Hi there! Do you ever wonder how to style high-waisted or high rise pants? They’re perfect for a lot of different body shapes and heights. For someone who is short and a pear shape like me, I love how high waist pants help give me the illusion of length! They’re also a good option if you have a long torso and want to create the illusion of longer legs. Whatever your reason for wearing them, they’re super chic, comfortable, and versatile. Okay, let’s look at how to style different types of high-waisted pants for different occasions.
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From Casual Jeans To Workwear: How To Wear High-Waisted Pants
High-waisted pants come in all different styles, whether you’re buying linen pants for summer, wide leg jeans, straight leg jeans, or dress pants for work. High waisted pants in general are probably my favorite type of pants. I love how you can style each of these in lots of different ways depending on where you’re going and your own personal style.
Here are a few pairs of high waist pants I love!
Shirts That Go With High Waisted Jeans and Pants
First, let’s discuss which shirts to wear with high waist pants since they’re key to your outfit coming together. I love to style anything from a button up to a leather jacket with mine. High-waisted pants work with lots of different types of shirts! It all depends on where you’re going.
Classic Button Up or Blouse
A button up or a blouse that you can tuck into your high waist pants is always a good idea for an effortless feel.
Cropped Jackets
A cropped jacket is the perfect style to wear with high waist pants with a wide leg or a barrel leg. It helps accentuate your height, doesn’t add extra material to your outfit, and won’t cut make your legs look shorter by hitting at an awkward point on your leg.
Oversized Sweater
An oversized sweater or shirt also works with high waisted pants, and they look best with tailored, straight leg jeans. It’s always about creating balance.
How To Wear High Waisted Wide Leg Pants
The most chic type of wide leg pants are high waisted in my opinion. A higher waist makes wide leg pants look more elevated and polished, and it gives your waist definition.
Cotton Pants For Warm Weather and Transitional Seasons
These cotton pants are so fun for spring and summer. The vertical stripe will help elongate your legs and make you look taller in general. They’re just so flattering. And, they’re lightweight, so they don’t make you sweat, and they’re versatile in how you can style them. Whether you’re going to an event like I was or heading to dinner with friends, they’re a fun option. They also come in an ecru color! Click here to shop this outfit.
Cropped Wide Leg Jeans With A High Waist for Casual Outfits
These feel like the perfect pair of wide leg, high rise jeans. I absolutely love the color of this denim. Plus, the wide leg is not unmanageable, so they feel practical. I wear these with my little one, for example! I hate when jeans aren’t practical because I end up passing over them time after time.
Wide leg pants look nice with a cropped sweater, a shirt tucked in, or a classic button up. I try to avoid bulky pieces on top since you have more material in your pants – even if they’re cropped. Shop this outfit.
White Wide Leg Jeans With A High Waist
These white wide leg jeans, which were kindly gifted to me, have a fun raw hem, and it hasn’t unraveled in the washer or dryer! They also have the perfect amount of stretch. So, they’re super comfortable, but they haven’t stretched out to a different size while wearing them. I love how you can wear these across seasons, whether you pair them with a flowy linen top in the summer or a sweater like I did here in the spring (or fall).
Sometimes, white jeans are difficult to find because they’re kind of see through or they pull in the wrong places, but not this pair! Click here to shop this outfit.
How to Style High Waisted Trouser Outfits
Linen Blend Trousers
High waisted trousers are super flattering on lots of different body types. Take these these linen-blend trousers for example. I own them in two colors they’re so good! And, you can see below how you can style them for different seasons. They’re the perfect pants for spring, summer, and fall because they’re so versatile. You can wear them to work, on long travel days, and on the weekend for errands or even dinner with friends. They truly do it all because they work with so many different shoes and tops. Click here to shop this outfit.
Click here to shop my burgundy pants outfit!
How To Wear High Waisted Dress Pants
High waisted pants are the perfect solution for dress pants because a high waist adds to the polish and formality of your look. If you think about it, you probably don’t think of low rise pants as being professional, so it makes sense to go for high waist dress pants instead.
High Waisted Dress Pants To Wear All Year
I typically think of dress pants as something to wear to work, but they’re also a nice option for church or any other occasion where you want to wear pants that are more elevated than jeans. My black dress pants are old from J.Crew Factory, but this pair from Aritzia is similar.
You can see how to wear a classic sweater or a cropped trench coat with this style of pants. Both of these pieces accentuate your outfit without making it look bulky.
If you’re looking for how to style trouser pants more casually, check out this post!
Beige High Waisted Dress Pants
I always share these pants in a beige option because they’re just so good. They come in different colors, lengths, fabrics, and they’re in stock all year. They have belt loops and some classic pleats. Pleats are a great detail for you if you have a rectangle shape body because it helps create a waist without being overly bulky. A high waisted pant is also good for you because it helps define a waist, so these pants are a great option in that way.
I love this particular pair, which is the crepe material, because it’s something you can wear in any season. You’ll never be too hot or too cold in them!
Flowy Satin Pants for Casual Days or Work
Flowy satin pants always feel so effortlessly chic. They’re perfect to wear to an event or just running errands. There’s nothing better than a pair of pants that do it all! You can truly wear them with sneakers, ballet flats, loafers, dressy sandals, or slingbacks. The options are limitless with these pants. Click here to shop this outfit, which I wore for a busy day of running errands. I’m wearing a hugely oversized t-shirt but I typically wear this with this classic navy t-shirt – I tied a sweater around my waist to help break up my outfit.
If you’re 5’4 or under like me, you should order the petite length, or just know you will probably need the classic length hemmed.
How To Wear High Waisted Linen Pants
If you live somewhere that gets as hot as DC does, you probably love all things linen as much as I do. While linen dresses are an easy favorite, linen pants are at the top of my warm weather list because they also protect me from dreaded summer bugs like mosquitos.
Matching Set With High Waist Linen Pants
There’s nothing easier than a matching set in the summer. Whether you need something for a summer vacation or just to wear around town (I would wear this for both), this linen set is the solution. It comes in tons of different colors, so there’s something for everyone.
Linen Pants You Can Wear To Work
One of the things I wanted to add to my summer wardrobe a couple of years ago was a pair of linen pants with a real waist as opposed to an elastic waistband. I really wanted to be able to wear a belt with them! It is easy to find casual linen pants, but it was a little more difficult to find linen pants you could wear in a less casual setting like work. My exact pants are old from Abercrombie and J.Crew, but I’ve found some similar options. The first two are the most similar, and the khaki pair looks so similar I’m not sure how they’re different, ha!
How To Wear High Waisted Jeans
Okay, last but not least, here are two super versatile outfits for high waisted jeans. I love both of these jeans so much, and they’re very different. So, you can get lots of different outfit ideas from them.
Classic High Wasted Denim You Can Dress Up or Dress Down
These Aritzia jeans are a major closet hero. You can wear them pretty much anywhere because of how tailored they look. They’re basically the perfect straight leg jean! They come in so many colors you can find a shade of denim that works with your closet. This is a lighter wash, but I love the darker denim options for work days. You can style any of these for work or the weekend, and they’re super comfortable. Click here to shop this outfit.
Wide Leg Denim in Perfect Blue
These wide leg jeans come in lots of different colors, and I love their fit. They’re basically the perfect wide leg jean and they aren’t too long.
I hope you found a few tips and some outfit ideas for high waisted pants today. Don’t forget to sign up for my email list if you haven’t already!
