Choosing Crops

Pres-
Please help. I love the notion of crops but I think they accentuate a person's hips and derriere. How does a person wear crops and make them look 'styling'?
Thanks, Vava

Crops are very handy for adult women who don't like shorts. The fit is a little tricky, but there are some basic principles that you already know. The principles follow those for skirts, not pants guidelines.

1) You must try them on. OK, this is true for pants too, but in choosing pants, the hem is going to end in a fixed place, somewhere down around your feet. For a skirt, and crops, the placement is more variable, and includes any place along the lower leg.

2) The hems must end at the exact right spot. They will place a horizontal stop where they end; and, they will place a visual arrow at that point. All legs have a different sweet spot, so see #1. As with the aforementioned skirts, always look for a thin part, maybe where your calf tapers? If the calf doesn't taper (at either end of the spectrum, thin legs, or heavy ones) you have two options: where the knee ends, or, just above the ankle. If you are lucky enough to have thin ankles tapering below heavier calves, a wide crop that ends just there is terrific.

3) The cloth is very important. I like black satin crops, which add a dressy look to a casual item, and also work for very dressy events, with the proper support pieces. For wide crops, I prefer olive or khaki twill. It's a reliable casual look. This falls under the "one tricky item per outfit" rule. Since the shape of the crops is tricky, the cloth should be reliable and defined.

4) The Shoes will absolutely make or break a Crops Outfit. This is more important than with skirts or standard pants. Not only will the type of shoe count, but the angle at which they place your foot is crucial.
Since the crops are cutting your leg line, avoid flat MJs (especially the kind with an athletic sole.) An MJ, or other shoe with bands across the foot or ankle (like ankle strap sandals) should have high heels to be able to work with crops. If you wear kitten heels, the only acceptable shoe is a mule with an open back; or extremely low profile shoes (with a tiny toe box, and a minor strip of leather covering the sides.) Kitten heels on high profile pumps will devastate most outfits, and crops even more so. For wider crops, like the cargo type, look for a cute sandal. If you are adding width to your ankle with a wide ribbon tie, don't wear this with crops. The ribbon tie requires a horizontal sweep above, like a wide hem skirt. But I digress.

5) The crops themselves should fit according to your usual principles (what's better for your bottom? 5 pocket, side zip flat front, or trouser?) And, watch for any hardware (belt loops) or decoration (pockets) that may trip you up. For side pockets, have them cut out and sewn shut so that they don't wing out at the hips. You can always use the shirt hem trick to cut the bottom (the hem of the tee in back should cut the bottom horizontally in half, if you need it. Don't do this at the widest point.)

6) The worst look that I have ever seen is wrinkled, wide, white cotton-linen crops, loose below the butt, over flat sandals with wide brown leather straps, and a pale pastel polo tee with a notched hem over. This usually goes with frizzy hair and a sloppy shoulder hobo. Instead, this lady could be wearing: A crisp navy polo with a yellow cotton sweater tied around the shoulders. Flat-ironed smooth hair, white twill crops that end at just the right spot on her leg, and peanut colored wedges. A nice canvas tote, big sunglasses and a few pieces of gold jewelry.

Good Luck!