Pants

It's so important to get pants that fit right. My office designated "casual Fridays" just a couple of years ago, and I decided I needed nice chinos (khakis) to set aside for that. I squeezed myself into my old ones a couple of times, but not a good idea to be popping out in the office. In fact, because of my thighs, I think they wore out on the inside seam. So I bought a new pair a year ago last December, a size bigger, from LL Bean.

I've bought from LL Bean for years. When I worked at a company that was all casual all the time, my work wardrobe consisted entirely of cotton pants and shirts from their catalogue, refreshed by mail order seasonally. Their sizing is almost always spot on. So I can track my ups and downs by what size of their stuff I wore. At my very peak of fat, back in the last century, I wore an 18 petite. This bigger size a year ago was size 16 - the first time I needed them since I gave them all away in 1999.  But the size 16s were crisp and new and really quite nice. And they came out of the dryer crisp and pleated, a more successful miracle fabric than previous attempts.

By March last year, however, they were too big. With some trepidation, I sent off for the next size down - 14 petite. They were perfect!  They also showed off my weight loss, thus far, very nicely. As the ultimate pear-shaped woman, who carries most of her weight below the waist, I really can't be seen in too-big trousers ballooning out over my already ample hips very often.

By the way, LL Bean has these pants in roughly a gazillion different very slightly different variations, with three different rises and plain versus pleated fronts and regular and elastic waists.  I must say, I really don't care for the currently fashionable lower rise. I have a very distinct waist and I like to fasten my belt around it, letting it rest above my hip bones. (My waist-to-hip ratio would signal good health, if it wasn't built on such very big hips!) And I don't think its flattering to me to cut my length (by different colors or textures) at my widest point.

Now, I am reaching the point where I am seriously thinking about going yet another size down. I'm going to hold off a couple of weeks to make sure the holiday weight is truly gone. But it's pretty exciting to me - size 12!  I haven't seen that for a few years. It'll take me a bit to work my way through the 80 gazillion choices to buy pants that look just like the ones I'm replacing, but I think it will end up making a difference in how I look. And I'll probably allow myself a bonus frivolous buy from the same catalogue as my reward.  The fleece queen may gain another prize!