#AskPedro – How long should my pants be?

This question comes from reader Brian:

Thank you for putting together such an interesting and insightful site. Can you speak to the proper length of men’s dress pants? The style where I currently live (Oslo, Norway) is a bit longer than I am used to. Is pant length (the front having a slight horizontal crease) a hard and fast rule?

My response:

Pant length is tricky because it really comes down to personal style as well as the types of pants – cuffed, slim, etc – and shoes you are wearing. For instance, pants that fall exactly how you like on regular oxfords might seem a bit short with loafers. Some people also feel that cuffed pants should fall a little bit shorter than uncuffed, to avoid a lot of fabric bunching on your shoes. However, there are some basic guidelines.

In my opinion, you have three choices, all based on how much of a break you get when your pants reach your shoes.

Full Break

Your pants hang down low on your shoe heel, which produces a large break in the front. I don’t prefer this style because unless you are in suspenders, your pants will ride down even lower throughout the day and pool on top of your shoes (see top photo).

Small Break

Your pants stop near the top of your heel with only a small break in front. I prefer this style for most of my pants so that they look neither too short nor too long. This also works well if your pants are slimmer and so the break is small.

No Break

Your pants hang down straight from your waist, stopping at the top of your heel so there is no break at all. This can look the most elegant, especially with cuffs, but demands suspenders which will keep the pants from either riding up and exposing your socks or pooling on your shoes.

The thing is, most men fall into two other categories: those who wear their pants straight off the rack, without getting them hemmed and so their pants pool in huge, sloppy folds around their feet. After a while, you’ll also see them fraying at the back where the pants drag on the ground. At the other end of the spectrum are the hyper-trendy who wear pants so short they look prepared for a flood.

Neither, in my opinion, is elegant or classic. I try to follow style icon Luciano Barbera‘s advice: “I do not want to see your socks, but I do want to see your shoes.”