The Complete Dress Pants Guide for Petite Women

If you have short legs like me, finding the best pants is not easy. 

I am 5’2″, and I certainly understand the challenges for petite women like us when looking for well fitted pants! I’ve put together this guide based years of trial and error for everything you need to know about petite dress pants.

THE FIT

Since petite dress pants need to be well fitted, the number one thing you should be paying attention to is the fit of course.

Waist

• A pair of well fitted petite dress pants should not be too tight but also not too loose. 
• They won’t be as stretchy as jeans, because of the fabrics.
• On the other hand, they should be able to hold up without a belt.  In fact, many petite dress pants are not supposed to be worn with a belt. 
• A wider wait band has the benefit of sucking in your tummy, like a corset.

Butt

• They should lightly hug your butt and not be saggy or super tight. 
• You never want to feel like you are splitting the pants when you are sitting down!

Rise

• They should hit around the high hipbone area, or even slightly higher. 
• They typically will have higher rise than jeans. 
• Rise is an important factor to the fit.  You need to make sure the rise fits you properly when you try on the pants, because it is not something a tailor can easily fix later.

BEST STYLES

You can choose the right style for the occasion you are dressing for, but in general, flare leg, boot cut pants and full length wide leg pants are most flattering if you are petite.

Narrow leg

You may be familiar with this kind of pants because traditionally they are how the suit pants look like. 

These could further be broken down into straight-leg or skinny pants, but they are both cut with a slim fit. 

Tips to remember when using narrow leg pants

Just as suggested by the name, these are dress pants that are cut to narrowly hug your thighs. 

But still, you want to be able to pinch around 1/2″ to 1 inch of fabric on either side of your thigh.  Without that, you might find it hard to sit down.

Wide leg

Many of us love petite palazzo pants to wear on vacation, but dress pants can absolutely have wide legs as well. 

Wide leg dress pants will look different from the kind of pants you wear on the beach, because of the fabrics and the fit.

In this picture, I was wearing these (click for similar styles in petite sizes): cami, black wide leg pants

Bootcut

These are some of the most flattering cut for petite women, and they pretty much can go with any tops.

Flare leg

They should be your wardrobe staple.  The flared out leg design is super flattering to shorter women who want to look taller.

BEST LENGTH

The inseam of your petite dress pants depends largely on two things: the leg style and the shoes you wear.  I will talk more about shoes later, but here is the things you want to know regarding the leg style.

Skinny leg pant length

These are even narrower than the straight leg pants. 

So, if they are longer than your ankle, most likely they will bunch up. 

Ideally, you should be able to see your ankle when you wear these pants. 

On the other hand, it is not end of the world if your skinny leg pants do bunch up a little at your ankle (hey, we’ve seen them that way on some red carpet looks of petite celebrities, so, that could just be a different kind of look and not a big deal).

But, if you do want to go for a sleek look and do not want any extra fabrics around the ankle, hem your pants at a tailor or simply cuff them up for a quick fix.

Wide-leg pants length

In this picture, I was wearing these (click for similar styles in petite sizes): green cami, black wide-leg pants

Think long.  You will find wide-leg pants of different lengths at department stores and they can go from mid-calf to ankle to full length.  In my view, the longer the better for petite women.

Why? Petite women are short thus you need length.  Anything wide stretches horizontally and will make you look shorter.  How to counter that effect?  Go long with your wide-leg pants.

Of course, the length should still be practical for you to be able to walk without tripping. 

You should still be able to see the tip of your shoes in these pants.   

They should cover the top of your shoe and leave a portion of the heel and toe exposed. 

You don’t have to be exact, but to give you an idea, aim for a length that is 1/2 to 1 inch from the floor.

Straight leg pant length

With straight-leg petite dress pants, the best length is to hang straight rather than gather at the top of your foot.

Therefore, they should be no longer than your arch. 

You do not want them to bunch up around the ankle and look sloppy. 

Ideally, straight-leg pants should fall just below the ankle, only slightly touching the top of the foot and the back of the shoe.

In this picture, I was wearing these (click for similar styles in petite sizes): waterfall cardigan, camel ankle pants, nude pointy-toe heels

Flare leg or boot cut length

These are generally easy to style and you can be quite flexible about the inseam length, but you normally don’t want them to be too short. 

Depending on the width of the flare, these generally look best when they cover the top of your foot, like the wide leg pant. To give you an idea, 1/2 – 3/4 inch from the floor is a good length.[

Choosing the right inseam for your shoes

Another important aspect about shoes, when it comes to styling your petite dress pants, is that they affect the choice of your inseam length.

If you plan on primarily wearing heels with your dress pants, then you should be wearing heels when you try on the pants in order to decide the optimal inseam.  Are you showing the tip of the heels with the wide leg pants (just right)?  Is the flare-leg pants almost hitting the floor (too long)?  These are the things you would only find out if you see yourself in the mirror with your heels on.

Now, if you already know there will be times you want to wear dress pants in flats, then prepare in advance and try on the pants with flats to make sure your pants are not sweeping the floor.

Is there a solution for inseam that can work with both flats and heels?

In my view, that will only work with ankle length slim fit pants.  For other styles, you may have to get two pairs, one for the heels and one for the flats.

BEST FABRICS

Fabrics are a big factor for dress pants, regardless they are for petites or not.

Wool

Traditionally, the highest quality of men’s dress pants are made of wool or wool blend (with high percentage of wool combined with synthetic materials).

