Men’s pants roll off the cuff
Cropped looks are a blend of classic and comfortable
The ankle has legs. The short of it for guys these days, stylewise? Cropped, cuffed, rolled and even pegged pants, jeans and trousers.
It’s a street-ready incarnation of the unfussy formality pioneered several years ago by designer Thom Browne and his flood-plain-friendly suits. The trend is “a case study in how something can evolve from shocking to downright normal but without you even notic- ing,” says Tyler Thoreson, a vice president for Gilt Man and brother site Park & Bond.
“Now, you look at a guy with even a pair of jeans bunching up around his ankles, and it just looks wrong.”
So what looks right? Ryan Gosling pegging his dark denim, James Deanstyle. More subtle than that calf-exposing trend of yore, the manpri, some of today’s looks come cropped or pre-pegged; others require hand-rolling. And for summer, the anchor is a loafer, worn — as styled by retailers such as Lands’ End Canvas, J. Crew and Piperlime — sans socks.
“It’s this great mash-up of contemporary and classic, which sort of defines where menswear is right now,” Thoreson says.
Lucky magazine’s Jen Ford says to start with a “tailored, straight-legged trouser perfectly rolled up,” and the result “doesn’t look sloppy; it looks very pulled together.”
Jennifer Gosselin, senior vice president at online retailer Piperlime, pairs the abbreviated pants trend with the “huge” return of the boat shoe. “There is this sort of casual, put-together preppy vibe” that has emerged in menswear — and womenswear. Witness the scads of female stars flashing a little leg, from Jessica Alba to Jessica Biel. Even with its retro elements, the look “just feels fresh and modern.”
And yet democratic: “Guys who aren’t necessarily fashion followers are following this look,” says Thoreson. Before attempting a cuff, the pant silhouette should be slim and the length hemmed.
“You don’t want a 3inch-thick doughnut encircling your ankle,” says Thoreson, who advocates a modest swath of exposed skin to just above the ankle. And with cuffing, “the beauty is you can unroll those pants when the trend changes, so there’s more hedge to your bet.”