My Gap Pant Summer | The Strategist

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A series where we hear about the things people simply can’t stop buying. Read more here.

I don’t love shorts. To show leg means Gillette nicks and mosquito bites (mine turn into bruises). Unless it’s so hot that an ice-cream cone melts or an inflatable dolphin drowns, I would rather be in pants. Unlike shorts, pants have your back, literally — no more accidental moonings in the middle of a breeze or butt-cheek burns from an unshaded hammock. That’s why when I try on the perfect summer pants, I buy them and don’t take them off until the end of August — or even after, as the beginning of September can be unseasonably warm. Last summer, it was beach pants with sea creatures (starfish, lobsters, seahorses). This summer, it’s a total of nine new linen blends, all from the Gap. For me, it’s going to be a Gap-pant summer.

As you probably know (even if you’ve haven’t been reading the Strategist site regularly — I’m not judging!), something is in the Gap water this summer. It’s the pants that have gotten to me most. Between the cuts (wide-leg, barrel-leg, straight-leg, etc.), colors (tomato-sauce red and buttercream yellow and Greta Gerwig’s Barbie pink), and prices (more often than not there’s a sale happening) in the Pants Shop, the pants are better than ever. They can even be mistaken for more expensive brands (a pair of turquoise track pants our lead editor, Lauren Levy, has could be confused for Donni). The first pair I ordered myself was the Mid-Rise Linen-Blend Easy Barrel Pants, which I wore to my birthday dinner in May. Since then, I discovered they are the type of pants that can handle when it’s inexcusably 83 degrees or inexplicably 61 degrees. I have five of them now. It’s one of my shopping principles that if you like it, buy it twice. And so, I can’t stop buying Gap pants. Like the monocled Mr. Monopoly with his Monopoly money, I’m swimming in GapCash because of this.

Below, some good Gap pants, including the ones I have, one I tried, and another I’m thinking of buying.

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They belong in the dictionary for the “summer pants” entry. I can’t say enough good things about them. Of course, they’re comfortable. They’re easy in a way that’s not too casual. You can get away with them being slightly wrinkly. If you don’t want to use a steamer, putting them in the dryer for a few minutes does the trick. I have them in every color Gap offers — red, navy, white, black, flax — and if there were more available, I would order immediately. Annoyingly, they’re often “excluded from all promotions.” But some colors are on sale now. (For reference, I’m around five-two and I take a medium in pants; I went with the petite-medium so the pants are perfect lengthwise.)

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Like the Mid-Rise Linen-Blend Easy Barrel Pants, the Linen-Blend Relaxed Straight Ankle Pants are made from a linen blend that’s 55 percent linen to 45 percent rayon. If the word barrel-leg makes you wary, these might just sway you. The straight leg makes for a just-right silhouette that’s fitted through the hips and thighs without being tight in the slightest. They’re light and bright. I have them in the black-and-cream gingham, brown, red, and yellow (though it’s a see-through shade — wear flesh-toned underwear for sure).

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Unfortunately, these were a little long on me, so I returned them (out of sheer cheapness, since I wasn’t willing to get them hemmed). Because of the thin elastic waistband (which, importantly, only has a drawstring on the inside — you don’t want something sweatpants-y), they remind me of the Stratus Pant J.Crew makes. Just that these are around $30 cheaper. Our senior editor, Hilary Reid (who is on the tall side, at five-eight) included them in last month’s Strategist Haul. “I wore them to the park on the sunniest day of Memorial Day weekend and they were truly perfect,” she says.

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These are the next Gap pants on my to-buy list. Fittingly, they’re the sister of the pants that started it all. But while the Mid-Rise Linen-Blend Easy Barrel Pants come in red, navy, white, black, and flax, the Cotton Gauze Easy Barrel Pants are available in green, brown, and pink (plus white and black). They’re made from 100 percent cotton, and the texture of the weave seems very summery. Our senior writer, Emma Wartzman, wore them for a drive to a wedding in the Berkshires. I may need them for a week at a rented beach house soon.

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