Womens trousers, with the rise measured rather than described

High rise means nothing until someone gives you a number

Rise is the distance from the top of the waistband to the crotch seam, and front rise and back rise are measured separately.

The usual descriptions: high rise sits on the natural waist, between the ribs and the hip bones. Mid rise sits at or slightly above the narrowest point of the hip bone. Low rise sits at or below it.

The problem is that those are body positions, not measurements, so they depend entirely on your proportions. A trouser that sits at the natural waist on one person sits below it on another.

We looked for a published standard defining womens trouser rise bands in centimetres and there is not one. The only numeric anchors available anywhere are one menswear writer's measurements of their own trousers, given as roughly 28cm front rise for mid-rise chinos, 30cm for mid-rise dress trousers, and 33 to 35cm for high rise. Those are indicative at best and they are not womenswear figures.

So several brands on one page, no shared standard, and high rise on a Cefinn is not high rise on a Stine Goya.

The useful thing we can do about that is measure. Ask for the front rise and inside leg of any pair here in centimetres and we will give you the actual figure, because the trousers are on the rails in Belfast.

Inside leg, and the short problem

There is no agreed definition of what short means in womens trousers either. Some brands cut a single length, some offer regular and long, and a few do petite.

Measure the inside leg of a pair you own and wear: from the crotch seam straight down the inner leg to the hem, laid flat. That figure is the one to match, and it is far more reliable than a length name.

Petite ranges generally assume five foot three and under, but that is a convention rather than a rule and it varies by brand.

The cloths

Linen is the one to understand here, because a lot of this collection is linen and linen behaves unlike anything else.

It is stronger than cotton, dries faster, resists sunlight better, and it gets stronger when wet rather than weaker. It absorbs and releases moisture quickly and conducts heat, which is why it feels cool.

It creases because it has low elasticity. That is the fibre. The Irish Linen Guild notes that as linen is laundered and worn it softens and the creasing becomes less evident, so linen trousers improve rather than deteriorate.

Do not tumble dry linen, because it over-dries the fibres. Iron while damp, wrong side first.

For wool and wool-blend tailored trousers, the usual rules apply: wash on the wool setting at 40 degrees or a cold delicates cycle, use a mild neutral detergent, and dry flat.

Viscose has the lowest elastic recovery of any fibre and low appearance retention when wet, and regular viscose is recommended for dry cleaning. We have not published a shrinkage figure because no credible source gives one.

Wide leg, and whether it works on shorter frames

The received wisdom that wide leg does not suit shorter women is wrong as stated. What matters is the hem height relative to your shoe.

A wide leg trouser works when the hem nearly touches the floor over the shoe you intend to wear with it, because the unbroken line is what creates the length. It fails when it stops short, because the horizontal hem line cuts the leg.

So the question is not your height, it is whether the trouser can be hemmed to your height with the right shoe on. Bring the shoes.

Sizing across these brands

Three Danish brands here, Munthe, Baum und Pferdgarten and Stine Goya, one Italian, Ottod'Ame, and Vivere, which is British despite the name, founded in 2023 by Savannah Miller.

Baum und Pferdgarten runs two systems, one for jersey and knit in letters and one for woven in numbers, so their trousers will be numbered. Munthe publishes body measurements and says so explicitly. Skall Studio, where you find it elsewhere on the site, publishes none.

Skall Studio puts Italian 40 at a UK 8 and Baum und Pferdgarten puts Italian 42 at a UK 8, so they disagree by a full Italian size. Ottod'Ame publishes no chart we could retrieve. Convert from your waist and hip in centimetres, not from a size label.