MFA Pants Guide v4.0
by u/wuzpoppin (2020)
Use this guide to help you figure out how you personally want your pants to fit. Everyone has different styles, inspirations, and goals, so it's hard to say what pants you need in your wardrobe.
I don't own any duck canvas pants but maybe you love them. Maybe someone else likes cargo pants but another person thinks they're dumb. This isn't about what specific pants you should have in your wardrobe, but how to find pants that fit the way you like.
As a home cook, I'm a big fan of "Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat" by Samin Nosrat. If you're familiar with her book, I hope you see some similarities in how I approach pants, which is basically that you have your own style, but here are some tools to help you understand, search for, and communicate your ideas better.
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Pant Diagrams and Pant Terms
Before we get into details, take a look at these pant diagrams. These are from Uniqlo. Most clothing websites should have one of these, but this one is clean and simple.
Keep these up as you read — specifically this one — and glance at them so you know what I'm talking about.
I'm not going to define terms because it's all in these pictures already. Visual references are better than words.
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Pant Styles
Skinny fit
Skinny fit pants fit snug to the leg.
They have a small leg opening ("Bottom Width" in our Uniqlo diagram) — somewhere between 5" and 7" across (12.5cm and 17.5cm).
Most of the time, these are tapered.
Slim fit
Slim fit pants fit closer to the body than regular fit pants, but not as snug as skinny fit.
They're the most popular, widely accepted style of pants at the moment.
Their leg openings can vary between 6" and 7.5" (15.25cm and 19cm).
Regular fit
Regular fit pants don't hug the leg like skinny or slim fit pants, but they're not super big either.
They're meant to fit over your legs comfortably, giving enough room for your body but not so much that they balloon out.
Leg openings can be around 8" to 9" (20.25cm to 22.75cm).
Wide fit
Wide fit pants fit much looser than regular fit.
They give more leg room for comfortability and breathability but they're most widely used for fun aesthetic purposes, i.e. playing with drape and silhouette.
These leg openings can go from 9" to 11" (22.75cm to 28cm) — sometimes even more.
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Pant Cuts
I've separated "Pant Style" from "Pant Cuts" because it's important to note that the "Cuts" listed below refer to the ratio of measurement between the (1) thigh or knee width and (2) the leg opening.
Straight
Straight cut pants are shaped so they shoot straight down from hip to thigh to leg opening.
There's no varying leg measurements here — the legs are one circumference right down to the ankle.
Tapered
Tapered pants are shaped so they follow the form of the leg.
They're one circumference at the thigh or knee and a smaller circumference at the ankle.
The strength of the taper determines something conventional like this vs. something less conventional like a carrot cut.
Bootcut
Bootcut pants are cut to fit straight from hip to knee, but then widen out from the knee to bottom hem.
Depending on the style, the upper block can fit slim or regular, and the strength of the bottom flare can vary as well.
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Pant Styles and Cuts
Combining the different styles and cuts together provides different silhouettes for pants.
Here are some examples:
Skinny tapered and straight (most skinny jeans are tapered).
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Pant Length
Inseam vs. Outseam (or overall length)
Again, check this diagram to see what "inseam" means.
We generally use inseam as the default for pant leg measurement vs. using the outseam.
Depending on a pant being low-rise or high-rise ("rise" is covered below), the outseam measurement will vary. The inseam will not.
Pant Breaks
Pant breaks describe how the fabric of your pants ends at your shoes.
Here's a simple breakdown of pant breaks from Proper Cloth. Respectively, this shows a Full Break, Half Break, No Break, and Crop.
I'm not going as detailed as Quarter Breaks vs. Half Breaks because these are casual pants and who cares.
Sometimes you'll see internet shorthand for this as PSI, or pant-shoe interaction.
Here are examples of pant breaks in real outfits:
Half Break (or Quarter Break)
Rolling your pants
For pants that are very long, a nice alternative to hemming is to give your pants a good roll (or two or three).
Rolling your pants lets you easily play around with your breaks without having to visit a tailor or dry cleaner for hemming.
Some other reasons for doing this:
You like the look of thick, rolled cuffs and will specifically get longer pants to achieve this.
You're too lazy to get your pants hemmed.
You bought really fancy pants that you don't trust to get hemmed because it might ruin their intended shape.
You might want to resell them later.
You're too lazy to get your pants hemmed.
You're wearing boots or hi-top shoes and want the whole shoe to be visible.
Some days you like a full break on your pants, and some days you like a crop. "It's nice to have options," you tell yourself.
You're too lazy to get your pants hemmed.
What about if I'm short / tall / thicc / skinny?
I can't really tell you what to do. I've seen too many examples of different body types pulling off all different kinds of pant lengths. This is where you take the information and experiment on your own.
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Pant Rise
If you're still using our Uniqlo diagram, which you should be, this is the "Rising Length" measurement.
The rise is the distance between the bottom of the crotch to the top of the waistband.
Pant rise determines where the waistband sits on your body, which will determine your perceived waistline.
This is useful for short and tall people, but it has nothing to do with your height and more to do with how your body is proportioned — basically the visual proportions of your torso vs. your legs.
Low rise pants
Low rise pants work great for people with shorter torsos and longer legs.
Low rise pants will place the waistband low, around your hips.
This will visually lengthen your torso in comparison to your legs.
