AVOID Wearing These 6 Things If You Have Short Legs!

Dressing well can be a challenge if you have shorter legs and, even if you’re blessed with longer legs, did you know that wearing the following things can make you look shorter than you want? 

Confidence comes from how you feel in your clothing. If you want to make your legs look longer, the guidelines from this guide will help. But if you want to incorporate style flares into your ensembles, then that’s okay, too. It means that there’s nothing wrong with going against this advice if you want to. These guidelines are simply meant to help you look as proportionate as possible.

AVOID: (Too) Long Pants

Against what a lot of people might assume, pants that are too long for you will actually make you look shorter. The initial logic is that the extra length hides a shorter leg, but it actually accentuates your leg length in a negative way. This puddling pants phenomenon works against anyone, by the way, regardless of height.

INSTEAD: Focus on a Perfect Pant Length

Pant length alterations are usually pretty quick, easy, and inexpensive. As the pant lengths are likely going to be longer than you need, it pays to get them altered to the right length.

This goes for shorts, too. Don’t wear overly long or baggy cargo shorts. Ideally, your shorts should end right above the knee or a little higher for a classic look. Since it shows most of your legs, giving them the appearance of more length without venturing into short-short territory.

AVOID: Too Short Pants

Did you see this one coming? This is one even seasoned style enthusiasts can sometimes fall into. Since it’s been trendy for the past decade or so to have no trouser break, some men have worn trousers that have bordered on flood risers.

Just as long pant legs, shorter or even cropped pant legs can create an unusual visual disproportion, leading to the impression that you’re wearing someone else’s clothing, instead of actually having a pair that looked like they were actually made for you.

INSTEAD: Refine Your Leg Length

Once you got the perfect pant length, there are a few tricks that you can do to really refine this. Opt for a slight break at most. While people with longer legs can sometimes benefit from a fuller break, it is not optimal for someone who is actually shorter.

We’d personally consider even going for a no break to counteract this, since the cleaner line from your shoes to your waist will give you the impression of more verticality. You could even go for a more military slant. This angled hem gives a very neat look with the right length in front and back, and while being more difficult for a tailor to accomplish, it combines the best of both worlds for pant breaks and looks great on nearly everyone from making a cleaner line than more common methods.

If You Like A Cuff, Be Proportional

Two inches or five centimeters is the typical cuff height, but you’ll need to consider a more proportionate cuff height if you like the look of a cuff. One inch to one-and-a-half inches, for example, is still a classic length that will avoid giving too much bulk that shortens the legs.

AVOID: Long Suits & Sportcoats

While we rarely advocate for the bum freezer jacket styles, a traditionally long military cut isn’t going to do you any favors. Although classic, opting for a longer jacket length will throw the balance of your silhouette off as you’ll be more top-heavy, making your legs look smaller. 

INSTEAD: Alter Your Jackets Precisely

Getting your jacket length tailored to the right length helps create visual balance, and your sleeve length should follow as well, as it looks odd if both your sleeves and your jacket finish at the same spot. A little difference in height makes all the difference overall.

Here’s a pro tip: Jacket quarters that are more open will show more of your legs. Therefore, making them look longer. A Neapolitan jacket style might be perfect here. It’s far more common for this style of jacket to be shorter in length, have a higher buttoning point, and more open quarters, leading to a more relaxed jacket as opposed to a structured look, which requires a longer length for a more appropriate silhouette.

AVOID: Big Scale Patterns

Patterns can be one of the best ways to express your personality, but the unfortunate truth is that big and bold patterns will make you look smaller and shorter. This is especially true when it comes to your legs. And while horizontal stripes aren’t all that common, checks, plaids, and window panes are some of the most commonly used patterns in classic menswear.

Even vertically-striped patterns on a large scale will be detrimental to your overall visual balance, such as a rowing blazer. Because the bolder stripes are noticeably shorter, they create the illusion of being wider more than they do of being taller.

That isn’t to say that you can never wear these patterns; just be aware of the downsides that this could create for your build and how the more extreme variants of these patterns can exaggerate them.

