I have discovered that I am more interested in keeping warm than keeping up with fashion these days. I am more likely to want to stay at home and bundle up in my hoodie and tracksuit pants than parade around in something designed to get chilblains on your knees, let alone your toes.

In my youth, I wouldn’t be seen dead in clothes that my mother might have worn, and opted for miniskirts that were almost indecently short, paired with boots that would have indicated I had an interest in equestrianism - with heels that would take your eye out.

Shorts ‘yesterday’

I used to wear shorts too, and I see the young ladies of today in some that my mother would have recoiled in horror to see, being undoubtedly shorter than I would have worn, but they look good. But over the years, my ‘shorts’ are turning into ‘longs’ – in fact, every year, they get a little longer. First, my knees took their wrinkly little faces out of the sun and were happy to nearly disappear for a couple of years, especially when longer Bermuda shorts were the thing to be worn. Then, capri pants came to the fore, and the knees definitely were gleefully covered up. Before that ski pants became a fashion item (yes, I am of an age when polyester was fashionable), and ankles disappeared, and the legs looked long and lean in them. What joy. They usually had stitched-in creases, too, just to add to the illusion, and didn’t even need ironing.

Bellbottoms came and went - I was a big fan, as I was one of those women (and still am) who carry their weight mostly in their hips, thighs, and rear, and I looked amazing in wide bell-bottoms. I think they have been reinvented as ‘flares’ these days, but the principle is the same, and the youngsters of today will try them on in stores and be amazed at the shape these retro fashions give them.

Shorts ‘today’

Shorts are an essential clothing item for the heat of Portugal, and this year I see there is something not quite shorts, and not quite trousers either, and in fashion shoots they look cool and trendy, so being one never to shy away from anything that covers the legs, I went and bought a pair for the summer. ‘Cropped leg’, I read. These aren’t anything new to be honest, and have been around with a number of names over the years - capri pants (again), or three-quarter legs, clam-diggers, flood pants, ankle pants or toreador pants to name a few - anything that are longer than shorts, but are not as long as trousers.

But this year they seem to have a ‘relaxed look’, slightly on the wider side. Well, that sounds good, I thought; they will hide a multitude of sins and be cooler than trousers for the summer but not as revealing as shorts. So I tried a pair. Looked from the front and the back. Hmm. Not sure this is a good look, and I will tell you why. I am only around 5’2” on a good day (around 157cm), so these cropped trousers are actually full-length for me. And make me look like an ill-dressed schoolboy. To my mind, they make me look smaller AND wider.

Nevertheless, I wore them on a day that promised to be warm, and strutted off with these pants pulled up in a kind of Simon Cowell style (to make them seem shorter you understand), and realised that they revealed an inch or two of ankle that hadn’t seen the light of day for the entire winter and had almost enough hair on them to braid.

Shaving legs is almost another story

Once started, I wasn’t sure where I should stop. Do I need to go up to the knees? Or ankles only? Such a long time since the last time I had to ‘borrow’ shaving foam and The Husband’s razor (don’t say you haven’t ever done that, ladies).

Anyway, the knees won, so I am now all set for the shorts season, whatever the length.

Author

Marilyn writes regularly for The Portugal News, and has lived in the Algarve for some years. A dog-lover, she has lived in Ireland, UK, Bermuda and the Isle of Man. 

Marilyn Sheridan