Leg cut guide

A leg cut is the only decision on a pair of pants that cannot be fixed later. A waistband can be sized, a hem can be taken up by a tailor for the price of a coffee, but the shape of the leg is the shape you bought.

Read the cuts as a line from narrow to wide. A legging holds the calf. A straight leg falls from the knee without touching it. A bootcut stays straight to the knee and then opens an inch or two, because it was drawn to sit over a boot. A flare opens more and earlier, and a wide leg is cut full from the hip. Each step down that line adds fabric and adds formality, and each one asks for a different shoe.

Bootcut and flare are the two most often confused. The difference is where the opening starts: a bootcut stays straight to the knee and then widens by an inch or two, so it disappears under a shoe. a flare starts opening above the knee and is meant to be seen. If you want the pair to be quiet, take the bootcut.

A wide leg is the dressiest cut in this range and the least forgiving of length. Cut full from the hip, it needs to break at the right place on the shoe or the whole pair reads as borrowed. There is no inseam choice on most of this catalogue, which makes the wide leg the one cut worth measuring for before you buy.

Capri and cropped styles solve the length problem by ending it above the ankle on purpose. They are the summer half of the same idea, and the 368 pairs in this range that list pockets include most of them.

Skorts and joggers are not trousers and are not pretending to be. A skort is a skirt with liner shorts under it, and that is where the tennis and golf sections sit. a jogger is a trouser with a cuff and usually the most pockets in the range. Both get bought for the same reason as the dress pants: they hold a phone and they do not need ironing.