My Hunt for Low-Rise Work Pants That Won’t Wrinkle

Thenot-quites

If these pants didn’t have pleats, they’d be exactly what I was looking for: They’re soft against my leg, flow without being informally baggy, and are available in three inseams (petite, regular, and tall). I even wore them from work to a pedicure without worrying that rolling them up to my knees would wrinkle them in the process. However, the pleat down the front, which would otherwise be a nice formal touch, loosened after one wear, and I could never get it back to that right-out-of-the-bag perfection. Perhaps a trip to the dry cleaner would figure it out, but I don’t have the budget to dry-clean my work pants every week. If that’s not a deal-breaker, then these are solid pants — especially for the price. For reference, they fit me lowish rise in a size-four petite.

At almost $200, I’d expect these pants to be perfect, and they’re not. From the front, I have no complaints — they’re formfitting without being too tight and look polished without having a straight leg. I’d expect the same sleekness from the side, but a bulky seam on the zip fly disrupts the otherwise-clean silhouette. They’re also tighter on the bum, so if you’re worried about a strict office dress code, I’d take that into account. However, in a size up — I tried them in a size-four petite — that might not be a problem.

For those on a budget, it’s hard to do better than Uniqlo’s work pants. They’re made of a poly blend that — you guessed it — is marketed as wrinkle resistant, and the pants actually live up to those claims. No matter how much I crossed my legs at a desk or sat crisscrossed on my couch, they stayedmostlywrinkle free. The fabric is breathable and lightweight, too. It was the sizing that put these pants in the “not-quites” category: In medium (a size up from my usual at Uniqlo), these were too baggy around my legs and still more of a mid-rise than a low rise. I can’t imagine how much I’d be swimming in the large — though I bet they’d fit like a true low-rise pant. Still, these would be nice for the 20-somethings having a hard time leaving their ultrabaggy jeans at home. Another perk: Uniqlo will tailor them to whatever length you want for just $5 (or for free if you don’t minda visible lock stitch).

Thealmost-theres

In the four years that I’ve been dressing for the office, Aritzia’s Effortless Pant has been the gold standard among my fellow corporate 20-somethings. My friends have long sung its praises — comments like “They’re so comfortable”and “I wear them every day”seemed to echo around me — but when I finally tried them on myself, I was underwhelmed. No matter how loose and flowy the legs were, I just couldn’t get behind the high rise. So when I saw Aritzia finally made a low-rise version, it was the first pair of pants I called in for this story. I almost named these pants a winner. Aritzia says the fabric “basically never wrinkles,” and it’s true: No matter how long I sat cross-legged at a desk or lounged on the Strategist couch, they stayed prim and polished with nary a wrinkle. They’re also as comfortable as everyone says they are — especially with the lower waist — but the sizing wasn’t quite right for my proportions. Following the size chart, I thought I’d be a size four (which fits 36-inch hips), but that size fit me more like high-rise pants should — as in, right above the bellybutton. In a size up, they hit my hips but then had too much fabric in the thighs. After tailoring them to fit my height (the petite wasn’t available in my size), the pants didn’t look bad per se, but I found other pants that fit my frame better.

A similar fate befell these Aritzia pants: They sat at my bellybutton in a size four and at my waist in a size six, but the larger size was just slightly too baggy for the rest of my legs. I also tailored them to a petite length. I’ll still wear these pants, especially when my outfits call for a nice pleat that isn’t a headache to maintain, but I preferred other pairs more. Still, Aritzia deserves another point for the fabric, a poly-viscose blend it calls Eversential: It’s soft and basically never wrinkles.

Abercrombie’s work pants weren’t on my radar until my younger sister purchased them exclusively for her summer internship a few months ago. Now that I’ve tried a couple pairs, I feel confident saying Abercrombie knows how to make very nice work pants, especially for the price. Pairs start at $90 — like just about every pair of denim in its collection — and I feel like that’s a fair price for what you’re getting: effortless-pant softness and a nice, tailored fit. They’re available in sizes 23 through 38 and inseams short through tall, and I found a size 27 was what I needed (that is, after trying a 26 that fit like high-rise pants). Abercrombie advises, “The intended length hits the bottom of a flat shoe,” and the short did just that. They even got the hip-to-thigh ratio right — not too formfitting yet not too roomy — but I found the pants wrinkled throughout the day. If that’s not a deal-breaker for you, these pants should be just right, but I had higher hopes in the wrinkle department.

Speaking of wrinkles, these collected the most creases throughout the day — especially on the thighs and bum — but they’re so comfortable that I’d still wear them. Compared with many of the other pants on this list that are made from proprietary poly blends that optimize for eliminating wrinkles, these are made of Tencel, meaning they’re a cousin to yourcooling sheetsand feel just as soft. Wearing them for a whole workday felt like I had slipped right out of bed and into the office. Like Reformation’s Vida pants, these are more formfitting than the work pants you’d find at Abercrombie and Aritzia, so I’d recommend sizing up if you don’t want to highlight your butt. Mine are a four short and sit neatly at the top of my mary janes.

Thewinners

If I could wear these pants every day, I would. They’re polished yet comfortable and look just as good with a going-out top as they do with a button-down. The office-to-dinner cliché couldn’t be truer here: When I wore them to an anniversary dinner with my boyfriend, I felt right out of an episode ofSex and the City, and when I wore them to the office, I felt like I belonged in Rachel Green’s cubicle at Ralph Lauren. To make it to the winner’s circle, though, these pants exceeded my expectations when it came to wrinkle resistance and fit. On the wrinkle front, the pants’ lack of pleats makes them look extra clean, and I’ve never seen a wrinkle when I wear them. There’s also a — dare I say Goldilocksian — wide leg that extends down from my hips, making me look taller. My only note is that these pants are long for what I consider a “short” inseam. I’m five-foot-three, and they graze the top of my shoes, so if you’re shorter than that, I’d plan to tailor these.

Almost like witchcraft, whatever wrinkles accumulate in these pants throughout the day seem tomostlydissipate over the day as well. They’re not as polished as Abercrombie’s bandless pants above, but they’re the pants I’ve been turning to whenever I want to style an office outfit with a belt. They’re made of a Tencel-cotton blend that’s nearly as soft as the Reformation pants above for about $60 less — or up to $100 less if you score them on sale. They’re stretchy at the waist, so I can wear them both at my bellybutton and at my hips, depending on the day, in my usual size: a small. The petite length is shorter than the Abercrombie pants above, coming in just below my ankles.

Lululemon’sEasyfive fabric— a blend of elastomultiester (a stretchy polyester-based fiber), cotton, and elastane — is inspired by denim, so these will be more structured than your average work pant. However, they’re so wrinkle resistant and easy to care for that I found myself wearing them whenever I wanted formalish pants I didn’t need to baby. They’re structured like a thick pair of 100 percent cotton jeans and offer a more exaggerated wide leg than the pairs above, but I found extra fabric didn’t swallow my frame. The Downtown Tan khaki color I tried them in feels like something the current students at my high school could get away with wearing, and I hope they do. In a size 27, the pants fit like a true low rise, and the 28-inch inseam falls right at the top of my foot.