Wear these Shorts If you have Thick Thighs that Save Lives

Hate showing your legs? This is your complete guide on what shorts to wear when you have thick thighs and short legs.

Finding Shorts that embrace and enhance your legs when you have thick thighs can be challenging and frustrating.

I was born with thick thighs, muscular calves, and a petite stature, so I understand the struggle babe. For many years, I hid my short thick legs away because I was embarrassed that I didn’t have long and lean, “model” legs.

It took a lot of self-love and self-work for me to be able to fully embrace the body that I have, right now, and I hope you can one day get to that point as well. If you need any guidance, check out this strategy to love yourself more.

In the meantime, the weather is warming up and your legs need to breathe, no matter what size they are! So, what’s a short and curvy girl to do when she hates showing off her legs but hates heatstroke even more?

Wear these short styles and they will make your legs look amazing, thick thighs and all:

• High Waisted Shorts
• Wide Leg Shorts
• Long Inseam shorts
• Side Slit Shorts
• Short Shorts

I’ll also give you guidance on the best denim shorts for thick thighs, which workout short styles are your friend, what shorts to avoid, where to shop for petite plus size shorts, and much more!

This is your complete guide to the best shorts for thick thighs.

DISCLOSURE: MORARAE STUDIO IS FUNDED BY MY READERS, SO THANK YOU! ALL OPINIONS ARE MY OWN AND EVERYTHING I WRITE IS MEANT TO HELP AND INSPIRE YOU. SOMETIMES I RECOMMEND RESOURCES THAT I THINK WILL BE BENEFICIAL FOR YOU USING AFFILIATE LINKS. IF YOU CLICK ONE AND MAKE A PURCHASE, I MAY RECEIVE A SMALL COMMISSION AT NO EXTRA COST TO YOU.

Best Short Styles for Thick Thighs

What shorts are most flattering for women who hate showing their legs?

When it comes to choosing shorts for your short and thick legs, you want to select styles that will work with what you got and highlight the parts of your legs that you love.

So, with body types like yours (and mine), you don’t want to wear anything that is going to put more emphasis on the size of your legs. Instead, you want to choose shorts that will bring balance to your overall body proportions.

This is what I’ll cover in the next section, so let’s dig into babe!

Short Styles to Wear for Thick Thighs

High Waisted Shorts

The first short style tip I have for you is to choose high-waisted shorts. When you wear a short style with a higher waist, it will help to elongate the look of your leg while also bringing some definition to your waistline.

I also love a higher waistline for shorts and pants, because it’s comfortable for my larger midsection by bringing some support to my core. It also ensures that I’ll never have a butt crack slip or have my underwear showing–haha!

Additional Ways to Shop for High Waisted Shorts:

• Shop Secondhand at ThredUp
• Rent a Pair from Nuuly

---

Related: Clothing for Short Curvy Women, The MoraRae Story

Wide Leg Shorts

Next up, we have wide-leg shorts. These are the best style of shorts to wear if you have thick thighs and wider hips because they help to bring balance to your hips and thighs.

Because they are not skin-tight, they create a smooth transition from your waistline to your hips, down to your legs, similar to how a full skirt works.

This streamlines your overall silhouette, drawing attention to your entire shape, instead of focusing on just your legs. Making this style of shorts the best if you hate showing off your legs.

Additional Ways to Shop for Wide Leg Shorts:

• Shop Linen Shorts at Lane Bryant
• Rent a Pair from Rent the Runway

Related: Ultimate Guide to the Best Skirts for Petite Plus Size

---

Long Inseam Shorts

Now, let’s talk about inseams. Just as it’s important to find the best inseam for your pants, it’s also important for shorts, especially when you have thick thighs.

You don’t need to do a ton of measuring though. Unlike with a pant’s inseam that can make or break your outfit, you only need to know that shorts with a longer inseam will always be more flattering for your thighs when wearing a tighter silhouette.

So, how do you know if shorts have a longer inseam? It’s pretty simple, the longer the short, the longer the inseam. Now, I’m not saying that you need to only wear Bermuda shorts, let me explain when and why you should choose a longer inseam.

Longer inseam shorts should be selected when choosing shorts that are tighter, think of denim shorts for example. When you are choosing wide-leg shorts, it’s actually better to go shorter vs with a tighter silhouette.

This is advice from personal experience. If I select a short short that’s skin-tight, my thighs are literally going to eat that inseam for lunch! That dreaded ride-up that happens when you don’t have a thigh gap (which is 99% of us) is what happens when your short is too short and too tight.

Instead, when you want to wear a short that is tighter on your skin, go with a longer inseam. This will give your shorts enough length on the inside of your thighs and enough resistance, because they are tighter, to stop them from riding up.

Additional Ways to Shop for Long Inseam Shorts:

• Shop Long Inseam Shorts at Old Navy
• Rescue a Pair for your Local Thrift Store

---

Side Slit Shorts

This next style tip is all about comfort and ease of movement. Side slits are small details that can be found on the outer seam of your shorts. You may have shorts in your wardrobe right now with them that you never noticed before.

That small detail helps to add extra space to the circumference of the leg opening which really helps when you have larger thighs. That little bit of extra space on either side of your thighs will provide a more comfortable wearing experience and will be more flattering.

You’ll usually see side slits on workout-style shorts or those that are meant to have a tighter, more form-fitting silhouette. This will give your thighs some more wiggle room while wearing shorts that hug your shape.

