The Ultimate Guide For Buying Pants

Get rid of all of your pant-buying dilemmas with the ultimate guide for buying pants - coming to you from an expert Personal Fashion Stylist who shops for pants ALL. THE. Time. For myself, for my clients who have many different kinds of body types - I’m pretty much never NOT looking for cool and chic pants.

Something that my clients often tell me that they struggled with prior to working with me is knowing how to shop for pants - what to look for, which ones fit their body type, which ones fit their style, and so on. So I wanted to use this post to give you some tips for shopping for pants - so you can learn how to shop for pants like a total pro and not have pant paralysis when you go shopping for pants on your own.

Personal Stylist’s Guide For Buying Pants

But before we get into the tips, let me tell you why I love pants so much, and why you should too. Also, let’s talk about the ongoing debate: jeans vs pants - which one is the superior option.

Jeans vs Pants

Let’s start this off with my unpopular opinion about jeans.

I prefer pants over jeans. I know what you’re thinking - “But Rachel, I love jeans! You can’t tell me to let go of my jeans!”

Don’t worry, I’m not. There is still a place for jeans in your closet.

I do like them, but I often feel quite basic when I wear them (unless they’re really cool and unique). Many of my clients feel the same way, which many times leads to them feeling like they’re in, what I call, a style rut.

You know, the typical outfit formula of a “cute top and jeans.” So many of my clients come to me after wearing that type of outfit over and over, and it’s not that it’s necessarily bad, it’s just that it doesn’t feel unique, creative, or freshly exciting for them anymore.

Pants, on the other hand, can give you that more fresh and exciting feeling that you’re craving, that many times jeans can’t. 

Not to mention, the right pants are actually so much more comfortable than jeans. 

Surprising, I know. 

Even when I’m working from home, as many of my clients do, I always grab my pants over my jeans. And let me tell you - they are so much more comfortable.

Not only that, but if I were to go grab dinner with my partner after working from home, I can easily throw on a comfortable heel or flat and look instantly elevated (as if I tried, but I really didn’t try that hard).

Minimal effort with maximal results, that’s how I like to style. 

Looking put together does not have to be as hard as it seems. And pants can help you achieve that effortlessly put-together look, without trying so hard. 

Benefits of Wearing Pants

If you don’t tend to gravitate towards pants when deciding what to wear or never shop for them, perhaps because you’re still a jeans kind of gal, let me let you in on my secrets as an expert stylist of why I prefer pants over jeans.

Comfort. Let’s be honest - most jeans when you sit down for long periods of time, are not comfortable. If you don’t get the right denim, it can ride up in areas that make it incredibly uncomfortable to wear all day. This makes complete sense as to why so many of my clients are opting for leggings instead.

In fact, lots of my clients go for the ‘business on the top, comfort on the bottom’ look, which results in them wearing mismatched outfits like a blouse on top and leggings on the bottom - especially when working from home.

But they’ll tell me that they don’t really care how they look, even though they know the outfit is not great. 

And that’s completely true, nobody may see them except for them.

When my clients tell me things like this, it makes me wonder:

When did it become a requirement for us to simply get dressed for other people instead of dressing for ourselves? 

In actuality we don’t have to dress up for other people, we really need to dress for ourselves. Getting dressed is an act of self-care, just like washing your face, doing your skincare routine, and all of the other things that you do to get ready for the day. If you’re reading this, I’m quite sure that you actually do care about how you look, how you are perceived by others, and how you show up in your life. When you put in the effort to be put together on a consistent basis, you’re actually going to want to look in the mirror and not look away. You’re going to want to show up in all areas of your life with more confidence because you know that you look the part.

Wearing something that feels more elevated, like pants, can make you look and feel a bit more next-level without the extra effort.

When you get the right pants, either stretchy or with some leg room, they can feel so comfortable, no matter what you’re doing. Whenever I work from home, I’m rarely in jeans and NEVER in leggings (leggings aren’t pants and that’s a hill I’ll die on - but that’s a topic for another blog post).

It’s time to have a higher standard for yourself, even on days when you’re not leaving the house. 

Don’t get me wrong, of course, you don’t always have to be dressed up.

But when you work from home all the time, it’s nice to actually like the way you look - it will help you feel motivated and confident. You’ll feel the difference, and you’ll be excited to get dressed to work every day. Don’t underestimate the power of knowing you look chic, cool, and powerful (because you already are all of that - your style just needs to reflect that).

