Cuffs on Pants

Q. What can you tell me about cuffs on men’s pants? Should they only be put on dress pants, or on casual pants as well?

A. Recently I was seated on a Manhattan-bound commuter train next to an obviously very clothing-aware guy. As is my habit in such a situation, I struck up a conversation. When it comes to men’s clothes, people are always picking my brain; this time I decided to do the same.

One question I asked him meshed exactly with the one you asked me – cuffs or no? His response agreed exactly with what I believe and what I hoped he would say, “I put cuffs on all my pants.”

I know there are those people who will tell you that dress pants should have cuffs and casual pants do not need them. There are others who think, “Cuffs are for old men; my father wore cuffs.” The truth is that well-dressed men have always worn cuffs. Cuffs are right for the traditionalist and also for the fashion-conscious.

But suppose you are short. The books you have read and the tailor in the store may tell you that cuffs on trousers are better left to tall men. Nonsense! While it is certainly true that short men should avoid most horizontal lines because they tend to shorten them visually, it is ridiculous to think that a horizontal line all the way down near the ground will affect one's apparent height. Since the world’s best-dressed men have always worn – and are currently wearing – cuffs, go with cuffs.

Here is some advice for pants that fit perfectly:  Be sure to have the fitter/tailor measure each leg separately when the pants are in the normal position where you always wear them (and you have filled the pockets with the items you normally carry). Legs can vary in length. Whether you decide on cuffs or not, I recommend a slight break in the crease line. And these days, the emphasis is on the word "slight." Men's styles do change, and currently, now that everything is a bit slimmer and trimmer, even the length of pants has changed, slightly, so the break should not be excessive. The front of the pants should rest only one quarter to three eighths of an inch on the top of your shoe – not so long that they're dragging along but still not so short that people can see your socks. And, seen from the side, the bottom of the trousers should give the illusion of extending downward ever so slightly toward the back. The back of the pants should approach the top of your shoe’s heel.

I must mention that there is one definite exception to the rule about wearing cuffs. The one time when cuffs are never worn is with formal wear – black- tie or white-tie dressing. The style of wearing cuffs originated in England. They were called “turn-ups.” They resulted from a man’s turning up the bottoms of his trousers to protect them from soiling as he walked around his country estate. Accordingly, men wore cuffs on their tweedy suits or country flannels, but not on their formal-dress evening wear.