Cheryl Shops

My love of black pants probably began when I was in college. I had a pair in a stretchy boot-cut polyester from Contempo Casuals, where I worked, and they made me feel very chic and grown-up. I wore them out to parties and bars, with going-out tops of course, or with a more demure sweater or blouse when I needed to look polished. Conservatively speaking, I probably own about 10 pairs of black pants at the moment, and yes, I wear them all. Some of them are skinny—a silhouette that I truly don't think will ever go fully out of style—some are straight leg, but what my closet has been missing is a true menswear-inspired wide-leg trouser. I've been searching for the right pair for awhile and have had some misfires, but I've finally found The One, and it's so good, I've been living in this pair for the last month or so. Styling wide-leg pants can be a little tricky, especially if your closet is heavy on longer tops (which look better proportionally with skinnier pants), but I'm here to help. Here's what I'm wearing with my wide-leg trousers.

If you are of a certain age like I am, khaki pants (or chinos—they're pretty much the same thing) probably played a prominent role in your adolescent wardrobe, thanks to the Gap. I haven't owned a pair since their peak in the late '90s, but I've started to see them pop up on some of my favorite bloggers over the last several months and thus was influenced to buy a pair (see, it happens to me too). Silhouettes have changed a bit in the last 25 years—we've gone from bootcut to skinny to wide leg to straight—but the pair I went for is pretty timeless: high-waisted, wide-legged, and pretty darn flattering if I do say so myself. Here's how I'm wearing my wide-leg khaki pants. 

I've been talking up wide-leg pants a lot lately, so I thought it's time to put my money where my mouth is. Or, to put it more succinctly, I decided to buy a pair of wide-leg black trousers. I got inspired to do so after seeing a woman wearing what I'm pretty sure is this Chloé pair on the street—the front wrap detail makes the silhouette extra unique and feminine, not to mention perfect for camouflaging a food baby. And while I do certainly have one of those right now, I don't have $1,250 to spend, but thankfully I found a very similar pair (on major sale, even) at ASOS. And let me tell you, after nearly 15 years of wearing skinny jeans, I had completely forgotten how comfortable wide-leg pants are. I've been wearing them pretty much nonstop since I got them—they look so polished, yet you can totally dress them down too. So with that in mind, here are two ways to wear wide-leg pants.