The Best Pants for Fall Are Relaxed and Straight-Leg

3 min readI’M NOT TELLING you to give up your baggy pants. I just want you to stop treating them like they’re the baseline. For the last couple of years, the answer to “What pants should I wear?” has seemingly been: Make them bigger. Bigger through the thigh. Bigger through the leg. Bigger at the hem. At a certain point, it felt like the more fabric we had pooling around your sneakers, the better the outfit looked. And I get it. I’m a baggy-pants guy myself.There’s something cool about a pair of jeans that looks like you could have stolen them from your older brother in 1997 (I’m guilty of this, it used to cause a lot of fights in my house). But as fall creeps around the corner, I’m finding myself reaching for something a little more classic, cleaner: the relaxed straight-leg pant. No, it’s not a new trend. But it’s a solid middle ground between the skinny, restrictive trousers of my late-2000s high school years and the ultra-baggy jeans that have dominated menswear recently.Levi's 559 Relaxed Straight JeansUniqlo Pleated Relaxed Wide PantsCredit: Courtesy of RetailerBanana Republic Relaxed Lived-In ChinoNow 50% OffAbercrombie Relaxed Straight JeanCredit: Courtesy of RetailerBonobos Vintage Twill ChinoNow 16% OffCos Cotton-Twill Relaxed-Fit Straight-Leg PantsCredit: Courtesy of RetailerMadewell The 1991 Loose Straight Carpenter PantNN07 Aden 1923 Straight-Leg Organic Cotton-Blend Twill TrousersCredit: Courtesy of RetailerPolo Ralph Lauren The Big ChinoCredit: Courtesy of RetailerThe leg is straight, or close to it, from the thigh down, but there’s enough room through the seat and thigh that you never feel like the pants are holding on for dear life. Look at the proportions of the decade: jeans weren’t necessarily skin-tight, but they weren’t enormous, either. They followed the general shape of the leg while leaving enough space to move. I think of classic Levi’s, vintage Ralph Lauren, old-school Gap, or the kind of trousers you’d see on someone like JFK Jr. in a grainy paparazzi photo from back in the day.It works with all kinds of shoes, everything from sneakers and boots to loafers. I can dress it up, dress it down, cuff it, stack it slightly, or let the hem fall cleanly over my shoe. And because the leg isn’t aggressively wide, I can see the shape of your footwear instead of having it disappear underneath three inches of denim. There’s also something flattering about the way the straight leg creates a continuous line from your hip down to your shoe. Rather than narrowing dramatically at the ankle or exploding outward from the thigh, it gives my lower half a clean, simple shape.Plus, a relaxed, straight-leg pant makes getting dressed a lot less complicated. It gives my shirt, jacket, sweater, or coat a little more room to play without creating a competition between the top and bottom halves of your body. If I’m wearing a slightly boxier T-shirt, I can throw on a straight-leg jean and the proportions make sense. If I’m wearing a chunky sweater or a thicker jacket, the pants have enough volume to hold their own without turning the entire outfit into one giant rectangle. Super-baggy pants can be great, but they are a look. They change the entire proportion of an outfit. You have to account for the volume, the break at the shoe, the rise, the length, and what’s going on at the top. Sometimes, that’s what I want, but I don’t think it needs to be the starting point every time I get dressed.Again, I’m not declaring the death of the baggy pants. Wear the huge jeans and the puddling trousers. I even like the idea of rocking pants that make me feel like I’ve been on the set of a ’90s music video. I’m just saying that this fall, the relaxed straight-leg deserves to be the place you start.More of Our Favorite PantsBest Chinos for Men | Best Jeans | Best Black Jeans | Best Work Pants | Best Joggers | Best Sweatpants | Best Travel Pants | Best Corduroy Pants | Best Cargo Pants | Best Linen Pants | Best Casual Pants for Men | Best Winter Pants | Best Ski Pants | Best Workout Pants for MenAs the Style and Reviews Editor for Men's Health, Joseph covers all-things fashion and grooming. Previously, Cheatham was a commerce editor for Spy, and he has written for Travel + Leisure.Christian is the Style and Reviews Director at Men's Health and Women’s Health, where he oversees shopping and style content for both brands. He started his magazine career as an accessories assistant at Vogue, and has since held editorial roles at Tatler Asia and The Manual. When he’s not online shopping, you can find him on long walks with his two corgis.