Looks like I'm going to have to send my new pants back to Bean. Of the three I
ordered, the only pair that comes close to fitting are the ones in the men's size.
Yeesh. The others, even in a petite size come too high up my waist, with the
result that, even in a larger-than-usual size (because I expected this) they're
way too tight in the waist. I seem to be in some weird size range all my own, not
skinny enough for juniors and not curvy enough for misses. (Actually, J. Crew's
junior petites fit me well enough. They just don't have what I
want.)
Here's what I want, aside from world peace and enough for
everybody to eat and all that. I want a pair of khaki pants, no pleats, in a dark
khaki, British khaki, or even taupe shade. I want them to sit on my hips rather
than trying to enforce a waist I've never had, but I don't want them so low that I
can't wear them to work without showing unprofessional amounts of skin. I don't
want current high style, just classic comfort. I want them loose enough to tuck
things in, maybe even a little baggy, long enough to touch my shoes, and short
enough that I don't step on them. To translate that to real numbers, that would be
about a size 5/6 that's not designed for 17-year-olds with a 28 to 30 inch inseam.
I've searched the websites of all my usual places, and can't find anyone with the
low-but-not-superlow waist, the petite length, and the color all in the same place
-- I can't find any better than two out of three.
Maybe I'll just go
to the men's department and try on some Dockers. Is this all too much to ask? It
doesn't seem too much to ask -- just basic comfortable fall khakis, damn it. As I
said, I don't have much of a defined waist, so that lower waist is a matter of
comfort rather than style for me. This, by the way, is why I always get so ticked
off at clothing manufacturers that brag they've lengthened the rise in their pants
"to fit real women".
As I wrote recently to
href="http://www.eilatan.net">Natalie, real women are big and small, round and
flat, tall and short, fat and skinny. Why can't manufacturers just tell us what
body style they design for and provide links for those of us with similar tastes
but different shapes?
If I could wave a wand and turn the jeans I'm
wearing dark khaki-colored, I'd about have it. Maybe it should tell me something
that I'm wearing a pair of men's 501s.
The other ironic thing is that
I have what I want as far as fit, just not in the right length or color. The
shorts I was wearing while shopping online would have been perfect, if I could
turn them to pants and change their color.
Why is clothing always so
damned hard?