What length should suit trousers be? – Reader question

James isn’t sure about his trousers: I had some suit trousers taken up recently by a tailor and he insisted that I wanted them so they barely reached my shoes. I insisted on having them a bit lower, but they still feel short. They seem to flap around when I walk. Was the tailor right and what length should suit trousers be?

I have to say, James, I’m surprised at that length of trouser being a tailor’s default. Unless he is an old-school Italian or a modern hipster, I would have expected him to naturally cut the trousers with a break. But perhaps he just thought he was trying to keep up with the trends.

The standard and largely traditional length for suit trousers is that they fall on your shoes such that there is no break in the crease at the back of your leg – it is a straight, uninterrupted line from hip to heel – and in the front there is a single break (fold). This is roughly the same length as the trousers will be if you stand in your socks and the back crease just touches the floor. (This latter measurement being useful if a friend or partner is taking up the trousers for you – easier for them to judge and to pin.)

The traditional length means that your legs appear long and sleek, with no break in that elegant line at the back and minimal interruption at the front. It also means others are unlikely to see much of your socks as you walk along.

However, the trend in recent years has been for shorter trousers (as illustrated above). While designers like Thom Browne have taken it to extreme lengths, most brands and tailors have tended towards the short – something reflected in the trend for men to turn-up the bottom of their narrow jeans as well.

But as I mentioned earlier, short trousers are not just a recent phenomenon. A particular strain of southern European men, particularly in Milan, has always worn its suit trousers short. This is largely a matter of ostentation. As one Italian friend told me a while ago: “I don’t necessarily want people to see my socks, but I damn sure want them to see my shoes.” The trousers are worn short to give adequate exposure to Italians’ more colourful, more often slimmer shoes. When shades of brown are the more common choice for business, rather than black, you can understand that.

Usually these men will wear their trousers so they just touch the top of their shoes – no break in the front as well as the back. They avoid excess flapping by having the trousers cut narrowly and with turn-ups, which means they hug the calves and are weighed down by the extra material.

If you want to echo this tradition of shorter trousers, I recommend going for turn-ups (cuffs). It helps that they too are more fashionable that they used to be. And of course it is easy to reverse that decision later.

However, if you want something more conservative and less likely to be noticed, go for a single break in the front. Perhaps a shallow break, just to give your shoes a little breathing room.