FASHION : Tight Squeeze
The Look: Skintight riding pants with leather stitched at the knee or on the front to look like tall boots. Forget the horse.
How to Do It Big: The most famous designer of equestrian wear is France’s Hermes. For winter, Hermes made impeccably cut, body-defining riding pants of beige lambskin suede with black lambskin legs, which the company calls its trompe l’oeil trousers. They’re fit for a queen. And a royal just might be able to afford the whopping $3,950 price. With these magnificent trousers, Hermes shows a $1,125 black cashmere sweater that looks like a turtleneck but has a hood. Each is available at the Hermes boutique in Beverly Hills. Total: $5,075.
How to Do It Budget: Check out the boot pants designed by Maggie Barry and Ty Moore for Van Buren. The local design team makes the pants two ways for two prices.
For the Van Buren line, the pants are made of heavy nylon-Lycra with leather stitched on the front of the legs. The $210 pair pictured here is olive with black leather and is available at Ice in the Beverly Center.
The pants in the design duo’s less expensive new Love Line come in black cotton-Lycra with washable suede cloth on the legs in black, brown or burgundy and are available for $85 at Emphasis on Melrose Avenue.
The best buy for a great-looking turtleneck is a $19 ribbed lambswool-and-Angora version in every color imaginable at the Limited stores citywide. Total for Van Buren pants and sweater, $229; from the less expensive Love Line and sweater, $104.
