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Current fashion often includes pants that puddle on the ground. I can appreciate the look, but how do I wear them and keep them clean at the same time? I don’t want to spread the yuck through my workplace, my favorite restaurant and my home. Is it possible to be stylish and hygienic at the same time? — Donna, Chicago
“Puddle pants” — essentially wide-legged trousers so long they hit the ground and “puddle” around the feet — is a relatively new term for a not particularly new phenomenon. But it sounds so much more exciting, and intentional, than just “extra-long pants”! And while they might seem to be one of those fashion trends that seems more like parody, they actually have real appeal.
An outgrowth of the baggy pants trend of the 1990s, puddle pants became a thing unto themselves a few years ago, in part because they have the very alluring effect of making you look both slouchy and casual and as if you have super-long legs at the same time (think of them as the cooler versions of bell-bottoms). Especially if paired with a smaller, more body-skimming top for balance.
However, puddle pants do come with two major drawbacks, as you note: Because the hems are so long, they tend to get dirty, and sometimes they also end up getting stepped on, which means they shred faster than normal hems.
What to do?
I asked two of the women I most associate with the style, Virginia Smith, Vogue’s global head of fashion network, and Hillary Taymour, the designer of Collina Strada, if they had any recommendations. Here’s what they suggested.
Virginia, who has made something of a personal signature out of puddle pants (“I blame my obsession on a pair of Balenciaga Le Dix by Nicolas Ghesquière trousers I stumbled on in Barney’s about 25 years ago”), admitted there’s really no avoiding the hem problem, since the proportions of the pants is the whole point.
Still, she also noted that she generally wore her puddle pants “just grazing the floor” (jeans, which she wears longer, are the exception). That means some pretty exact shoe-to-hem planning, but it does avoid the worst of the issue.
Hillary, who makes a pair of puddly cargo pants that has become a classic of its kind and that she herself often wears, also said “the key is striking a balance.”
“Embrace the puddle aesthetically without letting it actually puddle,” she said. “Elevated footwear helps a lot: A chunky sole or a little heel can keep your hem hovering just enough to avoid disaster.”
However, the two had some hacks for navigating that tricky situation when ground unavoidably meets pants.
“I do a weird little thing that really works,” Hillary said. “I tuck the hem of my pants underneath my heel inside my shoe while I’m walking outside. I know it sounds strange, but it keeps them from getting filthy on the street or the train. Once I’m indoors, I just pull them back out and let them drape as they’re meant to.”
She also added that you could always just hold the pants up when walking, for a sort of ironically royal effect, “or, if you know you’re going to be going a long distance, even safety pin them a little higher for the journey, then unpin when you arrive.”
If all that fails, Virginia said, when things get irreparably dirty, she simply resorts to creating a new hem, “a tiny turn-under, so you don’t lose the length.” Think of it as sewing sleight of hand — no splashes involved.
