The perfect capri, inspiration ideas, clockwise from top left I love Your Style, Pinterest, Advanced style, The Sartorialist
Every summer wardrobe needs a capri pant, if you are a trouser wearer. Choosing the right one can be a touch tricky, mostly where the fit is concerned. The key is to get a nice comfy shape that is definitely not skin tight and allows a good deal of movement while still having that tailored crispness that makes it a bit smarter. Worn above the ankle, but below the fat bulgy bit of the calf (we’re in 3/4 trew territory there and it’s not a flattering place), plain or printed, with or without a small slit at the hem or even rolled up in a make-shift way, a good capri is a covetable thing.
Images clockwise from top left, brown dress with white dots tumblr, pinterest, audrey Hepburn, J Crew
My research for capris coincided with The Sartorialist and Garance Doré linking up with J Crew, which has a great selection of capris, in Hello World, to promote the fact that J Crew ships world wide. You get flat rate shipping of £10 if you leave your email, so you could bundle together with a mate and split the cost. Alternatively you could check out Net-A-Porter although it doesn’t have the whole range.
If you took heed of our printed trousers post earlier in the season, you might be interested in the terrific printed capris below, the roasted pepper foulard print ones (below left) look great with that denim shirt and are a dead ringer for the ones Countess Uberto Corti is wearing in the top pic (from I Love Your Style) but the classic plain navy ones (right) would last forever I suspect.
Since they are a slender shape, they look good in a strong bright colour, I am in love with the J Crew geranium lace ones above left, and there is a pair of plain jade green ones which look suitably Palm Springs inspired. Throw on a crisp white shirt and a thin leather belt or a multi floral one in brights (see or Resort roundup for inspiration) and you’re away.
J Crew US site here and capris start at £45 in the sale, shipping extra
Net-A-Porter J Crew here where prices start at £80
Curse my pear shaped body!! I look terrible in Capri pants but I adore them. I will have to start looking for alternatives … sigh.
Oh, very timely! I’m going into town today to see what I can find in the way of summer trousers. I’d already thought of going for that 7/8 sort of length – despite being small, the glimpse of ankle seems to look right at the moment. Thanks for the guidance and wish me luck – I HATE buying trousers.
Good luck Rosemary, can I suggest you also check out Boden, COS, Bruuns Bazaar and Zara as they all have very good ones too. Leanne, have you tried wearing a chic tunic top over them? I love that ‘almost dress over slender trousers look’ A