Sid Mashburn is who I want to dress like when I grow up. The guy always looks great, never overdressed yet also never underdressed either. His clothes fit just right—not too slim, not too baggy—and probably more than anything he’s got an infectious upbeat attitude.
One thing about his clothes that I do not plan to emulate, however, is his trouser break. Or rather, the absolute lack of trouser break. Notice how his pants don’t touch the top of his shoes in any of the photos of him? It looks clean; simple; just right… on him. On most of the rest of us, no break is not a flattering look.
I went through the no break phase like everybody else born out of the 2010s menswear movement. “Make them shorter, no break!” I would ask the tailor. The result was always a pair of pants with a very un-flattering silhouette. Every single pair of pants I hemmed to have a slight break, however, I started noticing were my favorites to wear for their more flattering silhouette.
It turns out there are two things that can lengthen your legs visually: 1. A higher rise (which I’ve talked about a little before here, such as on this post about pleats), and 2. A slight break at the hem.
You can even get a slanted hem (sometimes called a military hem), where the front crease of the pant is 1/8” higher than the inseam measurement, and the rear crease is 1/2” lower. That helps create the right silhouette even better by allowing the hem to cover your shoes in the back.
The Sid Mashburn’s of the world—tall with a very slender build, and long slim legs in particular—you’re welcome to continue with your no break lifestyle. But for folks with some meat on the thighs with a shorter inseam (like me), I’ll be hemming with a slight break.
Agree that Sid’s trousers are a particular style, that is not necessarily flattering on all. Maybe it is semantics, but all of the trouser pics in this article look like they have no break to me. No break, quarter break, “shivering break” mean different things to different people.
LOL, point well made. As I was selecting these photos, I thought “Hm, none of these clearly show the break very well,” probably due to my stance in the images. Most have what I’d call a slight break, which as you point out means different things to different people. Though the images might not show it well.