Looking for advice/information on pants

[redbird]

I need to buy some new pants, suitable for winter, meaning reasonably warm.

I would like them to fit reasonably well. The difficulty here is that I keep looking at size charts for women's pants from different brands and companies, and they consistently have a ten inch difference between waist and hip measurements for any given size. That is, while the sizes are numbered differently, 42-inch hips always go with a 32-inch waist, and 48-inch hips with a 38-inch waist. (The difference is constant, so the ratio varies with size.)

I have 42-inch hips and a 37-inch waist, and would like a pair of pants that neither gapes horribly at the waist nor is incredibly baggy at the hips. Can anyone point me to brands or styles that are likely to fit well?

Pointers to stores might be useful, if they're either online or mail order companies with decent return policies, or places I can reasonably get to, which includes most of New York City, maybe Yonkers, and parts of the Boston area.

(I also have most of my height in my torso, meaning that while I have a 28-inch inseam, the rise in most petites is too small for me, and they're annoyingly snug at the crotch. I'm resigned to possibly having these pants shortened, but that's a simpler and cheaper process than taking in the waist significantly, even in garments where the latter is feasible.)

Comments

[dichroic.livejournal.com]

In my comment on your later post, I forgot to say that last time I was discussing pants-buying on LJ, someone recommended me to Lane Bryant. I checked out their website; it turns out that they have a few different shape ranges. Their smallest size was still too big for me, but I was actually kind of impressed that their straighter cut really had quite a small change from waist to hip, and by the variety in their jeans cuts (I mean, high waist, low waist, straight leg, bootcut, etc). It might be worth your time to look at the sizing on their website.