How to Wear Colored Jeans & Pants | The Only Guide You’ll Need
If you’re not used to wearing a lot of color, the idea of styling colorful trousers or jeans can feel rather intimidating. But there’s no reason to let these types of pants scare you.
You can think of it the same way as you would for a colored blouse or skirt because it’s really no different.
And the beautiful thing about them is they look great on petite frames. The bright shades act as a focal point for the eye, tricking the viewer into thinking your legs are longer than they are.
Below are three easy styling ideas petite women can try to get more wear out of your colored bottoms.
Pair colored denim with neutral tones to offset its impact
You can never go wrong with neutrals so if you’re not sure where to start, this is the perfect place. A neutral-toned blouse will dampen the impact of a bright and bold pair of colored slacks, rendering them infinitely more wearable.
Any neutral shades work here but for pink, I especially love black, grey, and navy. And if you’re feeling adventuresome, army green also makes for a killer color combo with all shades of pink (as I’ve styled in this blog).
A neat trick I used here to trick the eye was to match the color of my pants with my shoes. This instantly adds more length to your legs, even when you’re wearing flat sneakers.
Color-blocking your upper and lower half in this way also makes you appear taller.
While I chose to dress down this blazer and slacks by pairing it with retro-style sneakers, you can easily make this a work-appropriate look by swapping the tennis shoes for loafers (these are my favorite vegan pairs for women and men), dressy sandals, boots, or heels.
Or for a cool street style outfit, you could also tuck your pants into combat boots.
– OUTFIT DETAILS –
BELT | Peta + Jain (current styles by Peta + Jain)
PURSE | Peta + Jain (current styles by Peta + Jain)
Color clash your colorful pants for high-octane dopamine dressing
If my Styling Dresses Over Jeans post was any indication, I love a good dress over pants look and it’s currently all the rage (not to mention the ideal solution for transitional weather).
This makes for the perfect opportunity to try out your color combining skills (or perhaps show off your color clashing talents).
Purple and red is one of my favorite combos but there are so many other unconventional or mainstream pairings you could try as well. If you feel lost when it comes to mixing colors, check out my How to Mix and Match Fashion Colors blog for more color combo inspiration and ideas.
The trick to making dresses over pants work for petites is to keep the more eye-catching color on the bottom. That way, no matter how little of the colored jeans are showing, the eye is still drawn to them first.
As the weather gets cooler swap these vegan Birkenstocks for black heeled boots. I personally love the combination of ankle cropped jeans with heeled boots because it not only gives major Parisian vibes, it’s also a clever hack to make you appear taller. Just make sure there’s no gap between your boots and pants, as this can have the opposite effect.
– OUTFIT DETAILS –
SANDALS | Birkenstock
PURSE | Sans Beast (current styles by Sans Beast)
Style bright pants with a printed top featuring the same color
If neutrals aren’t your thing (and if you own colored pants the odds of this might be pretty high) then style your colored jeans with a top containing some of the same color.
You could either go for a monochrome look (this is a super modern way to style ’90s-style colored jeans) or select a patterned blouse that contains the identical color.
Like I said in the intro, this outfit works for smaller frames because the colorful jeans are the attention-grabbing piece and so your eye wants to take all of them in.
Thanks to the sporty yet chic accessories and casual button-down, this is one way to dress down brightly colored jeans for a sporting event, lunch date, or afternoon at the park.
– OUTFIT DETAILS –
WHITE SNEAKERS | Beflamboyant use code HARMFREEFASHION for 10% off
CLUTCH | Sans Beast (current styles by Sans Beast)
SUNGLASSES | Polaroid (current styles by Polaroid)
Final Thoughts
There’s no need to shy away from colorful trousers because when styled right they can give the illusion that your legs are lengthier and they’re actually much easier to style than you’d think.
Hopefully these styling tips proved to you that colored jeans and pants can even be quite versatile and leg-lengthening.
For more styling hacks for petites check out my other posts for short girls on:
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As always, happy thrifting and styling!
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Michelle Rothenburger
Michelle Rothenburger is a vegan fashion blogger whose work has been featured in such publications as Marie Claire, InStyle, Woman & Home, and Vilda. Find out more by reading Michelle’s full story (from bullied to fashion influencer) and feel free to send her a personal message.
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