Welcome to Reality Check: a new regular franchise from the ELLE fashion editors that asks: how well do the season's biggest trends really work in the wild? This week, it's the divisive return of skinny jeans.
Cast your mind back to the first time you contorted yourself into a pair of skinny jeans, so tight and stretchy they looked more like leggings. Perhaps you paired yours with a side-swept fringe and teenage angst, or maybe you mimicked Kate Moss with a boho waistcoat and leopard print. Whether you spent your weekends in chunky skate trainers or shearling Uggs, the cartoonish proportions of elastane-heavy Noughties denim are hard to welcome back now we’re older and wiser.
We’ve been pretty safe in the denim department for a while now. Aside from a brief fling with the low-rise waist, the dominant jean styles of the past decade have been both wearable and comfortable. Wide legs offer ease of movement, while the 1990s cargo jean comes with cool, casual appeal. Even the emerging barrel-leg jean is surprisingly easy to wear.
So, skinny: really? Are we actually wriggling willingly back into denim prison? Gen Z declared second-skin jeans old hat long ago, and anyone in their third decade likely associates that early-aughts dalliance with boa-constrictor denim something best left forgotten – yet skinny silhouettes are trickling into all the new-season collections.
Bella Hadid wore a pair last Christmas, while Moss, patron saint of the skinny, has passed down the baton to daughter Lila, who was seen out last week in a pair of skin-tight drainpipes, paired with a simple sheer vest and stilettos.
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And now, the arbiter has spoken: on Miu Miu's AW24 runway, Miuccia Prada sent models out in tighter-than-tight denim, teamed with a slice of midriff and a flat, office-appropriate loafer.
Where Miu Miu goes, countless others follow, so it seems we're about to be hit with a slew of skinnies. In fact, alongside the stalwarts – Saint Laurent, Frame, Acne Studios – a raft of new designers are already embracing a slimmer silhouette. There are 17 new-in pairs on-site at Net-A-Porter, while the high-street rails now contain as many skinny styles as they do baggy boyfriend cuts.
According to Instagram data analyst @databutmakeitfashion, a sentiment analysis of skinny jeans suggests they’ve surged 50% in popularity in the past month, while Tiktok feeds are rapidly filling with content suggesting new ways to wear the skinny for 2024.
We’re wiser this time around, and we won’t be committing any crimes of sartorial proportion. The key to getting it right is to not take the ‘skinny’ too literally: avoid anything with too much elastane, and go for a slim, not skin-tight look. You should be able to sit down with ease, and your circulation should remain unchallenged. A simple vest or cashmere sweater makes the perfect partner to 2024's skinny(ish) jean, while shoes are best kept equally slender: think stubby kitten heels and point-toe flats. Another instant win: tuck yours into a pair of cowboy boots.
Reformation is, unsurprisingly, serving up a stellar skinny this season. The Cynthia is high on the waist and just slim enough through the legs, ending neatly at the ankle. Another brand consistently at the forefront of the denim trends is Matches’ Raey: this season, it drops the Maka, which has a slightly dropped, looser waist to ensure a comfortable fit.
Raey Maka Organic Cotton Skinny Jeans
ALAÏA High-Rise Slim-Leg Jeans
Saint Laurent High-Rise Skinny Jeans
Reformation Cynthia High Waist Jeans
Cos Glide Jeans
Totême Regular-Fit Jeans
Perhaps we’ve been unfairly chastising the skinny jean – when styled with slim, simple separates, their flattering effect is universal and clear to see. A good pair will elongate your legs and smooth your silhouette in one. It was never the jeans, but the way we wore them. Ditch the battered biker boots and pleather jacket, and the skinny takes on a grown-up new feel, more sophistication than sleaze. Perhaps we won't rip the knees to shreds this time around.
And if you really can't go back? Well, you'll please to hear that wide-leg jeans are sticking around this season too.
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