Trousers for Short, Skinny, or Small Men

Economy of scale runs the modern stockroom:  if you’re far enough outside the averages it’s no longer worth selling clothes that fit you.  Smaller men — both the short and the skinny — often have no choices at all in department stores.  When they do have a choice it’s often a bad one.  Learn to recognize the good options, and to only settle for clothes that are flattering your smaller figure instead of disguising it.

Find Clothes Meant for Short Men

Trousers are more of a pain to fit than department stores want you to believe.  It’s not just about the two common measurements (waist and inseam).

A pair of trousers can be a great fit in both of those places and still look lousy on you.  Smaller men are much more likely to find pants that fit in all areas shopping stores or brands made specifically for small-size customers than buying major department store brands in their small sizes.  Those tend to be the same trousers as the larger sizes, scaled down equally everywhere rather than adjusted for the proportions of a smaller man.

The Youth/Boys section of clothing stores is usually worth checking out if you’re small enough, as are boutiques that cater to short men or stores with a heavy European or East Asian audience, where clothing is usually sized smaller and tighter than in America.

Get the Fit Right, Everywhere

Any badly-fitted part of your trousers does something a small man never wants:  it creates a loose wrinkle or a tight pinching, breaking up the smooth lines of your body and drawing the viewer’s eye.

You don’t want that — you want a person’s gaze to travel all the way up your body and to your face, giving an added impression of height.  Any bagginess also has the unfortunate effect of making a small man look swallowed by his clothes.

In addition to being fitted closely in the waist with no sag, trousers should fall far enough to make a short “break” with the cloth resting on the top of your shoe.  If the legs are too long the break bunches up and extra cloth piles on the shoe (bad); if the legs are too short the trouser cuff doesn’t brush the shoe at all and a bit of ankle shoes (also bad — it’s distracting and makes you look like you’re wearing a young boy’s short pants).

The seat of the trousers should be close to your body, and the “drop” between the waist and the crotch of the pants shouldn’t be so long that there’s loose cloth between your legs.  You want as tight a fit there as comfort permits to cut down on bagginess and drooping.

Eliminate Unnecessary Details

You want your legs to be as plain and streamlined as possible.  They’re not the stars of the show, and if people are staring at them they’re perceiving you as shorter than you are.

Stay away from anything that adds visual elements to the pants.  Trouser cuffs are especially bad for short men — they not only add visual clutter, they effectively shorten your legs by a quarter-inch or half-inch (or more, with some exaggerated cuffs).

Pleats are also less than ideal, and aren’t necessary for more slender men.  Unless you’re particularly broad in the hips and backside you’re better off with close-fitted, plain-front trousers.

Wear Trousers High and with Suspenders

That’s sort of two separate pieces of advice, but they’re related.  A short man always benefits from making his legs seem long and straight.  Wearing trousers up at your natural waist lengthens your legs more than wearing them at the hip, but it also gives the pants a straight drape downward.  Trousers at the hip bunch up and then spill over, and on a stouter man can make the belly bulge as well.

A belt creates the same bunching effect and adds a broad horizontal line that cuts your body in half.  Whenever possible, wear pants with no belt loops and hold them up with suspenders instead.  That eliminates clutter, adds another vertical element, keeps attention away from your waist, and also holds the trousers out from the body slightly, letting them fall in a smooth drape instead of puffing out from a tight binding.

Wear Dark, Plain Colors or Vertical Patterns

You usually don’t wear patterned trousers except as part of a suit.  If you do have a patterned suit stick to something with vertical striping only — any sort of checkering breaks up your visual impression and makes you look wider and stouter rather than taller.

For the most part your trousers should be simple monochromes.  Dark colors give the slimmest, most streamlined appearance, and also help with another balancing act:  darker colors on the lower body paired with lighter colors above help draw the attention up toward your face the same way that vertical patterning does.

Conclusion:  Controlling a Smaller Man’s Appearance

Choosing the right trousers is all about control.  Getting a good fit in a slim, uncluttered, dark style lets the rest of your appearance — not the length of your legs — define how others see you.  Worth the extra time and effort?  Absolutely.