How To Cross Your Legs Like An Elegant Lady

More than 70% of women cross their legs out of habit when they sit. Being elegant while doing so requires attention to certain key details.

How to cross your legs with Elegance? To remain elegant while crossing your requires keeping knees and ankles together once your legs are crossed. Always ensure that you don’t show too much thigh and at no stage can anyone see up your skirt.

There is more than one way to achieve Elegance when crossing your legs and we will go through each of these in detail. It is essential that you know how to do each of them so that you can cross your legs in the correct way for the different types of social interaction. Keep reading to learn more.

The Basic Overview Of Acceptable Leg Crossing

The starting position for all elegant leg crossing is the duchess slant where you sit with your knees and ankles together then you lean your knees to one side. Either lean your knees towards the person you are speaking with or to the left as a default.

Your shins will then slant to one side creating an inside leg and outside leg. From that starting position, you can cross your legs at the ankle by bringing your outside leg behind your inside leg.

You can also cross your legs at the knee by bringing your inside leg over your outside leg. Although in both cases the inside leg appears to be over the outside leg while keeping knees and ankles together.

Maintain Elegance

The most important factor when it comes to how you cross your legs will be to maintain Elegance.

Part of Elegance is making sure that you maintain modesty. By that, I mean making sure that you sit in such a way that nobody can see up your skirt. Flashing your underwear is not a ladylike thing to do.

You need to do this while maintaining a good posture. You start by keeping your knees and ankles together.

Knees And Ankles Together: The Basics Of Sitting Elegantly

Start with a basic “Queen’s position” of knees and ankles together with your feet flat on the floor in front of you.

If you struggle to keep your knees together you can try the trick we got taught as young girls. Place your feet slightly apart but turn your feet so that your toes point inward.

Then lift your heels slightly and use your curve muscles to push your knees together. As you get more used to keeping your knees tightly together, gradually bring your feet closer together.

Duchess Slant

From the basic starting position, pivot your legs so that your knees both point to one side while staying together.

The default position of the Duchess slant is with your knees pointing to the left. However, if you’re engaged in conversation with someone, you pivot so that your knees point towards the person you are speaking to.

So it is best to practice doing a Duchess slant to both sides. Remember that you keep your hands resting on your lap while sitting.

Cambridge Cross

The term was first coined by Myka Meier, founder of the finishing school Beaumont Etiquette.

The way the Cambridge cross is taught is that you start with a Duchess slant and then cross your legs at the ankle by bringing one foot behind the other. The question naturally arises of which foot to cross. Finishing schools teach girls to use whichever foot feels more natural for them.

However, for a new girl who is not used to crossing her legs at all any ankle cross might feel unnatural until she has practiced a bit.

To make life easier let’s go beyond what the finishing schools say and explain exactly what to do. To be able to hold an elegant Cambridge cross for a long period of time you need to work with gravity and not against gravity.

Start by trying the less effective Cambridge cross so that when you try the better option you can immediately feel the difference.

Start by sitting in the standard Duchess slant with your knees pointing to the left.  Now take your left foot and cross it behind your right ankle. Notice how your left leg is slanting even more than before and now gravity is trying to pull your knees apart. Hold that position for a minute or two to really get that feeling.

Now try starting again with your Duchess slant with your knees pointing to the left. This time take your right leg and cross it behind your left ankle. You will immediately notice two things.

The first is that you’re able to keep your right foot flat on the floor because your right leg is now vertical while maintaining the same slant as before with your left leg. The second thing that you will notice is how much easier it is to keep your knees together in this position.

European Knee Cross

It is always best to practice the Cambridge cross for a bit before moving on to the European knee cross. That is because there are a number of factors that need to harmonize in order to achieve elegance with your knee cross.

An elegant European knee cross resembles a Duchess slant in appearance in that your legs are slanted to one side but with your legs crossed at the knee in a way that has your one calf resting on the other. You keep your thighs knees and ankles together.

You will notice that if you start with a duchess slant to the left and try to cross your right leg over your left you’ll end up with your foot dangling in the air and not tight against your left leg.

Instead, begin with your Duchess slant to the left and cross your left leg over your right. You will feel how much easier it is to keep your ankles together in this position.

Next comes the question of which leg do you cross over. The default position is with your knees to the left, like you do with the Duchess slant. Therefore if you have someone directly in front of you, or a photographer is taking your picture from the front, then you will use the default position of knees to the left.

It is when you have a person or camera at an angle to one side of you that things get tricky.

When you do a Duchess slant or Cambridge cross you always sit so that your knees point towards the person you are talking to.

Most women do exactly the same thing when doing the European knee cross. They start from the same position they would if they were doing the Cambridge cross in other words with knees pointing towards their companion.

If you do this you will encounter a couple of things that can detract from your air of elegance. Try this right now so that you can see what I mean.

Imagine that that you have someone sitting diagonally to the left of you. Now, do your Duchess slant to the left and cross your left leg over your right. Notice how pointing your knees at that person before lifting your leg gives them ample opportunity to see up your skirt as you cross your legs.

Lifting your left leg also has the effect of pushing your skirt further up your left thigh and potentially even exposing your stocking tops to your companion.

Always remember that when you do a knee cross, the thigh that is lifted will appear bigger than it is, while the thigh that is pressed between your leg and the chair will appear thinner than it is.

Finally, if you now place your hands in your lap as any elegant lady should, your hands will be hidden behind your left thigh and it looks as if you’re fiddling with something out of view. Your lap will also be turned away from your companion making it seem as if you are disinterested in them.

Here is what you should do instead. If your companion is positioned diagonally to your left, then start with a Duchess slant but pointing your knees to the right and then lift your right leg, crossing over your left.

There is no chance of your companion seeing up your skirt because your knees will pull the opening of your skirt away from their view as you begin crossing your legs. Having your hands in your lap will protect the front of your skirt as you complete the crossing motion.

Your lap will be turned toward your companion in a way that invites conversation. Your hands will also be visible resting on your lap in an elegant manner.

Finally, because your left thigh is between your right leg and the chair it will appear thinner than is was when it was when lifted up into the air.

Some Final Matters To Consider When Using The European Knee Cross

If you are wearing a short skirt then you should rather consider using the Cambridge cross or the Duchess slant as the risk of exposing too much thigh, stocking tops or even underwear is too great.

Once you have crossed your legs, do not constantly uncross and re-cross your legs as each time you do so it will push your skirt higher and higher.

Figure Four Leg Cross

If you are in the habit of using a figure 4 leg cross where, for example, you rest outside of your right ankle on your left knee please stop. It can work if you are wearing long trousers on vacation, but it is definitely a habit that you will want to correct if you are planning on looking elegant at all times.