A lot of times, people don't tuck in their shirts so you can't see the waistband anyway, which gives the same illusion of an elongated torso.
These will usually measure 7" to 8" (17.75cm to 20.25cm).
Examples. (Some of these are just mid-rise worn low.)
High rise pants
High rise pants work great for people with longer torsos and shorter legs.
High rise pants will place the waistband higher, generally around the proper "waist."
This will visually lengthen your legs in comparison to your torso.
These will usually measure 10" to 11" (25.5cm to 28cm), or more.
Examples. (Likewise, some of these are just mid-rise worn higher by the waist.)
In lieu of a more detailed section on pleats (which definitely deserves mention), here’s a note from u/KarateManN64:
The only addition I can think of is that pleats tend to look better visually on higher rise pants. If they're lower than like 10.5" (26.75cm) then pleats tend to just be a bit too much visually and lack the space to really perform their function usefully. I also encourage everyone to play around with pleats, because I find they really help make pants more comfortable.
The takeaway: Rise balances out your proportions. Figure out if you have a long torso or if you're long legged and play around with the appropriate rise.
A fun takeaway: Use rise to play around with your proportions in weird ways. If you already have long legs and want to look like you have even longer legs, try high rise pants anyway. Vice versa with a long torso and low rise.
A confession: Pant rise is the last thing I look at when it comes to pants because I suck.
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Pant Waist
This one is simple. Just measure the circumference of your body where you usually wear your pants and look for the garment size that matches this measurement.
This is also affected by the pants' rise, so if you're looking at high rise pants, know your true waist measurement. If you're looking at low rise pants, know your hip measurement.
This does not mean look for the tagged waist size. I mean look for numbered measurements in centimeters or inches.
Do not trust tagged waist size. Do not trust tagged waist size. Do not trust tagged waist size.
Vanity sizing is real and shitty.
Use measurements.
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Buying New Pants
Cool, we have all this information. Now what?
You need a frame of reference to understand what this new information means. This frame of reference will be a pair of pants you already own.
So go grab a pair of pants from your closet — ideally your favorite pair of pants. If you don't love any of your pants, just grab any pair of pants.
Now take out that piece of shit Uniqlo diagram again and some measuring tape.
If you don't have measuring tape — because let's face it, most of us don't — go find a ruler, which will work just as well. I know you have a ruler somewhere.
If you don't have any of that, there's an app on the iPhone called "Measure" (which is a default Apple app) that can take pretty accurate measurements of items. I'm not going to walk you through how to use the app, it's pretty straightforward.
Now we have our Uniqlo diagram, a measuring tool, and a pair of pants, yes?
Grab your pants and take measurements of the following:
Waist
Rise
Inseam
Leg opening
Now you know what your pant measurements are. Use these numbers to compare against the measurements on various clothing websites.
If you used a shitty pair of pants you hate, try to figure out why.
Is the waist too small?
Is the rise too low?
Are the legs too short?
Does it not taper enough?
Use these questions to help you determine what measurements you think will work in a new pair of pants and experiment. This is important and the only way you'll figure out what pants will work best for you.
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Less Important Details for a Beginner's Guide
Here are some things I feel beginners can safely ignore, until they really truly understand the above topics:
Drape and weight
This is probably one of the most important aspects I look at when it comes to pants as a hobbyist. Although they’re very important details for someone to know, I don’t think they’re necessary to understand at the beginner level, but definitely one of the next steps afterwards.
Material and Texture
Most mens pants are going to be some form of cotton or wool.
I'm not gonna go on listing different kinds of pants because there's a whole world of different materials, but none of that matters if you don't understand how you like your pants to fit.
Textures are really cool to play with but not something you really need a guide for. I think basic inspo albums and quick descriptions are good but second only to experiencing and touching different materials.
On that note, here's a bunch of inspo albums for different pants to check out:
Construction
Most stores will give you good enough construction quality. Yes, H&M's construction is fine. Pants at fast fashion stores can last you for years if you size them correctly and you're just doing general daily tasks in them.
I really couldn't tell you the details of how my own pants are constructed. Honestly it's not that important to me. I do my research based on the designer / brand, their skills, their material sourcing, etc. and trust that the construction quality is there.
Color
Color is really not that important vs. understanding fit and shape. I hate talking about color because it's the last thing you should worry about if you don't know how to get a fit you like.
i.e. Too many people wearing weird color chinos with horrible fits.
Pocket Styles
5-pocket, cargo, side pockets, a million EG pockets. They're pockets. Buy what you like, what else can I say.
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This is obviously not written in stone, so if you see anything you think should be changed or updated, let me know!
Thanks to u/halfthegoldtreasure and u/theflavoroflife for throwing me some inspo pics 👌👌👌
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Edits:
Bootcut pants added to the "Pant Cuts" section.
Inspo albums added to "Material and Texture" section.
Pleats quote added to “Pant Rise” section.
Metric conversions added throughout.
This guide is really comprehensive! As a game developer who frequently switches between different settings (from working from home to client meetings), I find slim tapered fits to be the most practical. The section on pant breaks is particularly helpful - I could never figure out why some pants just looked off before.
In my spare time, I'm also developing some small games. If anyone's interested, feel free to check out [https://whatgamesplay.com]. Sometimes fashion inspiration and game design inspiration are interconnected - both are about proportion and visual balance.
Thanks for sharing such practical content!