Beauty Tips for Ministers
Because you're in the public eye, and God knows you need to look good.
How To Hem Pants
July 16, 2007 on 10:34 am | In General Assembly/Conferences, Pastoral Fashion Emergency, Or "PeaceBang, Help!", The Jeans Debate, Women's Clothing | 14 CommentsDear ones,
Reader Karen E submits this query:
I am an avid reader without even being a clergyperson! Imagine that. Here’s my question: If I have shoes of various heights – flats, loafers, shoes with heels (not spikey, but a bit high) what’s a good way to figure out how long or short to hem my suit pants? Don’t want high water pants with the lovely heels, but don’t want to drag all over the street when I’m wearing flats or loafers or other shoes suitable for walking that I also wear with those same pantsuits. What’s a good solution?
Dear Karen,
Thanks for writing!
This is an important question, as it highlights the problem of promiscuously interchanging all our wardrobe items when really, we would be better served by thinking of most of our clothing as being in the category of “work” OR “casual” — not both. If we did this, why, there’d be no more wearing of scrubby jeans and wrinkled tee-shirts to the office! And PeaceBang thinks that would be a good thing.
Every professional woman should have casual pants and work pants in her wardrobe, and hem the professional pants for a moderate heel. Very dressy pants should be hemmed for one’s highest heels, as they can be worn longer.
What that means for you, Karen, is to make sure those pants are hemmed to the right length for heels. Tell your tailor your dilemma, bring shoes of both heights, and see if you two can find a happy medium (long-enough for heels, but on the shorter side of “long-enough” so you can wear flats). You may not be able to wear your suit pants with your flattest flats. You will have to make some decisions.
One of the most awful sartorial mistakes PeaceBang sees ALL the time on male and female clergy colleagues is the Too-Short Trouser, which makes ones legs look shorter and which conveys, if anything, anti-elegance. Add to that some bunching around the derriere and horrid pleats in the front and we have an occasion of outright Trouser Tragedy!
Friends, your friendly neighborhood tailor can help you find the right height for your pants. Bring in your moderate heel and look for the back of the hem to hit an inch or so above the floor. My “dressy” jeans (dark denim, flared bottom) are hemmed to hit the floor in flats, because if I wear them on a professional outing, I wear them with 2-3″ wedges or heels. Too-short jeans always look atrocious. Please, ladies, please stop wearing your jeans to the top of your ankles. If you’re going for a capri look, that’s not it.
And now PeaceBang is off to a week-long colloquy on theodicy and is having a devil of a time figuring out what to pack. Important People will be there, but the conference is on the beach in Cape Cod and the conference center says to dress “casually.” What that means to PeaceBang is that she should do her best to walk the fine line between “I’m on vacation and don’t give a hang what I look like” and “I really respect these speakers and participants and want to spruce up for the occasion.”
I think this will translate as nice, crisp tee-shirts and cotton skirts, 2″ wedge flip-flops (I’ve given up: everyone wears them now), and nice cotton pants, more crisp tees and big funky necklaces. My nod to respect means no shorts, no capri pants (I’m too lumpy of body for them to ever look neat and polished enough), and none of my summer-favored Boho get-ups (gypsy skirts, babydoll dresses, huge hoop earrings, schmattas on the head, etc.).
Oy, the things we have to think about!
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Devil of a time; oh, groan!
Perhaps you could take lots of linen — which I always associate with beachy elegance — and a flatiron (made of real iron) to press out the instant wrinkles.
Perhaps your first instinct is more practical.
Comment by Scott (Boy in the Bands) — July 16, 2007 #
When you say wedge flip-flops, you mean something classy and leather… not plastic/rubber, right? And what is a “crisp” t-shirt? Does it really exist?
Comment by Jeannie — July 16, 2007 #
PB – our mutual friend Li’l Flava just got a pair of these in black. I’m thinking of getting the brown ones, though they are pricey and I have never worn slides with a big toe thingie. But I’ve been trying for years to find stacked-heel slides that look and feel right and don’t have a high-heel feel (i.e. where the ball of the foot is not too low in relation to the heel — I have foot problems otherwise) and these are the first shoes that fit the bill. They are leather and city-ish (or dressed-up resort-ish). Not that you have time or money to buy things before your conference on evil and suffering, but this is for everyone thinking about pulled-together-but-casual summer wear. The link is to the maker’s website but you can look on Zappo’s and the other discount shoe people; they were out of my size (the ubiquitous
there but they may not be out of yours.
