The higher the temperatures rise, the shorter our pants often become. And with over 40 fashion, a lot of women choose cropped pants or capris over shorts as their go-to warm weather, everyday style basics.

While cropped pants do offer a nice alternative to the heat, it is important to consider proportion and cut if you want them to flatter your figure.

The problem with cropped pants is that they typically add width to the legs and cause them to look shorter. Ladies, those are the two words that we want to stay away from if at all possible: wide and short!

So, am I saying you should go out and throw away all of your cropped pants? No. But, I do have a few suggestions for choosing a more figure-flattering silhouette.

These capris hit my leg where it narrows above the ankle.

When shopping for cropped pants:

• Look for pant legs that are slightly tapered or straight at the bottom, rather than those that flare out in a bell shape.
• Stay away from styles that are wide at the bottom.
• Try to find pants that end at the narrowest part of your leg.

You can also consider making alterations to your cropped pants. I usually take this route because it can be difficult to find styles that are figure flattering. If sewing is anywhere in your wheelhouse, consider doing the alterations yourself.

Here are the steps for making your own alterations:

1. Open up the bottom seam wide enough to pin the side seams together.
2. Use a yard stick and a pencil to mark a new seam line from several inches above the knee to the new narrower point.
3. Sew a simple straight seam down the side.
4. Cut the extra material away from the seam and zigzag the cut edge.
5. Refold the bottom seam and sew into place.

If you need more instruction, there are several Youtube tutorials online. I hope you will try these fashion tips for over 40 style and look fabulous in the process!

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The post How To Wear Cropped Pants In A Flattering Way appeared first on Shellie Bowdoin | The FABulous Journey.

It just seemed right to do my first fashion shoot based on my new FABulous Journey logo (oh, and yes, I did draw the logo first). So, it’s real life imitating art! I asked my daughter to give some feedback after I had drawn it and she said, “Mom, you know it really does look like you!”

Yes, I am the real-life woman in red. Unfortunately for me, the fashion industry doesn’t churn out tons of red clothing. Really, it would probably be more appropriate to call myself the woman accented in red, but that just doesn’t roll from the tongue nearly as well!

Well, this “photo shoot” consisted of a Canon one-step camera, a black table cloth and a tripod; no fancy lighting or camera tricks. Oh, and my beauty entourage was the sum total of me, myself and I. But, something seems really right about that. After all, isn’t that how it usually is? We all, myself included, love to look at fashion spreads to gain inspiration,  but then when it comes right down to brass tacks we are on our own to make the magic happen.

Well, I’m not sure if any magic happened here, but I do hope that just a little of God’s grace seeped into the frame.

What Can You Expect?

When it comes to future posts, I have a lot of fun tips for Functional Fashion For 40+. Let’s face it, most of us will likely never sit on the front row at New York Fashion Week, but we can all dress in figure-flattering clothes that make us feel fabulous. We’ll talk about colors, staple pieces, basic alterations that can make a huge difference and the most-figure flattering fabrics to name a few. 

Is there something you would like me to dig into and share? Let me know!

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