From boot-cut to cropped to the top of your sock – where should your chinos end?.

Sometimes the smallest details make the biggest impression. This week’s reader’s submission comes courtesy of @stevenbelloo, who has asked us to define one such detail: the “perfect” length for a pair of chinos. Suffice it to say that there is no single, conclusive answer. You might as well ask us how long a piece of string is. There is nevertheless much to talk about here. You can tell a lot about a man from where his trousers break. Rather more, in fact, than you can discern by asking him to name his favourite brands. What our contributor has posed is a question of style, and so, even though we approach it knowing full well that we cannot provide him with a definitive answer, we feel obliged to give it our best shot.

** I’m an interior designer and I’ve been questioning the perfect length of chinos and sleeves. Also, when is it appropriate to wear sneakers with a formal outfit? Hope you can help me :D **

**@stevenbelloo via Instagram **

We count three separate questions there, @stevenbelloo, so for the sake of brevity we’re just going to focus on the first. (For advice on the latter, click here.) Let’s begin by saying that when it comes to chino length, or trouser length in general, there’s no single correct answer. There are, however, a couple of wrong answers. If you’re stepping on the back of your trousers as you walk, they’re too long. If your legs are visible above your socks when you’re standing up straight, they’re too short. Between these two extremes, though, there’s plenty of room for manoeuvre. The trouser length you choose depends on two things: formality and style.

Let’s start with formality. Traditionally, well-tailored trousers are expected to have a slight “break”. This is the crease at the front of your trouser leg caused by the hem hitting the vamp of your shoe. Longer trousers will have a fuller break, while shorter trousers may have no break at all. In formal environments, you should play it safe and go for trousers with a slight break. You may like the look of a Thom Browne cropped trouser – more on him later – but think about how it’ll look when you sit down. You might have three or four inches of sock visible. At the other end of the spectrum is puddling, which is what happens when your trousers are too long and the fabric rumples around your ankles. This is a cardinal sin and should be avoided at all costs.

Does any of this affect you? Probably not. You mention that you’re an interior designer, so it’s unlikely that the rules of traditional business attire apply to your professional life. On we go, then, to the next consideration when looking for the perfect trouser length: style. First, let’s examine where we’re at in 2018. We briefly mentioned Thom Browne, the New York tailor who transformed the male silhouette in the early 2000s with his shrunken take on tailoring. He helped to move the needle of fashion away from the fuller trouser leg – think late 1990s, early 2000s boot-cut denim – towards a more cropped leg, which is the predominant style now. If we were to make a hand-waving generalisation, we might say that trouser hems have been moving generally upwards for decades, from the floor-grazing flares of the 1970s to the cropped-chino look that’s popular now.

As for what constitutes the “perfect” length for a pair of chinos or trousers, well, as we’ve already said, there’s no single answer. If you feel like channelling the current mood in menswear, then why not go for something cropped? We’d recommend these from Monitaly or, if you prefer a fuller silhouette, these from Haider Ackermann. If you want a pair that fit you really well, pick up something from Incotex. All its chinos come with unfinished hems, so you can take them to the tailor and have them adjusted to the length that you feel looks best.