With our petite dress pants, again, we have so many more choices.  They can be wool of course, but they can also be other high quality fabrics like silk, or a blend with other synthetic fabrics.

Natural over synthetics

You can be totally flexible with what fabrics you like, but one thing you should keep in mind is the better the fabrics, they dressier they look on you.  Higher quality fabrics are breathable and less prone to wrinkles, which is really important when you are wearing dress pants to your events or meetings.

My personal preference is natural fabrics vs pure synthetics, because I have highly sensitive skin that easily gets irritated with man made materials.  Wool and silk are my go to choices.  However, I have also noticed that wool can be itchy to my skin as well, unless they are specially treated.  So, what is a fine balance? High wool or silk content with certain mix of rayon or other man made fabrics.

Structured fabrics

The most important part in deciding on the fabrics is to make sure they have the proper weight to be drapery enough.  You absolutely do not want them to clinch on your legs, except for the skinny fit pants which are supposed to be snug fit.

Out of all the natural fabrics, normally I would say linen is a pretty fine material to wear in the summer.  However, dress pants, might not be heavy enough for the drapery effect.  Linen pants have an inherently relaxed vibe and they may be better suitable for vacations.

SHOE PAIRING

Heels

Shoes are such a big part of our outfit that they can totally set the tone of your image.  When you put on heels, do you instantly feel taller (dah!)?   Your posture will also be different, no matter you are standing or walking.  That is not an imagination.  Heels change the weight distribution on your feet, so scientifically speaking, you do walk differently in them.

Since we are talking about dress pants here, heels are a no-brainer.

Your dress pants will look a lot better when you wear them with heels, especially with wide-leg dress pants.

As I mentioned earlier, a wide leg design by itself could potentially make you look shorter.  But, with the proper length combined with high heels, they can work very well on petite women.

An important tip to style petite dress pants is to make sure the color of your heels blends with your pants.  That will ensure your bottoms form an unbroken vertical line, making your legs look much longer and your proportion look much better.

Pointy toe flats

There is always exceptions, so I don’t want to say that you can only wear heels with petite dress pants ever.  There probably will be times when you need to stand a long time or walk a long time in your dress pants, and you might find flats the only solution to save your feet.

Ankle-length slim-leg dress pants go better with flats than wide-leg pants.

What do you do in those occasions? Wear dressy flats!  That means your flats better have pointy toes, and they better match the color of your pants. (Read my post on Best and Worst Shoes for Petite Women)

THE COST

You should treat purchasing petite dress pants as an investment decision.  That means, you should get the best value for your money but not go for the lowest price you can find.

Think about it- the occasions you need to wear those pants are typically when you want to leave a great impression.  Whether you are with a client of yours or going to a wedding as a guest, you want to look expensive and want your pants to look fine quality.

With that said, you can still find petite designers who carry dress pants that fit a wide range of budget without having to break your bank.

The number one best selling dress pants in our Petite Dressing store are these made from 100% silk.  We are offering our petite customers an introductory price to try them from the emerging designer Twenty Four Fashion in London.  For the high quality fabrics, this price is unbelievably reasonable.

RECOMMENDED BRANDS

Here is a list of my go-to brands and retailers where you can find nice quality petite pants that will fit you properly and suit your budget.

Ann Taylor

This is my go-to store for work pants. Most of the pictures in this article are from Ann Taylor. I’m sure this is a brand most petite women are already familiar with.  What I like the most about them is the classy design.  You can find dress pants not just for the office, but also good for other occasions you need to dress up.

Express

Over the years I have gotten plenty of pants from Express which are my go to for reasonably priced and trendy styles. Express makes two types of pants suitable for petite women, i.e. the “short” pants and the “petite” pants. I have purchased both and they fit me quite well. One thing I notice is that they seem to fit tighter in the waist and looser in the legs for me. So, if you have a slender waist and thicker thighs, you may find Express pants fit really nice on you!

Banana Republic

One of my all time favorite stores to look for petite pants, be it casual styles or dressy pants. The wide leg pants in this article are from them, but I also own many causal pants from Banana Republic. Most of the time I do not need to hem them, because their inseam is just right for me.

Jcrew

This is another favorite brand I always shop for everyday pants. Most of their dress pants are mid rise, so, if that is your favorite, you will love their petite pants. I personally love the quality of their winter pants, as I live in a colder area and need really warm pants made of wool blend.

Nordstrom

There is many reasons that Nordstrom is one of our favorite places to look for petite pants.  An obvious benefit of shopping at Nordstrom is that you can find different brands that fit different budget. When you think of Nordstrom, you may immediately associate it with the world renown labels that you will only consider when you are in the mood for a splurge.  It is true that they do carry the expensive designer brands, but you can also find brands of middle price range that won’t break your bank account.

Better yet, they also have their own in-house brands for petites which you cannot find else where.   Here is the list of petite brands exclusive to Nordstrom:

• 1901
• Calson
• Chelsea28
• Halogen

For this reason alone, it’s worth regularly checking back!

Brooks Brothers

Brooks Brothers is the place to look when you are searching an investment piece that will last for years to come.  They are known for the top quality fabrics and the craftsmanship.  Their design is normally clean and simple, best for the office setting or client meetings.  If you love minimalist style, you will find the petite dress pants for you here.

Tahari ASL

I first noticed this brand because of their petite suits.  Then I discovered you can find other good stuff here too such as petite dress pants.  Since the fit and the cut are so important for petite dress pants, it is good to get them from a brand known for suiting- don’t you agree?