The “floods” you once knew as a kid due to inconvenient growth spurts are now back in action, this time intentionally.
No longer a sign of ill-fitting clothing caused by a bad tailor, men’s cropped pants are popping up tastefully around campus this fall.
A cropped pant leg stands out amid a sea of full-length pants, while adding subtle depth to any outfit. Anyone with either a pair of scissors or a pair of cuff-able jeans is able to try this raised-hem trend on for size.
Whether you prefer them paired with a bare ankle or some flashy socks, here are two ways to style this season’s easiest trend.
Aerospace engineering senior Wade Lancaster took a tip from the ‘80s for his look, cuffing his light wash, vintage Calvin Klein jeans to rest carefully above the ankle and show off the logo on his Tommy Hilfiger socks.
His jeans are fastened by a brown vintage belt and topped with a simple, striped long-sleeved tee for effortlessly-cool fall goodness. To add color to his casual outfit, Lancaster chose a pair of green low-top Converse.
How do you describe your style?
My style is all about minimalism and simplicity. I like unisex options, which typically tend to be simple.
What advice would you give for styling a pair of cropped pants?
They’ve got to fit perfect in the waist. Other than that, do your own thing.
Where is your favorite pair of cropped pants from?
I bought my favorite pair of cropped pants at Goodwill. They’re Polo by Ralph Lauren, brown corduroy and they hit just perfectly above the ankle.
What’s the perfect length of cropped pants for you?
I like them to be right above the ankle. I usually wear socks that have a logo on it, and I like that in cropped pants the logo can show on the sock.
Advertising junior Nick Drammissi took a bare-ankled approach to the trend, styling his black, cropped ASOS trousers with a pair of mustard, low-top Nike SBs.
Drammissi wore a long-sleeved, striped American Apparel tee, allowing the lengthiness of his top to contrast with his hemmed pants and give his outfit a skater vibe.
To bring his look full-circle, Drammissi chose a pair of RAEN sunglasses of similar hue to his sneakers.
The missing bottom two inches from Drammissi’s pants showed off a dainty stick-and-poke tattoo which peeked out cheekily from its placement beneath the hemline, enjoying its exposure in the autumn sun.
How do you describe your style?
I like to wear simple, minimal things when it comes to tops and bottoms. I also really like flashy sneakers. I have a bunch of bright colored sneakers. Mainly I wear surf-style clothes, but streetwear sneaks up on me when my playlist preference goes from rock to hip hop. It’s a mixture of what I like and what likes me.
What advice would you give for styling a pair of cropped pants?
Start low and go higher I feel like when you wear high-tops your crop should cover the top of the shoe, whereas when you wear low-tops, however high or low your crop is just kind of depends on you. Cropped pants are weird because there are menswear cropped pants which seem to be lower, then there’s that current skater/surfer cropped pant that can almost be considered capris. I guess the spectrum of croppiness just depends on the person’s specific style.
Where is your favorite pair of cropped pants from?
There’s a store down the street from my house that mainly sells gear for desert rats, like red Dickies and SRH shirts. One of my friends discovered that they sell skinny Dickies there for 20 bucks and we all bought them. I cut the bottom of all mine and they look real smooth with high tops.
What’s the perfect length of cropped pants for you?
I normally wear size 32/32 for uncropped pants or jeans. I would go 32/30 for cropped.
