14 Style Essentials That Are GORGEOUS On Thick Thighs
No pancaked hips, hideous waist gaps, or two-and-a-half-minute shimmy required to get them on.
by The Candidly Team
There should be a word for the exhausting kind of anger we experience every time a brand tells us to “celebrate our curves” then continues to make clothes that make literally no sense on them.
Clothes we can barely squeeze over our hips but then leave monstrous waist gaps. Or weird bulging zippers. Or that dumb sack-like space below the seat that somehow makes our full, round bottoms look flattened and almost square-shaped.
Even in this very article where we chose highly specific things that fit and flatter a thicker thigh better than anything else we’ve discovered, there isn’t always a curvy model to showcase why exactly these pieces look so deeply divine on curves.
Nevertheless, we set our beefs aside, put our heads down, and came up with 14 glorious pieces that those of us with rounder legs, shapely hips, and bigger butts can’t stop wearing.
They’re all excellent. Some of them changed our entire relationship with getting dressed. And here they are:
1. a Wildly Spacious Cropped Pant
If you’ve been sleeping on Free People all these years, thinking it’s made for a flower child or maybe just a child child, we’re here to tell you you are missing out. Free People has some of the most comfy, flattering, non-boring staples that work exceedingly well on pear-shaped ladies of. all. ages. Take these pants, for example. They have a smocked waist and an exaggerated wide-leg silhouette, so they’re comfortable beyond reason, but they still have the tailoring to look stylish, chic, and versatile. And if you have an ounce of hesitation about them only going up to XL, just know that Free People is generous with their sizing. We often need to buy 1-2 sizes lower than what we usually wear in their bottoms. Which we don’t really mind, because that spaciousness, paired with their quality, is what we love most about the brand.
Price: $78
2. A Ruched Tank Dress
Shapellx Built-In 360° Tank Ruched Shaper Dress
If you have wider hips and thighs, then you probably already know the magic of ruching. It smooths over and sort of conceals the bumps that we shouldn’t feel bad about but that we sometimes use to talk ourselves out of wearing the fitted pieces we’d really like to wear. This dress is from a beloved shapewear brand, so it’s doing some genius things to ensure we look our best in a way that looks and feels natural. This includes a “powernet lining” to gently hold us in and built-in removable pads that we can switch out to make sure we have the exact size chest support we require. The result is that chic, hourglass shape we always want…and can now wholeheartedly enjoy.
Price: $65
3. A Wide Leg Jean That Won’t Gap At The Waist
Paige Anessa Crop Wide-Leg Jeans
Jeans are supposed to provide a liberating level of comfort, but are they really doing this for anyone? For you? Like at all? Because for us, it just feels like either our thighs are being tortuously constricted or baggily un-flattered. These jeans, however, are something different. They’re soft, stretchy, have the cutest shape, the ideal crop, and most importantly, they button at our waist in a smooth, un-gaping way that feels amazing. They’re more than we’d usually spend on jeans, but they’re unequivocally our best jeans, so we were willing to spend more once and happily wear them for all of time. They also have sizes in petite and plus.
Price: $229
4. A Curve-Complementing Jumpsuit
A fitted bodice paired with a spacious yet sculpting pant such as this helps create one of the most complementary cuts a pear-shaped person can put on. We love that the material reads formal but feels stretchy so we can wear it to work or weekend things or dress it up with a simple choice of shoe. And given the trouble we have finding jumpsuits that are the correct length, we appreciate that it comes in tall, petite, and plus.
Price: $188
5. A Parachuted Pair of Pull-On Jeans
Free People We The Free Ridley Pull-On Jeans
Is it cheating to call these jeans? Of course not! Just because they’re soft, slouchy, elastic-waisted, and blessedly pull-on doesn’t take a single thing away from these being a staple akin to your greatest pair of jeans. Perfect with tanks. Perfect with tees. Perfect with every cute, flat, summery shoe we love to wear. Sadly, they sell out constantly. So if they have your size, you know what to do.