There are also nice city-ish lower slides here. Both of these are from Børn.
Comment by Caroline Divine — July 16, 2007 #
Oops, I wrote “the ubiquitous 8″ but because there was a close-parenthesis next to the 8, the blogging software turned it into a
!
Comment by Caroline Divine — July 16, 2007 #
You frequently talk about “crisp” tee-shirts. I’m not quite sure what you mean — I don’t think I own a tee-shirt that ever looked “crisp” which leaves me in a quandry for the in between events you describe. Could you illustrate or expand sometime? Thanks.
Comment by Kate — July 16, 2007 #
I *think* that those crisp T-shirts exist in the noumenal realm, to which PeaceBang and other select Philosopher Haberdashers have access, but I do not….
Comment by Mary Ann — July 16, 2007 #
“Crisp t-shirt” sounds a great deal like the boxy, dare I say it, rather frumpy numbers available from LL Bean, Lands End, etc. And “big funky necklaces”? Oh, no. Don’t do it. That’s really very eighties.
Comment by Grumpy writer — July 17, 2007 #
I think “crisp T-shirts” means the kind of knit blouses you find on Land’s End or L.L. Bean and not your old college rags. FWIW.
Comment by Cathy — July 17, 2007 #
Crisp T Shirts:
1. Fit (meaning that they aren’t too too tight and aren’t too loose–this is very hard). it is worth going to a department store–particularly if you are petite, in my experience–to get something not too tight in the arms or the torso, since most things are sized for younger folk it seems to me.
2. Are made of fabric opaque enough to look right. This also helps them last more than one year.
3. Are washed and dried and hung up, or at least folded loosely, so they don’t look like they’ve been on the floor.
I don’t always get it, either, but these tips helped me.
Comment by madgebaby — July 18, 2007 #
One more very important thing regarding t shirts:
Get a good (not necessarily expensive) “T shirt bra”–underwire, a little padding but not necessarily much–that fits, in a color that matches your skin (exactly, or a slight bit darker if you can manage). Your endowment, or lack thereof, will thank you.
Comment by madgebaby — July 18, 2007 #
But underwires are all ouchy.
I hereby eschew T-shirts!
Comment by Mary Ann — July 18, 2007 #
Before you swear off all t shirts
I think a non-underwire bra might be available that would be suitable.
Comment by madgebaby — July 19, 2007 #
I like Old Navy’s “Perfect Fit” t-shirts. They are fairly heavy weight, inexpensive, not too long, not too short, come in tons of colors. Sleeves are not too tight. And, they don’t change from year to year!
Comment by Louise — July 19, 2007 #
Grumpy Writer, please do let the buyers at all everywhere from Barney’s to Macy’s to Bloomingdale’s to Claire’s to Nordstrom’s and so on know that “big, funky necklaces” are 80’s, and unacceptable to you! Reality check #1: the 80’s are back in a big way. Have you seen the cut of shirts and dresses lately? Read all about it in Vogue and Lucky and WWD. Reality check #2: Today’s iteration of the big, funky necklace is different. Go out and look. You’ll be amazed — and maybe pick up something flattering and fashionable along the way.
Crisp tee-shirts, ya’ll: Madge got it, and so did others. A touch of spandex in the fabric makes all the difference, and there’s nothing wrong with ironing. LL Bean and Land’s End both sell four or five different style of tees. We don’t advocate big, boxy and frumpy on this blog, as regular readers well know.
So, ladies: crisp colors (NO PASTELS!), shape, fit, non-floppy or stretched-out neckline, no stains, no gaping or too-tight armholes. In short, something that wouldn’t look out of place under a blazer or paired with a beautiful leather belt. If you wear tee-shirts often, replace them before they become faded and stretched out and sloppy looking.
Comment by PeaceBang — July 20, 2007 #