So, there's that outfit that's been stuck in your brain ever since you came across it in a slideshow once, not only because it's really good, but also because it seems like something you could do, too. You assemble all the pieces, try it on, and...something's not quite right about it. You might chalk it up to the fact that the person in the photo you saw was in head-to-toe designer, or she's some sort of model-slash-DJ. But that's not it (entirely); the real reason has everything to do with how your clothes are cut; more specifically, whether your outfit has that "fashion" ratio.
That ratio is the thing that makes certain oversized shirts look dowdy and others look chic. That ratio is responsible for a bad '90s crop top and a good '90s crop top. And perhaps the most foolproof one of them all — the golden ratio, if you will — is the one-for-one, cropped-and-long combination. If you've mastered that, you've already solved the majority of those not-quite-right situations. Click through to see what we mean.
It's simple: one item should be obviously cropped, and the other should be obviously long. When looking for where each item should hit, the easiest places are where you've got joints. In this case, the long vest hits at the knee and the cropped pants hit at the ankles.
Photographed by Christian Vierig.
Here, the short shorts act as a nice juxtaposition against the long robe.
Photographed by Christian Vierig.
The cropped pants here are the perfect ankle-grazing length, and the long blouse ends right below the butt.
Photographed by Christian Vierig.
This outfit involves the same proportions as the previous image, but it's done in a different way. Here, black cropped trousers are paired with an oversized blazer that also ends just below the butt.
Photographed by Christian Vierig.
We love the look of a long topcoat with a little bit of pant-leg peeking out from below.
Photographed by Christian Vierig.
Like what you see? How about some more R29 goodness, right here?
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