I've lost count of how many times skinny jeans have been declared dead and alive at the same time. Even in 2021, when the pendulum of desire in fashion had swung toward an extreme, oversized silhouette thanks to the mainstreaming of brands like Balenciaga, ultra-slim jeans still accounted for the largest share of women's jeans, accounting for 34 percent of U.S. sales out of . A large portion of my own “Muggle” friends – that is, those who don't work in fashion and whose wardrobes are frozen in the amber of their student days – continue to wear skinny jeans when they go out, often with Doc Martens and sparkly crop tops. I think these people will be relieved – if not disinterested – to learn that skinny jeans are at the peak of a culture-wide resurgence, as they feature heavily in fall/winter 2024 collections including Dsquared2, Miu Miu, Prada and… Louis Vuitton had a presence.
Much like Alexander McQueen's skull scarf and Sienna Miller's boho disc belts, skinny jeans have been used as a pawn in the ongoing culture wars between Gen-Z and Millennials in recent years. (Every generation thinks they've solved the denim puzzle.) But here's the thing: The trend cycle is happening at such a rapid pace right now that almost everything is trending at the same time, with the lack of a trend actually being the biggest trend of all is. There have always been women and men who wear modest jeans, and have done so for decades. And so at this point it's perhaps less a matter of fashion than preference. (Fashion also likes low-rise jeans, boyfriend jeans, and horseshoe jeans.) And while twenty-somethings with TikTok accounts probably shy away from squeezing into nerve-wracking jeans, the horror associated with pencil pants is, in my opinion, inappropriate and exaggerated .
Paris Hilton.
Getty Images
Katie Holmes.
Getty Images
That's at least in part because it's been ten years since skinny jeans were last popularized by Kate Moss, Lindsay Lohan, Katie Holmes and Alexa Chung – which is just enough time for something to go from mainstream to subversive. It's hard to overstate how cool these women were in the 2010s. Their reign burned long and it burned bright. A cursory glance through Getty Images shows the skinny jeans' waning appeal from around 2018 – at which point they're mostly seen on Amanda Holden and former Love Islanders with Boohoo contracts – but a new wave by Instagram It girls and emerging designers like Aaron Esh and Laura Andraschko are rehabilitating the swashbuckling silhouette and rock'n'roll lifestyle of their “indie-sleaze” forebears. Scroll through the gallery below to see some of the best examples of the not-so-controversial skinny jeans in action.
This article first appeared on www.vogue.co.uk
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