The Curvy Girl's Guide to Dress Pants

Dress pants are one of those items that quickly make any outfit more professional. Many offices are transitioning from traditional business wear to business casual. While this means you don’t always need to wear a jacket, dress pants will likely still be a staple in your work wardrobe.

When it comes to dress pants, the fit is everything. When dress pants fit incorrectly, the whole outfit looks unprofessional whether they are too tight or too loose. Well-fitting pants can bring an outfit together, and give you a polished appearance.

As a curvy girl, I can attest that finding dress pants that fit properly is not always easy. A lot of items are designed to be a smaller size, and to make the larger sizes the manufacturer simply increases the amount of fabric that is used. Sometimes this works, but more often than not it results in pants that fit poorly in most areas.

Here is your guide for making dress pants fit properly.

Pick a Stretchy Fabric

Fabric that has some stretch to it will be your best friend for dress pants. This is because stretchy fabric has more give, and will allow you some extra room in the more fitted spots. When you’re looking for fabric with stretch, choose something blended with cotton, like lycra, spandex, or polyester.

These fabrics are not the options at the highest end of the price scale, but you will be able to get a lot of wear out of them. When these kinds of fabrics are blended with cotton they become more lightweight, which means you can wear them all day without melting.

They are also more durable. Synthetic fabrics tend to hold up in the washer when compared to natural fabrics like silk. If you’re investing in a piece for work, you want it to last.

Fit the Widest Part of Your Body

Whether the widest part is your hips, thighs, or tush, you need to make sure that your pants fit that part first. You can take fabric off (see below), but it is much harder to add more. Fitting the widest part first means your pants will be comfortable. You won’t have to worry about trying to add something to make them fit.

You should be able to feel the fabric against your skin without feeling squished. A few good signs that your dress pants are too small include:

You can’t do them up.
They are pulled tight across your body.
The waistband digs in.
You feel pinching.

Any of these things are a solid indication that you should try a different size. If you aren’t sure, do the sit test – sit down or squat for a couple minutes. If they are uncomfortable doing that, you won’t make it through a day at work.

Don’t worry about how the pants fit from the knee down. We’ll take care of that a little further on.

Aim for Mid-Rise

Low-rise pants tend to be the most popular, but that doesn’t mean they are the best fit. Mid-rise pants sit just below your belly button. There should be no more than one inch between your belly button and the top hem of the pants.

Mid-rise pants are more flattering on curvy girls than low-rise cuts for a few reasons, but primarily because they don’t slip down as easily.  When you have amazing curves to work with, your pants have to be able to keep up. Since low-rise pants sit further down, the narrowest part of the waistband is likely to hit where your hips are widest. This is both uncomfortable and unflattering.

Conversely, mid-rise pants land a bit higher up, giving your curves the room they need to avoid being squished. You’ll also find your shirts fit better over mid-rise pants – the hem of the shirt won’t be competing with the hem of the pants.

Avoid Flared Bottoms

Flared bottoms are the antithesis to a sleek, contoured look. They offer way too much fabric and not enough structure. In comparison, straight cut, boot cut, stovepipe, and even palazzo style pants create straight lines.

When your hips and thighs are curvy, flared bottoms tend to emphasize the widest parts of you. This happens because the flare at the bottom of the legs mirrors your curves at the top. Straight lines, on the other hand, emphasize the curve of your natural waist (the hourglass part) going into your hips.

Stovepipe – or skinny cut - pants are a good choice to go with any shoe. This cut tends to be trendier, and is perfect if you want a more modern professional style. Remember that your dress pants should not be skin tight on your legs. Rather, a stovepipe cut should be fitted without being snug.

Both boot and straight cut pants are classic cuts that you can wear in any office. They match well with blazers, and are great for balancing wider shoulders and bigger busts. There is a bit more fabric at the bottom of these cuts, which prevents bigger busts from looking top heavy. 

Palazzo pants give off a high-fashion vibe. Because they have wider legs and a lot of fabric, the next tip will be essential for palazzo pants.These a good option if you tend to wear shirts that have slimmer cuts, since it creates visual balance with the wide leg pants. Tops that have extra fabric or have a looser structure don't pair well with palazzo pants. When put together, they look baggy.

Get Them Tailored

Remember when we said not to worry about the pants from the knee down? This is where we take care of that issue, among others. Tailoring is a fantastic option for making things fit exactly the way you want them to.

Once you have pants that fit the widest part of your body and are the cut you want, its time to take care of the bottoms. Tailoring pants to remove fabric from the knee down is super simple and doesn’t impact the fit on top.

Pants that fit the widest part on top might be too big elsewhere – for example, they fit your hips but are too big on your thighs. Tailoring will fix this. An experienced tailor will be able to adjust your pants so that they fit perfectly all over.

When it comes to palazzo pants, the goal is to have straight lines going from the top of the pant to the bottom hem. The widest part of your body will be used as the guideline for how wide that is.

Don’t forget to get the length tailored. Consider whether you will wear them with heels, as this will impact how long they will be.

Hang to Dry

The dryer is not a happy place for dress pants. You run the risk of shrinking them, either around or in the length. Throwing your pants in the dryer could also ruin the fabric.

Either hang your pants up, or lay them flat. If you hang them up, use a hanger that has clips designed for pants. Folding them over a shirt hanger will result in awkward creases.