By Gabriela Afanador
Tuesday 21, July 2026
If there is one thing worth investing in before summer fully arrives, it is the pants. Not another dress, not another swimsuit, but the pants, because a good pair travels further across more occasions than almost anything else in a summer wardrobe and because the options right now are genuinely excellent across every register, from a lazy beach morning to a dinner where you actually want to look like you tried. This edit covers seven of them, one for each day of the week, chosen for different reasons and different moments but united by the fact that none of them will sit untouched in your closet by the end of August.
Bianca Resortwear Nara Wrap Trousers
What makes the Nara Wrap Trouser worth knowing about is not the silhouette, though the wide leg viscose jersey in a mid-rise cut is very good, but the details that sit alongside it. The keyhole-shaped cut-out in Italian leather running along the side, the wraparound leather cord, the hook closure, these are the kinds of finishing decisions that separate a trouser from a piece, and Bianca Resortwear makes pieces. The viscose jersey itself has a weight and drape that reads as considerably more expensive than it has any right to, falling cleanly without clinging and moving well in the kind of heat where heavier fabrics become immediately unwearable. Available in white, coffee, and black, which means one trouser in three colorways covers the full range of what you actually need from a summer basic. Worn with a simple tank it is effortless. Worn with a silk blouse tucked loosely at the front it becomes something else entirely. I think the coffee is the best of the three and I think the leather detail is the reason this trouser is more interesting than anything else in its price range right now.
Reformation Gale Satin Mid Rise Bias Pant
The satin bias pant is one of those pieces that has existed in the vocabulary of good dressing for long enough that it is easy to take for granted, and the Reformation Gale is a reminder of why that vocabulary keeps returning to it. Cut on the bias in a mid-rise silhouette with an elasticated waist that never looks like an elasticated waist, the Gale moves with the kind of fluid ease that structured trousers cannot replicate and that makes everything worn on top of it look more intentional. The fior di latte colorway, a warm cream that sits between ivory and champagne, is the one that photographs best and wears most universally, though the full color range across core and seasonal options covers enough ground that there is a version of this pant for every existing wardrobe. This is the trouser you wear with the good strappy sandals and the simple top when you need an outfit to do the work for you without any effort on your part. It always does.
Reformation Vida Linen Low Rise Pant
If there is one pant I would tell every single person to own, it is the Vida. I have it in black and in white and I wear both of them constantly, which is the most honest endorsement I can offer anything. The low-rise linen silhouette has a wide leg that falls all the way to the floor and a fit that somehow manages to feel exactly right on the body from the first wear, which does not happen with linen as often as it should because linen is a fabric that can read as either effortless or unfinished depending entirely on the cut and the Vida cut is firmly in the first category. For summer specifically the linen version is the one to reach for first, the fabric breathing in a way that cotton does not and developing the particular soft drape that good linen develops over time. Worn with a fitted white t-shirt it is the most complete casual look imaginable. Worn with a slip top or a strapless anything it becomes evening. Worth every penny and then some.
Rat & Boa Sonni Trouser in Zebra
The Sonni Trouser exists in that very specific category of piece that elevates whatever you were already planning to wear. The flare silhouette with its frilled waist detail and the deliberately undone quality of the tailoring make it feel simultaneously dressed and relaxed, and the sheer zebra print is the kind of print that works because it is specific enough to have a point of view without being so loud that it takes over. The obvious styling move is to match the print to the Rat & Boa bikini top in the same fabric for a full coordinated pool-to-dinner look, and the obvious move is obvious because it is genuinely good. But a simple black bandeau or a white crochet top works just as well for those who want the print to be the only statement the outfit is making. The Sonni comes in enough print options across seasons that once you own one version you will find yourself returning for another, which is the sign of a silhouette that actually works rather than one that only works on a runway.
Aritzia Babaton Carmen Capri
Capris are back, and this time without the early 2000s baggage that made them complicated for so long. The current version being championed on runways from Ralph Lauren to Sandy Liang and on the street style circuit by Hailey Bieber, Bella Hadid, and Alexa Chung is a cleaner, more tailored reading of the silhouette, and the Aritzia Babaton Carmen is one of the best executions of it at an accessible price point. High-rise and flat-front with side slits and a darted back waist for shaping, made in a stretch twill with a touch of LENZING ECOVERO viscose that gives it enough structure to hold its shape and enough ease to be genuinely comfortable across a full day. The slim fit and the cropped length create a proportion that works best with pointed-toe flats or a low mule and a fitted top or a structured jacket, the tailored quality of the pant meeting its match in whatever is worn above it. In black it is the most versatile thing in this edit and the one that will get the most use well beyond summer.
Missoni Chevron Knit Trousers
The Missoni zigzag trouser is admittedly on the trend side of this edit, but it earns its place because it is the kind of trend piece that does not actually feel like a trend piece when you are wearing it. The signature chevron knit in multi beige on a light base is subtle enough in its palette that the print reads as texture rather than statement from a distance, the muted tones doing the work of making something that could tip into maximalism feel entirely wearable and even restrained. Wide-legged and floor-grazing with the elastic waistband that Missoni knit trousers always carry, these are best worn with the least possible amount of everything else, a black bikini top visible at the décolletage, bare feet or a simple sandal, nothing competing with the fabric. For a beach club lunch or a terrace dinner where the setting does most of the work, these are the pants that hold the entire outfit.
Dôen Lavon Lace-Trimmed Silk-Satin Wide-Leg Pants
The Lavon is the most considered piece in this edit and the one that operates in a register entirely its own. Cut from fluid silk-satin in a blue-grey eucalyptus tone that sits somewhere between silver and sage depending on the light, with tonal lace trim at the elasticated waistband and along the wide hem, these are pants that borrow from the lingerie tradition without committing to it, the lace detail adding a romantic softness to a silhouette that is already doing a great deal with its fabric alone. The silk-satin moves in a way that very few materials can replicate at the hem and across the leg, and the particular blue-grey of the eucalyptus colorway is the kind of color that looks different and equally good against every skin tone. Worn with the matching Dôen camisole or slip top it becomes a full look. Worn with a plain white t-shirt tucked loosely it becomes something more casual and equally good. These are pants you buy once and wear for years, which at $400 is exactly the right calculation to make.
These seven pants cover every version of what a summer wardrobe actually needs from a trouser, the casual, the elevated, the poolside, the dinner, the trending, and the timeless. The best thing about building a pant wardrobe is how easily the pieces move across occasions and across seasons, and every one of these will still be relevant long after summer is over.