You can achieve the “cute top and jeans” look, but with pants. So many of my clients come to me and complain that this is all they wear due to a lack of creativity and knowledge about what else to wear. So, when they start working with me and I edit their closet, get new pieces for them that fit their next-level selves, and style all of their new outfits, I always try to include comfy but cool work-from-home outfits - using pants. 

And of course, their date night, business trip, and day-to-day outfits often include pants as well.

Tips For Shopping For Pants

Okay, now that we covered why pants are awesome and why you should try to wear them instead of jeans every now and then, let’s get into my expert tips.

Think About Your Waist

First of all, you want to look for pants that have a relaxed waist.

This can be a stretchier waistband or a material that’s softer in the waistband, where it doesn’t feel so restricting.

If you find that you have trouble with the waist fitting but the pant leg being too large, look for pants that have a mid or lower waist. 
Remember, we want to be comfy and cute, not just cute (or just comfy - leggings, I’m looking at you).

These will be especially great if you’re wearing them to work (or when working from home) - somewhere where you know you’ll be sitting a lot.

How To Choose Wide-Leg Pants Based On Your Body Shape

Wide-leg pants are some of the most flattering pants on most body types, it’s just a matter of finding the right ones. Wide-leg pants can make your legs look like they go on for days, make it seem like you’re taller than you actually are, and you can wear them with stylish sneakers, sandals, and heels. Let me teach you how to choose wide-leg pants depending on your body shape.

Apple shape

If you have an apple shape, look for flat-front wide-leg, or straight-leg pants versus super wide-leg pants. I call these wide-leg pants “slim wide-legs” - they are more of a straight leg that runs around the same width through the pant all the way down. What you want to avoid is pleats. Your legs are one of the greatest attributes of your body, so most things with pleats are going to make your legs look larger than they are. We want to help define your leg.

Inverted triangle or hourglass shape

If this is your shape, look for pants that cinch in at the waist, and are wide or have pleats.

This will help you define your waist even more, will give room to your hip, booty, and thigh area, and add volume to your bottom half. 

Pear Shape

The best wide legs that look great on this body type are both wide-leg cropped pants (also known as culottes). If that's not your jam, opt for wide-leg flat-front pants or pants that have very minimal pleats. 

If you do find pants with pleats, try to get them in a darker color or a thinner material, otherwise, you'll feel much wider than you are! 

Pay Attention To Fabric And Quality

Another important aspect of shopping for pants is the fabric and quality of them. That can impact not only the look of them, but how comfortable you’ll be as well.

 Look for high-quality materials such as cotton, wool, or blends that offer breathability, flexibility, and longevity. Avoid fabrics that easily lose their shape, and fabrics that don’t offer breathability. 

Work With A Personal Stylist

Okay, here’s an alternative option to shopping for your own pants - work with a personal stylist, and let them (aka me) do all of it for you.

Now, you might be curious, what does working with a personal stylist even look like?

When I work with clients, I take them through my proven signature method, the Wow-Factor Wardrobe, which saves them time, energy, and brainpower because they never have to worry about what to wear again; they just show up and look powerfully put together no matter what they’re doing.

First, we do the closet edit either in person or virtually. In this step, I go through the pieces in your wardrobe and edit out the pieces that are not fitting, flattering, or serving a function in your wardrobe so that we can make way for newness. I love to educate my clients along the way so that they can think like a stylist and shop with more intention after we work together as well. 

Then, I go and shop for all of your new pieces and plan out your newly elevated wardrobe, so that you can just show up like the badass woman that you are in every area of your life - from date night to work outfits. In fact, you don’t have to shop at all, all you have to do is show up to a private VIP fitting session and try on all of your new pieces that I’ve highly curated for your next-level wardrobe and style.

Onto my absolute favorite part (and will probably be yours too) - I plan out all of your outfits, for every part of your life so that you never have to worry about what to wear again. I put them in a digital lookbook that is completely categorized by your life, so that you’re no longer having to spend time and brainpower wondering what to wear to any of your life events - everything from airport chic outfits, date night outfits, business trips outfits, vacation looks, and so on.

So, every day, all you need to do is simply see what you have going on that day, find that category in the digital lookbook, and choose an outfit you want to wear - you pretty much just show up and look amazing and get showered in compliments while you’re at it like all of my clients do.

If that sounds like something you’d like to do -  Apply to work with me and let me help you go from style rut to style icon!