Style baggier Style Notes

For spring the questions arise: How short the skirt? How long the pants? How low the waist? Skirts. Some are straight, some pleated, some swinging and circular, a few are padded at the hips like panniers. All are definitely shorter: just covering the knee, or one inch below, for day; as short as decency -- and the looks of the leg -- allow for evening. Many late-day skirts are long in back (some are practically train-length) and ultrashort in front. Nota bene: The mini age of the Paris ready-to-wear showings subsided. After the dust settled, some of it was swept under the rug.

Pants. Cutoff lengths are new. Perry Ellis, who did the short pannier skirts, also features midcalf baggies. But he and other designers showed every length from shoetop to capri, Bermuda, and short-short. Trouser proportions are as important as lengths. Pleattops or yoketops with gathers give the widened baggy effect that are in vogue even for jeans. Jogger styles in stretch terry also have baggy lines. Skin-fit pants tend to be stretch types. Tailored trousers are straight and cuffed, sometimes (but not always) tapered.

Waistline. Usually marked with a sash or a belt where nature placed it, but wandering downward. Acceptable alternatives and the dropped torso dress of flapper fame and the waistless chemise.