.
How do you style white wide-leg trousers for summer?
White linen trousers are the summer uniform, and Sita Murt's Straight Linen Pants are the version worth owning. Pure linen falls in a wide straight leg from a flat front, with contrast topstitching tracing the side seams and banding each ankle hem.
Wear them with a black knit tank and flat leather sandals for a long lunch by the water. For the airport, a white linen shirt worn open over a tank turns them into a travel set. Linen creases; consider it proof the trousers have been somewhere interesting.
Shop the look: Sita Murt Straight Linen Pants in White, $349.
Can you wear printed wide-leg trousers as a set?
You can, and you should. Coco Chanel took beach pyjamas to the Riviera in the 1920s; ALÉMAIS brings them home in the Otis Pant, European linen in a baroque cream-and-gold wave print on chocolate, finished with cream piping down the outer seam.
Worn with the matching Otis Shirt, one print head to toe reads as a single considered decision rather than two competing ones. For evening, swap the shirt for a fine-knit camisole and bare sandals. Prefer something lighter? The Island Cove Pant carries hand-painted palm trees, parasols and shells on cream linen, with a matching shirt of its own.
Shop the look: ALÉMAIS Otis Pant, $360; ALÉMAIS Island Cove Pant, $360.
How do you wear wide-leg trousers in the evening?
Silk changes the conversation. Silk Laundry's Bias Cut Pants are sand-washed silk cut on the bias, so they skim the hip and release into a soft flare at the hem, moving like water with every step.
In Moonshine, a pale sage, they want a silk shirt half-tucked and a fine gold chain. In Midnight, a slim knit and very little else. A heeled sandal adds length and keeps a full hem off the floor. For more colour, ALÉMAIS's Wilson Silk Pant meets its matching shirt for a co-ordinated evening.
Shop the look: Silk Laundry Bias Cut Pants in Moonshine or Midnight, $480; ALÉMAIS Wilson Silk Pant, $350.
Wide-leg trousers: your questions answered
What shoes go with wide-leg trousers?
Choose a shoe with some presence: loafers, platforms, block heels and sleek sneakers all hold their own under a full leg. Very delicate flats tend to disappear beneath the hem.
How long should wide-leg trousers be?
Full-length styles should graze the top of the shoe you wear most, finishing about a centimetre off the floor. Cropped styles should end at or just above the ankle bone.
Do wide-leg pants suit petite women?
Absolutely. Choose a mid or high rise, keep your top and trousers in the same tone to lengthen the line, and add a little height underfoot.
What top should I wear with wide-leg trousers?
Something closer to the body: a tucked shirt, a fine knit, a fitted tank or a cropped jacket. Save the volume for the leg.
Unsure of the size, the length or the shoe? Our stylists can help with all three. Speak with a Stylist, no appointment required, or try any style on at our Darlinghurst Showroom upon request. We buy in small runs and rarely restock, so the edit changes week to week.
Curated by women, for women. Shop now, pay later with Afterpay.
Related reading: The Fit Guide: European, Scandinavian And Australian Sizing · The Fabric Guide: Silk, Linen, Cupro And Viscose · The Edit: Linen, From Breakfast To Dinner
