Like every good story, this one started in a group chat. I asked my girlfriends, all with very distinct styles, about the jeans they were loving. In a few seconds, I received a barrage of replies, all raving about one thing. “Have you tried the barrel leg?” “Best postpartum jeans ever.” “Barrel leg, so flattering.” As if to illustrate their point, my phone pinged with photos of Rosie Huntington-Whiteley (current jeans icon, apparently) wearing the hottest new Alaïa pair.
Rosie Huntington-Whiteley in Alaïa’s round jeans
Yes, she looked great. But I’m going to go out on a limb here and say that maybe, for those of us who aren’t so genetically blessed (I’m 5’1” and curvy), the current crop of jean styles—the barrel-leg, the elephant wide-leg, the baggy low-rise, the crop flare, and yes, even the mom jeans—may not be so flattering?
So what jeans is a girl to wear right now? While writing this piece, a friend DMed me a link to Bustle’s Instagram post of Taylor Swift, with a post saying, “Maybe Taylor Swift has switched to exclusively skirts, because, like all of us millennials, she has no idea what jeans to wear anymore.” The comments section is gold, but even better are the comments I saw when The Cut posted this story a few weeks earlier, with the headline: Yes, Barrel-Leg Jeans Are Universally Flattering.
In my search for an answer, I turn to Jane Herman, a long-time editor and writer on denim, who has her own line (The Only Jane) and whose Substack, Jane on Jeans, has, in a short time, become my go-to guide on all things denim. “I [do] see a lot of barrel-leg jeans—Tibi’s Sid and Nili Lotan’s Shon styles are beloved—they work on so many different bodies. Baggy jeans are in right now, and the spring/summer ’25 runways suggest they will continue to be popular. But I’m also seeing a lot of patchwork pairs that are very Jane Birkin-esque and bohemian feeling, which I personally love. I just bought a corduroy trimmed high-rise pair from Stella McCartney.” But Herman is also quick to add, “I really believe that the jeans that make you feel your best are the best jeans for you. It’s fun to try the trends, but jeans are meant to make life easy and if you’re struggling to make a trend work for your life and style, by all means, skip it.”
I may just be taking that advice when it comes to these baggy and wider variants. For as long as I can remember, on trips abroad, I would dedicate time to shopping for three key basics—good lingerie, swimwear, and jeans—in my book, the most important fashion investments and the hardest things to buy. A friend tells me that she can look at a pair of jeans and know how they would fit her, but it took a lot of trial and error to find my style. For many years, mid-rise boot or mid-rise skinny were my styles of choice, most often from Topshop on Oxford Circus, London (may it RIP), its thin denim ideal for sultry Mumbai days.
That is, until the pandemic hit, and jeans were exchanged for elasticated sweats. I did something I had never done before; shopped for jeans online, ending up with a bag full of returns and one style of mom jeans that were comfortable, if not the most flattering. I wore them until recently, but maybe because of my changing shape, they seemed to shorten my frame, adding bulk in places you really don’t want, and so I found myself reaching for jeans less and less. This summer, I found myself wandering the denim floor at Selfridges in London, in search of what had become my holy grail during travel—a perfectly fitted, sartorially forward pair of jeans. Three hours later, I came out with a classic straight leg from Seven for All Mankind (the Luxe Vintage Josephina for those interested). You know, the kind that you see all the chic girls wearing, with a vest or blazer. I’ve since worn them with an oversized shirt and ballet flats for school meetings or with a pair of pumps and a vest for evening dinner. I rummaged through my closet, resurrecting my old boot-cut styles as well, those jeans with a slight flare that make me look and feel far taller than I am. And like Herman says, isn’t that the entire point? To wear denim that is easy and makes you feel good?
My fashion stylist friends on the group chat are adamant that skinny jeans have gone the way of dinosaurs. But Herman doesn’t agree. “Skinny jeans are timeless. They may not be in fashion’s favour at the moment, but designers are still making them and plenty of women are still wearing them because they just work. No jean style is ever dead. They always come back around.”
Noone knows this better than a fashion writer. For us, it’s often hard to not get swayed with changing trends, but this summer, as I sat in my dressing room, surrounded by a pile of jeans that just didn’t fit, I realised that, more often than not, classic is the coolest. When it comes to certain items in your closet, you don’t have to follow trends. Like they say, if it ain’t broke, why fix it?
