the Case of the cuff
It wasn’t long ago when I would completely disregard trouser cuffs as something ancient that is best forgotten and any existing evidence burnt. Shame on me. These days the majority of my pants, both for suits and odd trousers, have cuffs; hemmed pants being reserved for a suit or two that I strictly wear on very formal occasions.
Above from the left: Ring Jacket Drago Solaro, Loro Piana Soft Touch
There are countless articles out there teaching both the history and rules with regards to cuffs, so I won’t go into much detail on that, although the latter does play a part in, I guess justifying my choices.
I always choose pleated pants. Preferably two pleats. I also tend to wear high waisted pants (which is somewhat ironic seeing as all my jeans till recently are low rise). All in all these features lends themselves quite well to cuffs which coincidentally aligns well with the rules normally proposed for pants. The reason as to why I use the word coincidentally is that the reason I started adding cuffs in the first place was that I prefer a tapered leg, and by that I mean slim. And by that I mean very slim.
My initial idea was that by adding cuffs I could add a little more visual weight to an otherwise slim cut and at least get a little closer to good proportions for my body shape. It’s not easy having a weak spot for slim cuts when you have rather skinny legs relative to your upper body. To put it into perspective, as I have mentioned earlier, I wear a 48 drop 6 jacket, with additional adjustments to cut away bulk, yet my pant size is a 44. I am fully aware that I should ideally go for a straight leg with less taper, but hey, as long as you know, right?
When ordering or adjusting my pants in Japan my preferences in this area, as well as others, has raised some eyebrows to say the least. Japanese are well known for being rule sticklers (for better or worse), and within the sartorial realm this is no exception. You should have seen the reaction when I opted to increase the cuff length by a mere half centimeter, from the standard 5cm.
“Yes, one can” would’ve been my answer to his unasked question. Needless to say I was hesitant to bring up my next preference of a tapered 17cm leg opening. I got it done to my liking in the end. Adding more fuel to the fire, I ended up with my standard request being a 16cm leg opening with 6cm cuffs.
In my opinion cuffs give pants that little extra sartorial flair and for someone who tends to keep it quite moderate, it feels a little more expressive than regular hemmed pants. I would definitely suggest adding it if you haven’t yet, if anything just to get some variation.
Ring Jacket Army Serge
A couple of advices though;
I would primarily go for pleated pants. Depending on the rise of the pants and the length you choose for the cuff, it might look misplaced having that bulk at the end of an otherwise uninterrupted, clean line.
If you’re self-conscious about your hight and worried that cuffs will shorten your perceived hight even further, first of all, don’t be! There’s nothing wrong with being short and this shouldn’t stop you from experimenting. But I would in general try opting for a higher rise, regardless of whether you go for cuffs or not. It really does wonders for your overall proportions and as for pants with cuffs it will cancel out whatever shortening effect taking place, if any.
As a side note, I am almost certain cuffed pants has been a conversation starter for me. As trivial as it may sound, if you’re into tailored clothing, it can act as a hint to like-minded people whom you encounter.
In my case, although there is no language barrier, it is not always easy to strike up a conversation with locals, whom I seemingly have no reason to engage with. But there have been several situations where someone would say something in the lines of “I like the style, very classic” which would lead to longer quite memorable conversations.
