Gang, get excited:  Cargo pants are a major trend this Fall.  I have loved, I mean L-O-V-E-D cargo pants since their first iteration in the early 2000s, when we’d wear them all super slouchy (like falling-off-the-hips-slouchy) with a lingerie-inspired cami.  Bonus points if a sliver of belly showed.  Remember?  Then roughly 8 years later JBrand reintroduced them again but as skinnies (aka the “Houlihan”) and we were all MIND. BLOWN.

If I could do cartwheels in these heels, I would.  Because this fall (roughly 8 years later again) JBrand’s Houlihans are back.  (I swear my friend Amber never stopped wearing hers.  Atta girl.)

One might argue that these cargo pants aren’t perfect.  I’ll grant you that they are a *touch* too long on my 5’3″ self.  A fact that was completely covered 8 years ago by those tall boots we all insisted on wearing.  Even over ankle zippers(!?!).  Therefore if you are shorter than I am, the Houlihans may not be your best bet.  But in the grand scheme of life (take a seat – getting philosophical here), a *touch* of extra length is something that doesn’t keep me up at night, especially for a pant that machine washes so well.  When nostalgia comes to play as hard as it did here, I’ll happily take ‘close enough’.

(I do wonder if I could shrink them in the dryer a bit…hmmm….)

So.  Keep reading to see two of my favorite outfit combos for cargo pants.  I have a date night version (I swear, the power of the cargo pant swells when flirty little tops and heels are involved), and an everyday version.

Let’s start with the date night version, just for fun.  Heels and lipstick, and happy happy happy.

As many of you know, we spent a couple of weeks in August vacationing in Europe.  We did France for a bit (Nantes, Normandy, St. Malo), and then cruised down to Barcelona for our final week.  The trip was amazing on so many levels, but, as always, the street style was seriously good.  Oddly enough, one pair of sneakers popped up again and again and again – in both France and Barcelona.  These New Balance 410s appeared to be the shoe of choice for Cool Girls Walking: Europe Edition, so when I got home I promptly ordered them, just to see what all the fuss was about.

Yeah.  Those Cool Girls are totally onto something.

The New Balance 410s aren’t really running shoes, rather lightweight sneakers.  The kind of sneakers that you can actually wear without socks, the kind of sneakers that you can wear in hot temps, and the kind of sneakers you’ll wear all Fall.  They make a statement yet are not not bulky, therefore avoiding any potential BigFoot tendencies.

In Europe, tons of girls rocked these sneaks with dresses, skirts, tailored trousers, or jeans-and-scarves-combos.  Europe always feels a little dressier to me – it’s like everyone adds in one dressy element, whether it’s a dress, skirt, or something tailored, then grounds the outfit with sneakers and tshirts.

Here are two ways (out of many – I’ve seriously been wearing them nonstop) that I’ve been wearing my New Balance 410s. One is a nod to chic European style with a tailored short, the other is allll me (think sweaters and cut-offs at the shore).

Lastly, I also included a few pics with my Brooks Chariot sneakers.  They have a similar sensibility as the New Balances, but with really unique color combos.  Super easy way to make a tshirt-and-jean combo more interesting.