Last week I thought I was onto something new when I hurriedly cuffed my jeans, accidentally tucking in one side in on the way. This cuff looked très chic, tailored, tapered — as if Emmanuelle Alt had whispered a French It Girl secret to my right leg.
I’ve since learned that French cuffing, or peg rolling, has been around at least since the August 1985 issue of Seventeen Magazine. Look at that glorious denim!
Now. How to enjoy some free, non-committal tailoring that shows off your shoes:
- Start with normal, unrolled jeans.
- Pinch up the inner hem of one leg, lengthwise. Use one hand at the bottom hem of your pants, and the other 3-4″ up the leg.
- Fold this pinched fabric flat over toward the heel of foot. For straight-leg jeans your pinched foldover should be ~1-2″.
- Hold the foldover in place as you roll the bottom hem of your pants up once, 1-2″.
- Roll that bottom fold one more time so the hem is no longer visible.
- Repeat on other leg.
And if you’re curious why cuffed pants exist at all, Wikipedia does not disappoint:
- The main reason for cuffs is to add weight to the bottom of the leg to help the drape of the trousers.
- Parents use cuffs to extend the life of children’s clothes by cuffing pants that are too long and unrolling as the child grows.
- Originally, however, it started as men rolling trousers to avoid getting mud splashed on them when roads were still unpaved.
The more you know.
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