I've lost track of how many times skinny jeans have been declared dead and alive at the same time. Even in 2021, when the pendulum of fashion desire swung toward extreme oversized silhouettes thanks to the mainstreaming of brands like Balenciaga, ultra-slim jeans still accounted for the largest share of women's jeans at 34 percent of U.S. sales. was occupied. . Most of my own “muggle” friends, that is. Those who don't work in fashion and whose wardrobes remain frozen in the amber hue of their school days continue to wear skinny jeans for a night out, often paired with Dr. Martens or a sparkly crop top. These people are at the height of a cultural resurgence in tight jeans, which has a strong presence throughout the fall/winter 2024 collections of Dsquared, Miu Miu, Prada, and Louis Vuitton.
Like Alexander McQueen's skull scarf and Sienna Miller's bohemian disc belt, skinny jeans have been used as a pawn in the ongoing culture war between Gen Z and Millennials in recent years. (Every generation thinks they've solved the denim conundrum). But here's the problem. Trend cycles are moving at such a breakneck pace right now that almost everything is trending at the same time, and the lack of a trend has effectively become the biggest trend. Women and men wearing dampening jeans have always existed and have existed for decades. So for now, it's probably not a matter of fashion, but of taste. (Fashion-wise, I also like low-slung jeans, boyfriend jeans, and horseshoe jeans.) And while those in their 20s with TikTok accounts are likely to balk at wearing denim, which pinches their nerves. , In my opinion, the fear associated with pencil pants is , excessive and exaggerated.
At least part of the reason is that it's been 10 years since skinny jeans were last popularized by the likes of Kate Moss, Lindsay Lohan, Katie Holmes and Alexa Chung (just a short time for something to go from mainstream to subversive). This is because sufficient time has passed. It's hard to overstate how cool these women were in the 2010s. Their reign was long and bright. A quick scroll through her Getty Images reveals that the appeal of her skinny jeans has been waning since her 2018 or so. At this point, skinny jeans were primarily seen on Amanda Holden and the Boohoo-signed ex-lover Islanders, but Instagram's It's Her Girl and an emerging craze took off. Designers like Aaron Esch and Laura Andraszko are trying to revive the outlandish silhouettes and rock 'n' roll lifestyle of their “indie sleaze” forebears. Scroll through the gallery below to revisit some of the less controversial examples of skinny jeans.
This article first appeared on www.vogue.co.uk
