Check your trousers in the mirror before you step out of the house in the morning. They should ideally graze the tops of your shoes, in what Luciano Barbera called the "mid-Atlantic break." A puddle of cloth on your shoes when you stand is too much, and half an inch of sock showing between shoe and trouser bottom is too little. And if no adjustment gives a proper result while keeping the trousers from falling down, get thee to an alterations tailor.
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6 comments:
Will -
Don't you find this depend somewhat on the degree of taper in the trousers though? To me a wider opening can go longer and not puddle (although maybe this pertains only to uncuffed pants), and will look better while walking.
David
Yes, I am beginning to re-examine the various airs of pants in my wardrobe, and I think the full break I typically opt for when purchasing new pair (or a suit) is slightly too long. Rats! I'll need to have everything altered over time.
Best Regards,
Ulrich von B.
I really like your shoes. The oxford boots. Could you tell me what they are?
Looks very English, like the Edward Green Shannon, but with brogue :)
Nice cloth. Are those trousers the match to the jacket in the photo on your Nov. 30th post?
I went from a noticeable break to the slight break or none at all.
Nowadays I alter my own trouser hems. Learning how to hand-sew an invisible hem should be something every clothing aficionado, with a bit of dexterity, has a go at. It's rewarding.
I like to wear plain hems and these are much easier to 'tip'. This is the business of having the back of the hem taper slightly toward the heel, which means the heel and back ankle are covered while the slightly shorter front of the hem can, as Will put it 'graze' the shoe without a break.
And to the eye of course it's never perceived that the hem isn't straight. Cuffed trousers are much harder to tip and most aren't. And I don't like that look of trouser bottoms looking like bells with my ankles as the clappers.
Had someone asked me, I would not have said you were a mid atlantic man, excluding your "pents." But maybe it is a progression I haven't noticed, or I was just dead wrong all along, which is common for me.
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