Price: $78
6. A smoothing, pocketed legging
Beyond Yoga Spacedye Out Of Pocket High Waisted Midi Legging
In order to understand what’s so uniquely right about these leggings allow us to list what’s so typically wrong with others. 1. The thin, pilling material that shows every bump. 2. The camel-toe showcasing cut. 3. The cheap, plasticky sheen 4. The waistband you’re constantly readjusting. We could go on. But instead, we’ll just tell you that these buttery, high-high-waisted leggings have a melting support unlike all the others. They are, hands down, the best. If you need more reasons, and there are many, GO HERE.
Price: $99
7. A Gloriously Gauzy Pair Of Pull-On Shorts
Shorts are tricky for those of us who struggle to LOVE showing our legs. Or who reject the premise altogether. However, if we must (and it’s hot, so we must), wear shorts, these are the ones we’re gonna wear. They’re soft as PJ bottoms but have a flattering A-line shape, a length that makes our legs look 3 inches longer, a nipping high waist, and a gauzy material we could live in. Throw these on with a really well-fitting, ribbed tank and a chic sandal, and you’ve settled your summer uniform.
Price: $35
8. A Ribbed Jogger
Cozy Earth Rib-Knit Jogger Pants
We’re not 100% sure why ribbing is so flattering on curves, but we don’t especially care. We live in these joggers because they are the softest thing to have touched our skin. Even the fact that they go up to XXXL and look glorious on butts and thighs comes a distant second. It’s all about the comfort.
Oh, and our undying love inspired Cozy Earth to give us a code for 35% off. Use CANDIDLY.
Price: $128
9. A Skinny Jean That Fits Even When We Fluctuate
Good American Always Fits Good Legs Skinny Jeans
There is a bit of brilliance at work here. A pair of jeans with enough stretch and support combined to fit a range of sizes as opposed to just one. So instead of a straight-up size 14, you’d buy size 14-18. If you’re raising an eyebrow in suspicion right now, we get it. But just know that these jeans are 1) made by a brand devoted to curves 2) made in a way that allows us to have natural fluctuations without needing to house 3 different denim sizes in our dresser at all times. It’s a much easier way for us to wear skinny jeans in general and to stop evaluating ourselves based on how they fit us at a given moment. Because these jeans “always fit.”
Price: $149
10. A Drapey Wide Leg Pant
Maeve The Avery Pleated Wide-Leg Trousers
We have written extensively about these pants, because we have found no finer drapey trouser in existence. They make us look a mile long, narrow our waist, and pleat to perfection at the thighs. We wear them to work things and to fancy dinners and also to lounge around the house in, because despite them being the most tailored, Katherine Hepburn pants in our closet, they feel like leisurewear. They come in plus and various solid colors, but Maeve also just came out with this chic pinstripe, which you can find HERE.
Price: $148
11. An Extraordinarily Cozy Lounge Pant
Lunya Organic Pima Wide Leg Pant
Are there words we can say about these pants that this picture doesn’t already convey? The space. The drape. The softness. It’s the lounge pant of our collective dreams. We wear ours daily. Daily.
Price: $148
12. A Silky Bias Cut Skirt
If you’re having trouble with skirts being either too poofy and adding bulk or too tight and feeling bulgy, consider a bias cut. It gives off the sleekness of a fitted midi skirt but with a swingy sort of roominess that looks and feels 27x better than any other cut of skirt. Particularly on curves. We love this one because the color and size selection is unrivaled. It also comes in linen for a more casj summer look.
Price: $57 - $98
13. A Smoothing Jumpsuit
Good American Fit For Success Jumpsuit
Good American knows how to give us our prettiest silhouette, and this sculpting jumpsuit single-handedly proves it. It sizes up to 5X and comes in 6 perfect colors.
Price: $155
14. The Most Comfortable Nipped Waist Pants On This Planet
By Anthropologie Ruched Poplin Parachute Pants
Before you say anything, visualize yourself seated in a summery café or strolling along a white sand beach in these breezy pants over a swimsuit or a sliiiiightly cropped tee instead of some dumb pair of shorts. They’re bliss to slip into on those above 80° days, and we get to feel airy, interesting, and chic all at the same time.
Price: $138
At The Candidly, we try a lot of stuff so you don’t have to. We only recommend things we truly love, and that we think you’ll love, too. All products are chosen independently by our creative team, and all details reflect the price and availability of products at the time of publication. If you buy something we link to, The Candidly may earn a commission.
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