11 Comments
User's avatar
Lin's avatar

I love angled pockets but agree they're so hard to fit if you have wide hips (as I do). I live in hope though, and pleats on the front help somewhat. How do you tackle dressier occasions? I find it hard to dress up in a way that aligns with my everyday, somewhat unisex style and always end up defaulting to a dress that makes me feel just ok...

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Kiyana's avatar

I wish I had better advice to offer here, but I'm unfortunately in a similar boat as you because I don't like to wear tailoring or suiting! But, I'm always tinkering/experimenting so I'll share some thoughts when I think I've cracked this

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blei's avatar

one thing I learned is that cargos are your BEST FRIEND!

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Murdoch Walther's avatar

Just popping in to say I love love love your style of writing. Keep it up! Also, I never thought about the pockets sticking out thingy. Some very good tips here!

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Kiyana's avatar

That’s such a nice compliment, thank you! 🥹

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Lottie Young's avatar

This is honestly so helpful! As someone who finds endless inspiration from menswear, works in menswear and is constantly trying and failing to make men’s clothing work on my similar body type, I salute you

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Kiyana's avatar

I’m so glad I could be of service!!! 🫡 you’ll have to let me know how it goes if/when you put these tips into practice!

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Foxy's avatar

Great to see this, thank you, and love to see Derek always so inclusive in sharing knowledge about menswear for everyone who enjoys it. I think high rise pants (trousers - I'm in the UK) work better on taller people, I'm 5ft 2.5 or 5.3 on a good day ! and I always look for low rise slim because then I look less squat and the low waistband below the actual waist and sitting at or below the hips then can hide the hips because the pants are straighter up and down. However the problem with this is they can then have a low crotch which can just be too low, and this gives the effect of having shorter legs than one actually may have. An ideal low rise would have a short distance between the crotch and the waistband, but it seems absolute hit and miss finding these unicorn trousers! As a short king lots of peeps have said, just go on holiday to Japan and take empty suitcases! But that is a v expensive way of refreshing a wardrobe!

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Kiyana's avatar

This is all really great insight! And re: Japanese makers — I can't recommend shopping end of season/archive sales enough. I wrote a little bit about that here: https://kiyanaknits.substack.com/p/an-archive-sale-made-me-think-about

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Nancy Knight's avatar

Love this! How about an article like this on how to downplay the bust??

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Kiyana's avatar

Because I don’t have big boobs, I don’t have to work *too* hard to disguise them. Which is just to say, I haven’t been paying quite as close attention to what I’m doing to minimize curves up top as I have been down below. But, I’ll start making some mental notes as I get dressed. Stay tuned! 🫡

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