Embracing the chillier seasons while staying fashionable is made easier with the addition of leather pants to your wardrobe. These versatile pieces bring an edgy flair to your fall and winter outfits. From casual outings matched with cozy knit sweaters and ankle boots to more sophisticated occasions paired with tailored blazers and heels, leather pants offer a stylish solution for both warmth and style.
In this guide, we’ll explore creative ways to put together outfits that incorporate leather pants, ensuring you exude confidence and comfort throughout the colder months.
Can You Wear Faux Leather Pants?
And the simple answer is absolutely you can.
But it’s also important to pay attention to the quality of pants, otherwise they end up looking cheap.
Here are some key features to check when looking for a good quality faux leather pants:
- Less shiny looks high quality. It’s important that when you are buying faux leather pants, you pay attention to texture of the fabric. Faux leather is made out of polyurethane (PU) and polyvinyl chloride (PVC) which is pretty much artificially made. So, it won’t have the texture that you would see on real leather fabric. If it’s too shiny, it looks cheap. So, when you are buying look for those details.
- Pay attention to stitches. Cheaply made faux leather pants will look cheap too. If the stitching does not blend or looks poorly done, these pants won’t last long and will look bad on you.
- Pay attention to fit. Faux leather and real leather pants are not as stretchy. So, you need to make sure you are comfortable wearing them. And are able to move as well.
Tops To Wear With Leather Pants
Faux leather pants or leather pants are usually worn in cooler weather because they are warm fabrics that keep you warm. But not every style of tops will look good with leather pants.
I am also sharing some tops to avoid wearing with leather pants that make your outfit look tacky.
Printed Button Down Shirt
Want to wear leather pants to work and struggling to make them look professional? Wear them with printed button down shirts. Your outfit will look polished and stylish as well.
Printed shirts add more detail and interest to our outfit compared to solid colored shirts. And these are a great addition to your workwear. And these shirts can balance out the edginess of leather pants.
Pair them with slingback pumps or loafers to create classy and sophisticated work outfit.
- Sizes: 0 - 12
Knit Top
Leather pants are perfect for special occasion outfits in fall and winter. And an easy way to do that without going over the top is adding a knit top with different style of necklines.
The neckline adds an interesting touch to the outfit. And because the knit top is lightweight as well you can easily layer it up with coats, jackets. You can also add more layers like scarves and hats because the knit top acts as a base layer.
- Sizes: 23 - 37
Camisole And Blazer
If you are picking brown leather pants, you can also add more colors to your outfit by picking one base shade like black or white.
In this outfit, the brown leather pants are paired with white camisole which you might already be wearing in summer. Just layer it with a blazer and you will have yourself a cozy yet sophisticated layered outfit for fall.
You can switch your footwear for different occasions and wear this outfit over and over again.
- Sizes: XXS - XL
Oversized Sweater
You can wear oversized turtleneck sweaters with slim or flared leather pants. These leather pants will have a narrow fit and can make you feel bulky. So, to balance the proportion, you can pick oversized long sweaters that can give you a tunic appearance.
This is the perfect opportunity for wearing leather pants in winter weather with oversized turtleneck sweaters. And if you pick striped ones, you will add some detail to your outfit as well.
This is a great way to not add another layer to your outfit if the weather permits.
- Top: XS/S - M/L
- Bottom: 23 - 32
Mockneck Sweater
When its sweater weather, you can also opt for mock neck sweaters that are a much more comfortable version of turtleneck sweater. They will make your leather pants outfit look smart and youthful.
Pick a fun color to pair with your black leather pants or colored ones and see how your outfit looks smart yet fun to wear to work or go out on dinners.
You can layer it with a long coat when it gets cooler to stay cozy and crush the leather pants outfit.
- Sizes: 00 - 22
- Petite & Regular
Go Monochrome
Black leather pants give you an excellent opportunity to go monochrome with everything black and actually make the outfit look sophisticated. Its all about picking the right layers of clothes that can elevate your outfits.
Pick black fitted sweater with black leather pants and black jacket, blazer or coat. Add some black shoes and see how your outfit looks fierce yet classy and sophisticated.
When it comes to footwear here, I would not add boots, a little bit of skin show with pumps, loafers would be a better alternative.
- Pants: 00 - 16
- Sweater: XS - XL
Crewneck Tshirt
Crewneck T-shirts are perfect top to wear with leather pants for transitional weather where you don’t want to wear sweaters.
The crewneck style of the tee will elevate your outfit. And even if T-shirts are considered as casual top, the neckline makes this top polished and helps brighten up the outfit.
You can also pick different colors of t-shirts to pair with leather pants. But when in doubt, white crewneck t-shirts are just the best.
- Pants: XS - XXL
- Tee: XS - XXL
You can still continue to wear this outfit as it gets cooler by simply adding a third layer and switching your shoes.
I love adding some sort of pattern when creating fall layers. So adding a plaid or houndstooth blazer will elevate your outfit. You will look polished but also stay comfortable when it’s cold outside.
Swap your open toe shoes with something close toe like loafer mules.
What Tops Not To Wear With Leather Pants
While you can pretty much wear every style of top with leather pants and look good in it, there are some tops that will make you look tacky.
These tops are outdated styles as well as styles that will age you as well. Lets see what are they:
- Animal Print: This used to be a cool style, but now its old fashioned.
- Satin or Silk Tops: They look great with everything else, but they don’t gel well with shiny fabric like leather.
- Cut out tops: You can only wear some kind if you are going for clubbing or night outs.
- Leather shirt: This just looks tacky.
- Denim shirt: While denim is making a come back paired with leather pants, it just does not look stylish.
- Floral Prints: These prints should be packed away for summer.
What Shoes To Wear With Leather Pants
There are two lengths of leather pants you will find. Ankle length are great for casual everyday wear and longer ones that look a bit more sophisticated.
The general rule is to make sure you are not looking like a leather hanger when you are pairing shoes with leather pants. What does this mean?
Well if you are wearing black leather pants and you pair them with black boots that cover your feet and ankles, your outfit will look weird. So, instead of boots you can pick loafers or mules to wear with leather pants.
Black leather pants look intense and prominent in an outfit. So showing some ankle or feet tones it down and makes your outfit look wearable instead of walking on a runway.
This also makes them work appropriate where you are not getting stared at because of your intense outfit.
But if you pick colored leather pants, you can easily get away with wearing black ankle boots with them or other colors of ankle boots.
Colored leather pants don’t make your outfit look as intense. I think that is why they are becoming more and more popular.
