Flattering trousers to go with jackets

[Aloysius]

The maker Casatlantic recently came on my radar.

They make quite beautiful trousers in Golden Age style, with excellent silhouettes that ought to complement workwear jackets and tailoring alike. I've gotten quite bored of denim so it's nice to see other options that can fill that space while opening up other options as well.

(Title inspired by the shoe thread, so we can continue to discuss things beyond this brand.)

 

[Monitor]

Very, very cool! El Jadida or Safi would work for me.

I feel that I have finally started making progress toward understanding trousers and what I am certain of is that having them tailored is absolutely essential. Most OTR's of today will fit a person just fine but I always believed that trousers really do have to fit right - But I wouldn't know how to tell you what this right might constitute - and that there's not really that much wiggle room for personal preference.

Golden era pants are always a thread apart from looking posey but worn & sized correctly, no other article of clothing could more correctly be termed as timeless.

David Lynch understood this: “I am searching for a good pair of pants. I never found a pair of pants that I just love… it’s a fit, it’s a certain kind of feeling, and if they’re not right, which they never are, it’s a sadness. You know, it interrupts the flow of happiness.”

The thing with jeans is, it won't take you long to find a pair that fits you well (enough) and that's where your part of the deal ends as they are going to take it from there, with each wear making them nicer in every possible way. Nothing in life should be this easy. Nothing of value, at least.

 

[Aloysius]

Safi is my favourite as well. Really flattering line and it’s nice to see hefty side adjusters on readymade trousers.

I feel that I have finally started making progress toward understanding trousers and what I am certain of is that having them tailored is absolutely essential. Most OTR's of today will fit a person just fine but I always believed that trousers really do have to fit right - But I wouldn't know how to tell you what this right might constitute - and that there's not really that much wiggle room for personal preference.

I recently learned what is probably the real trick. Chris Despos, considered by many to be among the top living tailors today, frequently provides people fit feedback on Styleforum. He said something recently that really felt like a lightbulb moment–his advice was, when buying OTR/RTW trousers, to find the pair that fits you best in the seat then alter the waist, which is a much easier alteration. It was a huge eye-opener for me because like most people I shop by the waist when it comes to trousers (but ironically, thinking on it, I’ve unconsciously sized jeans on this basis and it’s probably why I have jeans of different waist measurements that sit equally well–it’s the seat that makes it work).

Golden era pants are always a thread apart from looking posey but worn & sized correctly, no other article of clothing could more correctly be termed as timeless.

Yep, worn wrong, they look like costume but ironically the trousers on actual people in the 30s-40s look timeless because they fit properly. I had some arguments with people on the TFL Facebook years back lol. I think it’s about the way they hang if they fit properly in the top block (and this is relevant even if they’re a pair you wear with braces; the waistband in that case would be wider than your actual waist but the seat and hips still need to fit right).

 

[Pandemic]

I think we should all be weary of absolutes. Fashions change - rises and hems sizes go up and down. People talk as if there is a style most flattering to men, but it really is about body types. Some bodies look better with a mid rise and slim leg, so are flattered with a higher rise. It also depends on what else you are wearing. Engineer boots look best with a wide leg, Chelsea boots look best with a more narrow opening.

When I can afford it, I prefer to go mtm for trousers, with a high (13”) front rise and a fairly slim/straight (for me, anyway) leg that opens to around 8”.

 

[Jasonissm]

After changing much in size and having to replace all my pants I own, there is only really one pair that I am very pleased with; that being the Buzz Rickson 1942 chino, perfect width for my height and leg length, also one of the few pants I have that fit me well in the waist without the need of a belt nor being tight, as well as fitting comfortably elsewhere too. Literally no complaints with this pair, might get some other colours of it considering how much I like the fit and fabric.

I'd really like to have some more pants in a similar cut, just found for me wide-ish straight leg pants with a higher rise than most brands offer just works.

Other pants that fit me generally well, but not great include some Kapital century denim jeans, some flares as well and Dickies 874, bought a bunch of different cuts ranging from slim and very tapered, but wide leg just works best for me so it's time for me to get picky again with what pants I'm buying. When I was rebuilding my wardrobe I just got whatever interested me so got a bunch of makers or fabrics I found interesting but with suboptimal fits for myself.

