Between comfortable and sexy (2)
28 Jun 2009 Leave a Comment
in Carefully Tailored, Extra Pair, Long Pants, Persuade Men Tags: Banana Republic, Droopy-drawer Pants, J. Crew, Muscular Legs, Not-too-tight Trouser, Pattern-cutting, Personal Trainer, Shapeless Pants, Slimmer Pants
“It’s been changing in the last few years,” said Steve Feinberg, a personal trainer at Equinox, who no longer has to persuade men to work on their glutes. “It used to be, Who cares what your legs look like? That’s not the case anymore.”
It’s a coin toss to say which came first: more muscular legs or slimmer pants. Designers like Neil Barrett and Michael Bastian have for a few years now won customers with carefully tailored, not-too-tight trousers that flatter a guy’s legs, a cut that, a couple of years ago, might have been called “European.” Following suit, lines like Banana Republic and J. Crew are no longer cutting the seat of men’s pants with enough material to make an extra pair.
“The old idea of the American fit for pants is shapeless, almost sexless,” said Barrett, whose specialty is a fit that leaves just enough room for the imagination. “This way, when you’re walking, it’s going to touch parts of your legs, and look flattering, without you feeling all trussed up ready for Thanksgiving.”
Not that it is easy to make pants that fit. One reason droopy-drawer pants lasted so long is that they are easy to make (and with all that fabric, they looked equally bad on everyone). The shoulder and the seat are the most challenging areas to design for, every dart and seam opening a margin for error.
As Bastian explained, the advanced pattern-cutting of trousers was beyond his own ken: “Luckily, the factory in Italy that I work with makes this cult women’s pants brand, Gunex.
