I love a cropped pant. Fashion designers call these a 7/8 pant (no science here – they’re just that little bit longer than a 3/4 pant). They look really great and are so versatile, working equally well with heels as they do with flats and sneakers (no frantic, running out the door, last minute hem adjustments required).

The trick to pulling this off though (and not looking dumpy) is all about proportions.

Your pants must be a straight and slim (but not too tight) cut, so that the diameter of the hem on your pant is around half the length of your shoes (hence narrower hems work better with heels). The crop also needs to allow around a 5cm gap from the bottom of your pant hem to the top of your shoes, for that perfect pant to exposed-ankle ratio.

Like what you see? Grab your rulers and follow the link below for my edit of the best crop pants you can buy right now….

1. Tory Burch ‘Drew’ straight leg ankle pant, $227.50
2. 3.1 Phillip Lim cropped straight leg pant, $662.82
3. Stella McCartney ‘Delphine’ straight-leg ankle pants, $985.87
4. Helmut Lang seamed stovepipe ankle pants, $280.70

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  pic credit: Tommy Ton