A letter from a reader

At 63, my summer choice was jeans that cooked me or leggings that felt like giving up

I have never written anything like this before, and I want to say at the start that I am not a writer and I am not in the habit of telling other women what to wear.

But three different women asked me about my pants at the farmers market two weekends ago, and I have now explained it enough times that it seemed easier to write it down properly.

It started every single morning of a Texas summer, standing in front of the closet in the heat, facing the same impossible choice.

Jeans that cook me, or leggings that feel like giving up.

Those were the two options. Denim that was too hot to bear by ten in the morning, or leggings I did not feel dressed in. And nothing, nothing at all, in between.

I did not choose that. Nobody decides to be uncomfortable all summer. It is just what is in the closet, and what is in the closet is what the stores decided to sell us.

How it happens

Somewhere along the way the stores decided women our age want one of two things: stiff structured pants that do not breathe, or elastic-waist slacks that have given up entirely.

So in the heat you reach for the jeans because at least they look like real clothes, and you are miserable in them by lunch. Or you reach for the leggings and you feel like you are still in your pajamas at the market.

What I had wrong

Here is the bit I got most wrong. I thought comfortable pants had to look like comfortable pants, which is to say, like you had stopped trying.

It turns out linen solves the whole thing. Light linen trousers actually breathe, so you stay cool in the heat. A straight leg and a proper drape make them look put-together, not slouchy. And a high elastic waist means comfort where you want it, hidden under your top, with none of the digging of a stiff waistband.

Cool and pulled-together were never opposites. It is just linen, and it took me until 63 to reach for it.

They are called the Heidi

They are from Iris & Nora, a little boutique here in Austin that has been quietly dressing women our age for a few years now.

They are called the Heidi. Light breathable linen trousers in a soft beige, cut straight through the leg, with a comfortable high elastic waist and real pockets. They come in a whole range of colors, which I will come back to.

The linen is the whole thing. It moves the air instead of trapping it, so I am genuinely cool walking around in the heat. The leg is cut straight and a little loose, so they read as real trousers rather than loungewear. And the elastic waist sits high and hidden, comfortable all day with nothing digging in.

And they have pockets, which at my age I have learned never to take for granted.

What happened at the market

I wore them to the farmers market with a plain top and flat sandals.

Three women asked me where they were from. Three. One of them was Sue, who I have known for forty years and who has never once commented on anything I have worn.

She said I looked cool and pulled-together, which in a Texas July is the highest praise there is. I have decided to take it as the compliment of the summer.

What I noticed more than the compliments was that I stopped thinking about my legs being hot, which in July here is no small thing. I just went about my day.

The next morning I wore them to the airport to see my sister, because they do not wrinkle into a mess in a seat, and arrived looking like myself.

Three things I have learned since

One. Linen actually breathes. It is not a marketing word. The difference between linen and denim in the heat is the difference between a good day and a sticky one.

Two. A high elastic waist is not giving up. Hidden under your top, it is pure comfort with none of the digging. Nobody can see it, and you will not want to go back.

Three. Straight leg keeps it grown-up. A clean straight cut is what makes comfortable pants still look like real clothes rather than pajamas.

About the price

I want to be straightforward about this, because it was the thing that made me suspicious.

The Heidi is $47.95. It was $94.00.

My first thought, honestly, was that there had to be a catch, because good linen trousers usually cost a great deal more than that.

There is no catch that I have found. They are a small boutique selling directly, so there is no department store taking a cut in the middle, and they run a summer sale to move the season's stock before it turns.

I did what I imagine you are doing now and went and read the reviews before I ordered. Just over three hundred of them, sitting at 4.2 stars. Not the suspiciously perfect five you see on some sites, which if I am honest made me trust it more. Real people, mixed opinions, mostly very good.

Then I ordered two more colors, because you cannot have too many pants that keep you cool.

What I would tell you if we were friends

If you and I were sitting out on the porch with a glass of iced tea and you asked me, this is what I would say.

If you spend every summer stuck between jeans that cook you and leggings you do not feel dressed in, you are not being fussy. Nobody sold you the thing in between. It is linen, and it exists.

A summer of being comfortable and still looking like yourself is worth more than $47.95, in my experience.

Two practical things. The sale is on now, and the middle sizes go first. And they run from a small to a 3XL in a whole range of colors, the same easy cut the whole way up.

I have not put on a pair of hot jeans since.

Peggy