I’m very fortunate that swing and tango pants share a similar style. This has been a literally years long process to find pants for dancing that look good and fit right. Hoping this will save someone else some pain. If you just want the bullet points, go to the How to Get Men’s Pants for Dancing#Conclusion aka TL;DR Get Pants Made|TL;DR.
Where’s the Waist?
Clothes come standard. Bodies do not.
There are three measurements to start with.
- Waist
- High Hip
- Hip (aka your booty)
There is almost no pair of pants pants you can buy today in a regular store that are made to fit at your actual waist. Pants today are made for your high hip.
But where’s your waist?
In the gym communities, waist is often defined as the narrowest part above the iliac crest and below the bottom ribs. This can be difficult for some to find reliably (again, because bodies are different) so one common piece of advice is to use the measure at your belly button as an alternative. On me, my belly button is actually below my waist.
This is what those lines look like on me. Please forgive the gym progress selfie.
On a skeleton those points would look like this. The waist however, may not be where I drew the line. The narrowest part could be slightly lower or higher. I just guessed.
When you take a look at people showing how to measure for trousers, they sometimes generalize the terminology. In this video, the “waist” being measured is what I use the term “high hip” for.
The Gentleman’s Gazette wrote an article on some of the terms used for pants and what they can do for different bodies. In this image they’re talking about low, mid, and high rise pants. Mid rise pants just aren’t a thing for me, they are super uncomfortable and don’t stay in place.
My legs are a little bit on the shorter side and my hip / torso a little longer. This means pants at high hip for me are not going to look good like they do on @Ryan Martin. Ryan is tall and has long legs. I haven’t seen him shirtless so I just guessed where is waist is.
The pants that I theorized would good on me are pants that sit on the waist. This is boxer John Hazel in 1948 wearing a beautiful pair of pants.
The very first pair of pants to fit me the way I wanted were these. Notice my belly button isn’t visible because it is lower than my waist.
How to Figure Out Pants For You
Right now my waist is 37”, my high hip is 39”, and my hip (booty) is 46”.
If by some stroke of luck I could find pants that were made to fit at my waist (aka high rise) and not my high hip (aka low rise), off the rack won’t fit. Any pants that fit my waist aren’t making it past my thighs and booty. Pants that fit my booty are going to balloon around my waist.
It took a lot of trial and error before I realized my body isn’t the problem. It is the off the rack clothes. I’ve tried on lots of pants. Realized that I needed pants that fit me, not me trying to fit my body to pants.
I bought pants from Goodwill that fit my hips, were high rise, and were the style I was looking for. Then, I learned ONE skill in sewing to fix the waist.
If you don’t know what looks good on you, what I suggest having a light meal and then head over to a well stocked Goodwill and try on A LOT of pants. Take photos. Do this at multiple locations across several weekends. You may need to bring some binder clips to take up some of the fabric when viewing in the mirror.
Pleats
To look swing, it is generally better to have pleats.
How many to get is up to you and your tastes. Also your pant maker might have something to say about the subject. HOWEVER, if you like the way your body looks with out pleats, find a make it work for your style.
Color
I went with solid black a blue with a light pinstripe. I’m on the road a lot and wanted base colors that would match with most everything and everyone I danced with.
My daily drivers are black, and dark blue with pinstripe. I have had other colors like olive, khaki, brown, grey, and green in the past and I LOVED them but they just aren’t practical for me on the road. Spilling a very visible spot of oil on your khaki pants is a sure way to spoil the mood at the after party late night dinner. Especially if you need to wear those pants again in the competition tomorrow. With black it is a non issue.
Fabric
Of course I want wool. Wool was is financially practical. And my pant maker doesn’t offer it. He recommended a light synthetic that doesn’t wrinkle easily and I’ve had no complaints.
Length
This depends on your overall style choice. This video shows some LA legends and their varying pant lengths. @Jeremy Otth floods a ton. @David Frutos doesn’t flood any. @Stephen Sayer’s pants are in between where the socks show well when moving, but not really when just standing.
I went with the flood while in motion look. I need my pants to work outside of swing dancing but I wanted the pop of color since I usually am in darks because of travel.
I recently got one more pair of black pants that were several inches longer because it looks so not tango to show socks like this.
Suspenders
If you wear suspenders without the alligator clips, you can get the buttons sewn to the inside of the pant waist when you get them made. You have to ask for this. If you’re really fancy you can wear President Shirley suspenders like @Sam Chan.
Cuff
I prefer a cuff. Some people prefer none. In tango the follower’s heel can get stuck in a cuff. I have had this happen to me, but only once. For some dancers I’ve talked to it has been a regular issue and they have sworn off cuffs.
Style Note - Tuck the Shirt
If you can, tuck the shirt. AHHHHH, Why didn’t I tuck this?? The whole point of the higher waist is to make the line higher on the body to give the visual of longer leg lines. Oh well, live and learn.
Here’s that same outfit with the tucked shirt. My legs aren’t stubby anymore.
Not all shirts tuck. For this guayabera I opened the shirt and tucked an undershirt so I could still show the waist line from the front.
Conclusion aka TL;DR Get Pants Made
- I get pants from https://www.facebook.com/okiz.baek. He will ship.
- If in Korea you can also get them from https://www.facebook.com/bbangnim
- Unless your legs are long, get your pants made at waist height.
- Select flood, color, cuff, and pleat to your needs and style.
- Fabric will be synthetic, wool is
$$. - Price will be around 120 to 150 USD including shipping.
Edits
stuff to add to this article maybe https://www.instagram.com/reel/C_6ZvAEJYr0/?igsh=MTI3NmQwYnlpNXpqZA==