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Choosing Between Chinos, Cargos and Jeans

The useful question is not which trouser is best, it is what the day is going to ask of your legs. A chino keeps a line under a shirt and draws no attention, which is why it becomes the default for anything with a meeting in it. A cargo is for leaving the house with your hands already full, when a phone, keys and a roll of tape need somewhere to go that is not a bag. Denim takes everything after that, and mostly the things that will scuff it. Men's pants and women's pants split this range by wearer, which is the shorter way in when the answer is already obvious.

Men's and Women's Trousers, and Where the Cuts Differ

The same three types run on both sides of the range, but they are not decided the same way. Women's trousers get settled at the waist, because a high rise changes what can be worn over it and a mid rise leaves that open. Men's get settled at the ankle instead, by how much of the leg ends up on the shoe. Two different first questions, three shared answers. Women's cargo pants is where the split shows up most clearly, since volume through the leg reads differently over a hip. Get the rise right and the rest of a women's trouser tends to fall into place.