February 20, 2007

Pants...why oh why can't I find pants?

I need pants. For the majority of the time I've been working in the past four years, I've been in maternity clothes. So pretty much everything I have from before pregnancy is horribly out of date. Or just looks wierd since my body seems to have changed for some odd reason. *ahem* I've been rotating jeans, cargo-style and two pairs of nice casual pants every day and I'm bored.

I recently went through my closets and got rid of everything that I don't think I'll ever wear again. Regardless of what I paid, whether I loved the colour or might possibly have a reason to MAYBE wear it again. I had quite a few things that I loved but wore to death and they were just no longer…fresh looking. Out they went. I'm not saying that I want/need to replace everything. I want to have a few key pieces that I can mix and match and that can be dressed up or down. My workplace is very casual as far as government goes…I can get away with jeans and cargos with a basic long-sleeved tee every day if I want to. But sometimes I want to femme it up a bit so I wear a blouse, and maybe dress pants.

My problem is that I have a very hard time finding pants that suit me. I have no waist, no hips and a normal length inseam (32"), and my legs are super super skinny. Its hard to find the waist and hips I need in the right length. I especially HATE shopping for dress pants. I despise the polyester pants that you usually find in most big stores. Give me thick cotton with a bit of stretch. And no pleats, tapering or high waists. All three of those make me look like I have no ass or hips at all, which isn't what I need. Last month I was in Jacob (which is usually way out of my price range…) and found a wicked pair of casual, straight leg, low (but not plumber low) waist cotton pants with just a bit of give. And they were ON SALE! The only ones they had in my size were beige. Well, they had brown (I already have brown dress pants that are actually half decent) and a weird green, but I wanted black. I do have a pair of black dress pants, but that's only because I got suckered into the skinny pant phenomenon in the fall and I've since decided that I really don't like them. As if my feet don't look big enough… Anyway, I did get the beige at the time because they were just so comfy and it’s a style that hopefully won't go out of style for a few years.

So I hit the stores during my lunch break today. It was a whirlwind trip…I hit four stores at the Rideau Centre in an hour and tried on clothes in three of them. Shopping should be an Olympic sport…

I have my favourite stores for each style of pant… Old Navy rocks my world for cargo pants. I don't even have to try them on…I know that a size one will always fit perfectly. (I know, I know…"shut the fuck up you skinny bitch"…) but I have three pairs of cargo-ish pants…I really should get something else. Next store…

I do need a pair of jeans. I have one pair and they are six years old and faded. They were faded when I bought them, but I want a pair of the dark ones that seem to be the trend now. I said I'd treat myself to a pair of 501's when I came back to work in the summer, but I tried a pair on and they look much more terrible on me than I remembered… So today I looked at Old Navy but they didn't have the size I needed in the low rise. Ultra low rise just isn't my thing… My usual place for never fail jeans is Bluenotes. The only annoying thing is that they have every waist size and leg length combo you can imagine, but never what you need. I tried a pair of 27s in a 34 leg 'cuz that's all they had. Too big. (yah, yah…STFU, I know…) And miles too long. The dressing room chick brought me a different style in size 26 and they were much MUCH too low. I don't like the feel of the wind blowing in my ass crack at all. Not to mention they were too tight in the leg...putting tight pants on me is a big mistake. Makes me look even skinnier. So scratch the jeans for now…I'll try back in a couple of weeks to see if they have new stock.

On a whim, I checked to see if Jacob had received stock in the pants I have in black…no go. Looked at a few other styles, but none of them really looked quite right. Too tapered, too high, weird pockets, "tenting" when I sit, etc. Just before I left for the office I ducked into Gap and they have a couple of styles of both jeans and dress/casual pants that might work, but my hour was up. I'll go back next week to try some.

So all that and I came back with a bag of shirts for Jon and the boys. And I'm seriously considering going back and getting the cargo pants that looked soooo good and were soooo comfortable. They were on sale…and dark blue cargos is ALMOST the same as jeans, right?

5 Comments:

Blogger themikestand said...

I sometimes like to femme it up at work, too. Keeps people on their toes, and the rumour mill from running dry.

Good luck with the pants. (Also, clearly I'm trying too hard with my wardrobe over here in gov't.)

21/2/07 12:38  
Blogger Tanya said...

mike, ah good. glad to hear you're providing gossip fodder to keep things interesting. ;)

21/2/07 16:01  
Blogger Amy said...

I hate shopping for pants too, and I don't have the same issues *sigh* that you do. LOL! My only problem is finding them long enough in the leg without being huge in the waist. And what's with the high waisted pants coming out again all of a sudden? I have flashbacks of my mother wearing hers... I just can't do it!! Did you go back for the cargos? My experience has always been if they fit and look and feel great, get them, cuz they're probably not gonna be there next time!

22/2/07 07:43  
Blogger Tanya said...

amy, no i haven't gone back...still waffling. the only reason i'm not sure is that despite how great they make my butt look, they have drawstrings at the bottom of the legs and i don't like that. i might go try them again and see if they are long enough to hem. that and i'm not sure abt the navy now...its not like jeans and you can just wear anything with them...they are actually BLUE pants. i liked the beige a lot (darkish more brown beige...kinda hard to explain), but already have a pair that colour (but lighter beige). BUT these ones are super thick cotton and the others i have are light-weight...more for summer really. and i can't get both. i think i'm just overthinking things. its a pair of friggin' PANTS for god's sake...

it just occured to me that i could just take the damn drawstring out to solve that problem. duh...

22/2/07 08:40  
Blogger ccw said...

I hate shopping for pants! I have a well-defined waist but I have hips so it is near impossible to find something that fits both. Plus, I am short so no matter what size I am wearing it takes forever to find pants.

26/2/07 08:20  

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