How to wear trousers for evening
Trousers in the evening is such a good look. Think of that 1975 Helmut Newton shot of an Yves Saint Laurent Le Smoking in a backlit Paris street. The woman is wearing a tuxedo and tailored trousers with a buttoned-up white shirt, and she’s as sexy as any of his nudes, to my mind. If I walk into a cocktail party and among all the women in dresses there’s one in trousers, she’s the one I want to meet.
Tricky, though, I find. I love trousers-for-evening in theory, but in reality (on me) not so much. But do you know what? I think I’ve finally realised where I’ve been going wrong. Here’s the thing: the concept of trousers as eveningwear suggests the trousers should be in some way fancy, but trousers that look nice on real women tend to be quite the opposite. A gold leather paperbag-waist pair look great on Gigi Hadid. Ditto high-waisted latex leggings. Ditto jewelcoloured palazzo pants. Which is great, fine, good for her. But when I try on any that are elaborate – even a bright colour, or an embellished waistband – I look in the mirror and, it’s not necessarily that I hate how it looks, just that I feel a bit self-conscious, and suddenly a dress seems as if it might be the answer after all.
The trousers that look nice on most of us are simple trousers. You know that already. What are your favourite trousers? Maybe an old pair of jeans. Maybe a hardworking black pair you have on constant standby. Maybe a great pair of tracksuit trousers. Who would name a gold leather pair as their desert-island trousers? Nobody, that’s who. Except maybe Gigi. So it makes sense that your trousers-for-evening should be simple, too.
The ones I’m wearing here are an old favourite pair from Whistles; I haven’t worn them in the evening because I think of them as work trousers. But, look! Add a camisole and a pair of heels, and this is a passably dressed-up outfit – in a pair of trousers I really like and therefore feel relaxed and happy in.
Admittedly, this combination lacks the drama and verve of Le Smoking. But evening trousersuits just don’t work on me. I feel as if I’m wearing an unfamiliar uniform, for a job in which I haven’t passed the probationary period. Trousers for evening can be tricky territory. But you won’t go wrong if you keep it simple.
• Jess wears cami top, £26, oasisstores.com. Trousers, Jess’s own. Heels, £99, kurtgeiger.com. Styling: Melanie Wilkinson. Hair and makeup: Samantha Cooper at Carol Hayes Management