Romona Henderson said she prefers three-quarter sleeves, while Charlotte Lewis opts for short-sleeved styles. As the two friends boarded the bus on Thursday morning, they each wore their favorite versions of an autumn trend — cropped jackets.

The jackets — seen in many cuts and colors — are usually swingy and end at the midsection rather than the waist. Most feature buttons or ties in the front.

“You can dress them down or dress them up,” Henderson, a sophomore in biology, said.

Lewis, a sophomore in zoology, said she has many cuts and colors of cropped jackets. She said her favorite is a gray jacket with what she described as “puff sleeves.” Lewis said the sleeves give the garment an “old style.”

Regardless of the sleeve style or color, Cynthia Istook, an associate professor of textile and apparel technology and management, said it’s important to pair cropped jackets with something “slender.”

Pencil skirts with long silhouettes and narrow-legged pants are best, she said, avoiding wide leg pants.

“Since it [creates] a wide body at the top, you want to make it look narrower at the bottom,” she said.

Istook said the jackets are not “necessarily very flattering for some figure types.”

Alison Citron, a sophomore in graphic design, agreed. She said the jackets could accentuate a larger midsection, but “on some girls they look really cute.”

“In this climate they could be cute and functional,” she said.

Istook said she was skeptical the cropped jackets would withstand the test of time.

“It’s probably not going to be a jacket that will be in fashion for a long time,” she said.

The jackets that will, however, are blazers, according to Istook. She said even though some blazers are short, similar to the cropped jackets, they don’t flare out — and it’s the fit that counts.