Do you hesitate about wearing cropped jeans? Are you unsure about getting the latest cuffed look in jeans because you think they will make your legs look short? Get easy to follow advice on how to wear cropped jeans to give you the look of legs for days. I’ve included sure-fire and tested style tips to make your legs look longer when you wear cropped, capri and cuffed jeans.
The problem with cuffed, capri and cropped jeans
Cropped, cuffed and capri jeans will make your legs look shorter because they break up the line of your legs. These can be among the most tricky types of jeans for women to wear. The further up the hem on the leg, the greater the leg shortening effect.
Style tips – shoes to wear with cropped jeans, capri jeans and cuffed jeans. Plus choosing a jeans rise and wash/color to elongate your legs.
But there are things you can do – listed in this article are tips to mitigate and lessen the leg shortening effect. Learn how to wear cropped jeans, capri jeans, and cuffed jeans by picking certain styles and the right shoes to maximize the appearance of your leg length.
How to Wear Cropped jeans
Style Tips
- Wear high-rise/high-waist cropped jeans to elongates your legs. The line of your leg is extended by the high rise of the cropped jeans which of course makes your legs look longer.


- A general tip for how to wear cropped jeans and look your best is to have the hem end around the ankle or where the calf begins to narrow, at the thinner parts of the leg.
- Close-fitting cropped jeans, straight-leg or tapered-leg crop jeans preserve the line of the leg for a streamline silhouette and therefore lessen the shortening effect of cropped jeans.
Shoes to wear with cropped jeans
- Heels or wedges worn with cropped jeans can help your legs look longer. (This tip is not only for how to wear cropped jeans to elongate your legs but is useful with any jeans or pants style)


- Cropped jeans worn with shoes that are flesh-toned or the same color as the jeans will make your legs look longer. The lengthening effect is greater if the shoes are heels or wedges.


- Wide-leg cropped jeans and wide-flare cropped jeans are especially shortening to the legs. This can be countered by wearing them with heels, especially ones that are that are flesh-toned.


How to Wear Capri jeans
Style Tips
- High-waist/high-rise capri jeans elongate the line and make your legs appear longer than lower-rises. (Wear a mid-rise if you have a short torso because a high-rise/high-waist would fit too far up on your torso.)
- A slim fit will help preserve the leg-line and make for a sleeker silhouette.

Shoes to wear with capri jeans
- Heels or wedges are shoes to wear with capris jeans that can help your legs look longer.


- Shoes that are flesh-toned or the same color as your capri jeans will also help lengthen your legs, especially if the shoes are heels or wedges.



How to wear capri jeans for those with thick calves
- If you have very muscular or thick calves or thighs, short capri length jeans can make your legs look stubby. But there are tips on how to wear capri jeans that will help with that. A longer capri length or cropped jeans that end just above the ankle or where your calf starts to narrow are a better bet. Wearing flesh-colored heels or wedges will also help elongate your frame. (Follow the same tips above on the styles of shoes to wear with capri jeans that will make you look longer and leaner)


How to Wear Cuffed jeans
Cuffed jeans can be bought pre-cuffed or the wearer simply rolls or turns up the hem on non-cuffed jeans. The width and length of the jean’s leg and the width of the cuff varies. You can have close fitting capri jeans that end at the knee with a narrow cuff, wide-leg, wide-cuffed jeans that skim the floor and all variations in between.
Aside from the width of the leg and the width of the cuff, style variations in cuffed jeans include frayed hems and cuffs where the underside of the fabric is embellished with details such as embroidery.
If you’ve read much of this site you probably have caught on that it’s all about the lines. Just as capri length jeans add a horizontal line and break up the vertical line of the leg, cuffed jeans do the same and for cuffed capri jeans or cuffed cropped jeans, the cuff adds an additional color block (the fabric surface, the contrasting underside of the fabric and the exposed skin of the leg). A general rule of thumb – the narrower the cuff, the less leg-shortening the effect.
Style Tips
- Narrow cuffs are best for petite frames. A smaller cuff doesn’t interrupts the line of the leg as much and a smaller cuff is more proportional to a smaller frame.

- With a lighter wash jean there is less contrast between the underside and upper-side of the fabric so there will be less of a dramatic break in the leg line (and won’t shorten your legs as much).


- If you are tall and lean, not only can you easily pull-off any cuff widths but can use the color-block effect of cuffed jeans to break up your height if you wish.


Shoes to wear with cuffed jeans


- Cuffed jeans worn with heels will help your legs look longer, especially when the heels are flesh-toned or the same color as the cuff. But even if the shoes are flats or sandals, flesh-toned or nude shoes will still ads a bit of leg-length.
- If the jeans are cuffed and cropped, the leg shortening effect can be doubled (the cuff and where the leg hem ends on your leg) so nude heels maximize the leg lengthening effect.
Many people fret and hesitate about wearing some styles of clothes. But fashion should be fun or at least without too much angst in choosing what we wear. Cropped Jeans, capri jeans and cuffed jeans are a very common jean style we are likely to see often among the trends in jeans over time.
You can enjoy wearing this jeans style by adjusting the styling of cropped, capri and cuffed jeans to suit your figure. I hope you found these general tips on how to wear cropped jeans, how to wear capri jeans and how to wear cuffed jeans helpful. Thanks for visiting and be sure to check back often for more jeans and denim fashion.