Plus getting a nice pair of engineers has also further swayed my opinion this way needing a wider leg opening for comfort and being able to put them on more easily.

 

[navetsea]

I wear my pants un ironed, I dislike pressed line on pants, so I don't think pleated pants works for me, also high rise pants never works on my body type, I don't have the longest of torso, and my waistband will just drop where low or mid rise pants would be at, and all that high rise would just pool like baggy drop crotch pants unless I wear suspender, I tried once the elasticed clip on type and I don't appreciate that shoulder to ball pulling synergy at all, I reach for the top shelf at supermarket and I feel what I'm doing on my ball. no thanks.

 

[navetsea]

I think we should all be weary of absolutes. Fashions change - rises and hems sizes go up and down. People talk as if there is a style most flattering to men, but it really is about body types. Some bodies look better with a mid rise and slim leg, so are flattered with a higher rise. It also depends on what else you are wearing. Engineer boots look best with a wide leg, Chelsea boots look best with a more narrow opening.

When I can afford it, I prefer to go mtm for trousers, with a high (13”) front rise and a fairly slim/straight (for me, anyway) leg that opens to around 8”.

I agree any extremes won't age well, our eyes might have been conditioned to follow what's trendy in our community and so after browsing countless of highrise pant wearers photos, your mind starts to think that is the norm and it looks great for you, the same you who think they look ridiculous few months back when you see those fit for the first time. The same like wearing triple denim because someone spending too much time in denim community and so extreme things start to look normal for them.

for me personally mid rise, snug on the top block, slim and tapering from the hip to just above the knee, and then straight down to the hemline which is slightly long to break on the shoes for the slack pants or to stack a bit for jeans is ideal and will be forever ideal for me.

 

[Aloysius]

I think we should all be weary of absolutes. Fashions change - rises and hems sizes go up and down. People talk as if there is a style most flattering to men, but it really is about body types. Some bodies look better with a mid rise and slim leg, so are flattered with a higher rise. It also depends on what else you are wearing. Engineer boots look best with a wide leg, Chelsea boots look best with a more narrow opening.

When I can afford it, I prefer to go mtm for trousers, with a high (13”) front rise and a fairly slim/straight (for me, anyway) leg that opens to around 8”.

I agree with basically everything you’re saying, though I think wide hems work on Chelseas too, as long as they’re long enough to fully break so at that point they look like shoes.

I think there’s a range that usually best suits a specific person’s body, so the versions of ‘low’, ‘mid’, and ‘high’ rise, taper, straight, flare, etc on him that work are going to be slightly different numbers than they are on another person. That’s something I liked about this brand because the fits are not hugely apart in measurements (like none is a full straight leg like the Buzz Rickson’s that @Jasonissm and I have both liked a lot), so they seem more like a chance for people of different bodies to get the same look.

A good way to see this in action is looking at public figures who had decades-long careers but wore bespoke clothes, which was pretty much the norm until the late 80s. You can see how the details like that change on their clothes but they still ultimately fit.

Like see Roger Moore in the 60s in his narrow lapeled jackets and tapered trousers with a fuller top block; ten years later the same tailor was making his clothes, but the rise is lower, the top block is slower, the leg straighter. They still fundamentally fit and look good because they’re taking into account his body.

(I need to get the Blu-ray to take better screenshots!) Being a 60s show it’s also harder to find jacketless photos.

 

[Pandemic]

^
Agreed and a good example. Those Frank Foster shirts were pure fire, too!

 

[Aloysius]

^
Agreed and a good example. Those Frank Foster shirts were pure fire, too!

I used to walk by Frank’s shop all the time without realizing that’s where it was… he was still alive then too! Damn shame.

Apparently his daughter and wife are amazing too and next time I’m in London I want to stop by but apparently Frank was a natural storyteller when anyone was in his shop.

I heard somewhere that this guy was having a bad day at work and went on a walk to clear his head; remembered he’d read about Frank Foster being nearby so he walked in. Guy ended up having a long conversation with Frank about movies and before he left, Frank gave him a brand new shirt that had been ordered by a customer about the same size who’d passed away.

 

[Olumin]

Great find! Ill probably order their Tanger model in white as Ive been looking for a white pair of warm weather trousers in this style.