Trousers that are too short for you are the next big thing; they’ve got a name and everything. What I’m wearing here is a High Tide Hemline. Or a Cropped Flare. Or an Overgrown Bermuda. OK, I made that last one up, but the first two are real, as is this trend.
The too-short trouser looks pretty out-there, no doubt about that. And yet the high-tide hemline is just the natural next step in a direction trouser lengths have been headed for years. Do you remember when we bought trousers extra long, so that when you wore them over heels, they almost touched the floor? Undeniably effective at making you look super-leggy, but a practical headache in that you needed a different pair of trousers for each heel height, and you couldn’t stash flats in your bag to walk home in without trashing the bottom two inches of your strides. By last year it was all about trousers that ended bang on your ankle bone, and that sliver of skin that flashed between the turn-up of your jeans and trainers was a fashion erogenous zone for a few months. And then the catwalk shows for this season happened, and at first I thought all the models had had growth spurts since their last fittings, and then realised that no, the trousers were meant to look like that, ending an awkward, chilly two inches north of where you’d expect them to.
That catwalk moment was six months ago, but if it wasn’t my job to do so, I wouldn’t be wearing these trousers yet. I would be eyeing them in street style pictures and on Net-a-Porter, and if I happened to spot any normal-height, normal-sized woman wearing them on the bus, I would be blatantly checking her out for clues as to how to make it work. There is a human instinct to hold back, to be sure you’re not alone. If you ask a roomful of people for a show of hands in answer to a question – even an innocuous one – a few will raise their arms straight away, but most will wait, look around and take their cues from those around them.
But here I am, wearing the trousers already. They say life begins outside your comfort zone, so I guess I owe you guys a thank you. But, still. If I’m going to wear trousers that make my legs look shorter, I’d rather we were in this together. A high tide is fine, but I’m waiting for a level playing field.
• Jess wears trousers, £125, karenmillen.com. Top, £38, topshop.com. Boots, £115, dune.co.uk.
Styling: Melanie Wilkinson. Hair and makeup: Sharon Ive at Carol Hayes Management.
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