It’s starting to get chilly here in Richmond, Virginia. Those cold winter mornings are coming. I love everything about commuting to work on foot, I really do, but if I had to pick something I like least– it would be leaving my warm house on sub-freezing mornings. So in preparation for those winter walks, I went shopping for pants last weekend.
Dress pants aren’t my favorite. I’m much more a skirts/dresses, tights and boots kind of gal. But have you ever walked outside when it’s below 30 degrees in tights and a cotton dress? You might as well be naked. So on those mornings you need the pants. I got excited because there were so many pretty pants this year. Navy pin stripes, flecked gray wool, pretty blue-green colored, even polka dots. This was it! This was the year I was going to fall in love with pants! Pants! Warm and wonderful pants!
None of them fit. Which is generally my problem with pants.
None? You ask. Nope. Not a one. If they fit in the waist they were tight in the hip. If they fit in the hip, they gaped in the waist. If they fit in both those places, there was a weird top of thigh pleats that made no sense (I’m looking at you oh-so-warm gray wool pair). And yes, I know I could have them altered to fit, but I honestly just didn’t like any of them enough to put in that effort.
I was relaying this story to friends at work (who both got horrified looks on their faces when I indicated I spent my Sunday afternoon shopping for pants, so it’s not just me), and one colleague brought up a pair of pants I already own that she likes. “Oh those! I love those. I found them in the sale room at my favorite store. I wasn’t even looking for pants.”
And then it hit me. The old cliché adage about love apparently applies to dress pants– you’ll only find them when you aren’t looking for them at all. So I’m off to buy those cozy leggings.
Note to readers: There is a lot of sadness in the world right now and there are so many heavy, worthwhile, important things to reflect on. I realize that in the midst of this that I’ve written a post about the luxury of being ultra-picky about what pants I wear. Sometimes we just need a little laugh about an everyday sort of thing. My friend, Leah, blogged about the hard stuff— you should read that, too.
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Thanks so much for sharing my post, Mary Chris! I’m glad it struck a chord with you. As for the pants–I’m laughing. I just cleaned out my closet and got rid of so many dress pants (I’m an at-home mom. I *write* from home. When will I need cute pink-pin-striped Express dress pants from 2004 ever again? Though, really, when would ANYONE need Express dress pants from 2004 ever again?). And I was upset–there were pants that fit so well back in their prime, were totally appropriate for work, that were nice-looking and flattering and dressy and…sigh. I get it–as I pull a pair of leggings and tunic out of my newly gutted closet to wear today. I get it. And thanks for writing something so happy and lighthearted when we truly do need some brightness in our days.
Thank YOU for writing an really lovely reflective post that summed up how complicated all this feels.
As for the pants, I sort of want to see those pink pin-striped ones from 2004! 🙂 I totally need to do a gutting of my closet. Who knows what treats I’ll find in there. But seriously, when did dress pants get so terribly uncomfortable. I think that the pants-making companies are making them less comfortable. It has nothing to do with getting older and suddenly being unable to tolerate waistbands. Nope. That’s my story and I’m sticking to it.
Thanks for the read, I can relate from the guy side as we have the same problem with mismatched sizing (sigh). Local retail carries limited sizes so I’ve been building an online sartorial presence. Every Mfr has a “trim” that’s all over the place in reality so when I get a site dialed in for fit I’m hooked.
Thanks for reading and commenting from the guy perspective! I completely agree that when you find that one pair that works, you just keep going back and pray they don’t discontinue that one specific size and cut that works.