INSTEAD: Use Subtle Patterns and Plain Fabrics

You are absolutely still able to indulge in patterns regardless of your height. The trick is to find more subtle patterns that have a smaller scale. A classic pinstripe will always be your friend, but as they can be a little tricky to wear as separates, mastering your ideal fit in a classic solid color is a great starting point. 

As you grow your wardrobe, you can add in more items, like pinstripe suits, that you have more situational use for. Then, you’ll have a pattern that is one of the easiest ways to appear taller than you actually are since the verticality of the thin lines help give you the illusion of length.

Here’s a side note on pattern. Many people may suggest that you can make your legs look longer by not breaking up your body. That is, you’ll need to wear a full suit or a matching top and bottom half. However, we don’t want to pigeon hole you into to only wearing suits. Even we don’t do that.

Instead, it’s easier to pick up pieces that can be worn with multiple types of outfits. For example, instead of going all out with a pinstripe suit, you’ll get more chances to wear something like a striped shirt. It’ll still help you create a sense of verticality, but it doesn’t always have to be worn with a plain suit. It would still work well with a cardigan and flannel trousers, for example.

For pants, there are even some situational fabrics that work well broken up. For example, traditional seersucker pants have a very similar effect to pinstripes but don’t always have to be worn as a full suit. A polo or OCBD and seersucker trousers look great.

AVOID: Low Rise Pants

Pants that sit at or below your hips are a no-go if you have shorter legs. The visual results are a longer torso and stumpy-looking legs. No matter how well they fit in the legs, this pants style can’t avoid the reality from the hips up. Simply put, it’s just not what you’re looking for.

INSTEAD: High Rise All The Way

We’re not just saying this as classic-style enthusiasts. A higher rise trouser looks great on many different body types.

What happens is a cinch in at the narrowest point of your body, which enforces the desirable triangle torso shape and a naturally longer line to the leg because there’s more cloth past your hips, creating the illusion of more leg than any other article of clothing can achieve.

The key is to find the right balance between hipster rise and a crazy, vintage-costume-level of absurdity.

AVOID: Baggy & Oversized Clothes

The oversized look is one that ebbs and flows in the world of fashion, but whether it’s trendy or not, it’s one that we’d personally recommend just to avoid. Baggy and oversized clothing will only make you look like you’re drowning in cloth. It’s pretty much the idea of the style, after all.

Big baggy pants and wide-fitting jackets tend to only work on a very small percentage of people in the first place, and just look a bit affected on the rest of us. This is especially true if you have shorter legs. Excessively long overcoats are another offender here. They’ll shrink your legs even more with their enhanced length.

On the flip side of the oversized clothing look is the spray-on skinny look, which is also detrimental to your proportionality. Essentially, having clothes hug your frame only draws attention to your height and stature.

INSTEAD: Check Your Fit For Flaws

The beautiful thing about getting a great fit is that the principles are scalable, no matter what your proportions are.

Focusing on fit will pay dividends. Look at the jacket, shoulders, and neck, and pant rise; everything else is easier to tailor if you can get the above things right. And when it comes to overcoats, look for the ones that end right around or above your knee, something like a car coat, pea coat, or field jacket might be a better option for you here, since a shorter coat length is not truncating your legs even more.

Conclusion

The good news is that once you understand what to look for, you’ll get a sixth sense of when something looks off or not. The only problem is that you’ll never be able to unsee it once you know better.

In conclusion, getting your optimal proportions through clothing is both a science and an art, and while not everything listed here is going to fit with your style preferences, they can make a significant difference on how others perceive your height and build.

Do you have any tricks on how to create the illusion of longer legs that maybe we didn’t mention? Let us know in the comments.

Outfit Rundown

My outfit today is a gray, double-breasted flannel suit. Underneath, I have a navy, crew neck sweater, and I’m also wearing a pair of tassel loafers in suede. They are a light brown color. Paired this outfit with a watch from Timex. I also did a silver necklace and a pair of gray socks.

In the spirit of today’s video, my trousers are almost matching my sock color, and this is again to just elongate my legs. My pocket square has a geometric pattern to it. It has light blue, navy, and gold.

For my fragrance, I am wearing Blue Suede Shoes from the Roberto Ugolini collection. For this fragrance and others and also menswear accessories, make sure you check out the Fort Belvedere shop.