Additional Ways to Shop for Side Slit Shorts:

• Shop Affordable Side Slit Shorts

---

Short Shorts

Last but certainly not least are short shorts. Some people think that because you have thick thighs, you should never wear short shorts but I beg to differ.

As someone with thick thighs, I actually think that short shorts are one of the benefits of having short thick legs! When you wear shorter short styles you actually help to make your legs look longer and leaner because you’re showing more of them off.

Now, there are rules to this tip though. As I mentioned earlier, you never want to wear short shorts that are skin tight, that will make your thighs look larger and draw all the attention to that area of your body.

Instead, you want to wear short shorts with wider leg styles and choose a mid-rise or high-waisted fit. This will lengthen the look of your torso by highlighting your waistline and also balance out your legs with that wider fit, as noted in my earlier tip.

Also note, that when I say short shorts, I am talking about at least a 3-inch inseam, anything shorter than that with thick thighs will basically just become underwear after 10 minutes of walking!

Additional Ways to Shop for High Waisted Shorts:

• Rescue old pants from your favorite Thrift Store and DIY your own Pair
• Shop Affordable Short Shorts from Old Navy

return to top

---

How to Wear Short Shorts & Look Classy

If you want to look classy while still rocking short shorts, follow the tips I talked about above: choose a wider-width leg, and don’t go shorter than a 3-inch inseam.

You also want to pair your short shorts with the right shoes. Since you’ll be showing off a lot of leg, you can either cover some of your skin up by wearing an over-the-knee style boot or a knee-high boot.

If you want to let your legs breathe, then choose either a flat or heel that has a pointed tip. When you do this, your foot will look longer, and the pointed tip helps to make your leg look longer as well.

To take this tip to the next level, match the color of your shoe to your skin tone and you will look like you have legs for days babe!

Lastly, pair your short shorts with a nice blouse with an open neckline. This can be a simple v-neck or scoop neck. When you do this, that open neckline helps to open up your chest area drawing attention up to your gorgeous face

All of these little details combined create a streamlined & classy look that draws the eye up and down, fully balancing and embracing your complete look and celebrating your body!

Related: How to Look Polished when Short & Curvy (with easy outfit ideas)

Best Denim Shorts for Thick Thighs

Looking for some go-to denim shorts that will have you loving and embracing your short and thick legs?

Try out some of these denim shorts that I think you’ll love:

Best Workout Shorts for Thick Thighs

Working out is hard enough, at least it is for me, so don’t make it harder by wearing shorts that are uncomfortable or unflattering.

These are some of my go-to workout shorts that I think you’ll love:

return to top

---

Shorts to Avoid for Thick Thighs

You now know how to choose the best shorts for your thick thighs, so let’s cover a few styles that you want to avoid.

Avoid Shorts that are Too Short

As I’ve mentioned before, if you have short and thick legs, you can 100% wear short shorts but you just don’t want to go too short. For me, anything shorter than a 3-inch inseam is just too short.

So, if the shorts you’re looking at have an inseam that is 1 or 2 inches, avoid it unless you want to look like you’re wearing literal booty shorts or underwear. Now, if that’s what makes you comfortable and confident, do you boo, because you know I’ll never shame you for wearing what makes you happy.

As for me, I’ll be sticking with my 3-inch inseam.

Avoid Low-Rise Shorts

If you’ve read my guide to the best pant styles for petite plus size, you already know that a low-rise style is not your friend. This is especially true if you have a larger midsection area aka tummy.

When you wear a low-rise short style, you won’t be providing any coverage or support to your abdomen and you’ll most likely end up with both a muffin top and a butt crack slip.

I don’t know about you, but both of those are my worst nightmare so I stick with a mid-rise and high-rise style for my shorts.

Avoid Shorts that are Too Tight

You don’t have to only wear wide-leg shorts but no matter what shorts you select, avoid anything that is skin-tight or so tight that it’s making your thick thighs look like they have been stuffed into the shorts.

This is all about comfort, safety, and wearing what works for your body. Wearing shorts that are skin-tight usually means you are wearing a size that is too small for you. That is not good for your body or for your mind.

I invite you to let go of the idea that wearing a certain size in shorts has anything to do with your self-worth. Instead, throw all ideas about sizing out the window.

I can tell you from my decade-long experience working in the fashion industry, there are no sizing standards at all! So, just because you fit a certain size with one brand doesn’t mean you will in another and that is not your problem babe.

Wear what fits the body you have right now. You’re style and look will be elevated instantly when you do this and you’ll also start to give yourself a little more love and grace. Win-win right?

I have a feeling you might like this: 6 Transformative Self-Love Habits to Practice Now

return to top

---

Where to Buy Shorts for Thick Thighs

Not every brand or retailer is thick-thigh friendly, unfortunately. So, I’ve gathered some of my favorite places to shop for shorts if you have short and thick legs like me.

return to top

---

Those are all of my best style tips to help you wear shorts with thick thighs. I know how easy it is to just throw on some pants or a long skirt and run out the door but what if you stopped hiding your legs away and embraced them instead?

You now have the tools to know which styles will be most flattering for you. Have fun and try out some new looks. If you are crafty, grab an old pair of pants and cut them to create a style similar to what I’ve laid out in this guide. 

Try adding shorts to one day out of your weekly outfit rotation, especially in the warmer months of the year. Slowly you might find that you can’t stop wearing shorts and just like that, you’ll have taken a giant step closer to fully embracing the skin that you’re in, no matter your size.

That’s all I want for you babe!

Pin It, Don’t Forget It