Skinny jeans - how did they stay ‘in’ for so long?

[TheOGCCL]

Whether you like it or not, baggier jean shapes are more fashionable at the moment. There are plenty of skinnies in the shops but these are not what the high fashionistas are wearing and a glance down Oxford Street last night showed many more (youngish) people in looser clothing. It struck me that the real talking point is how skinny jeans managed to stay ‘in’ for so long.

They are so eminently practical for everything and everywhere you would have thought the fashion industry would have allowed them for a season or two maximum. Instead it feels like they were actually in for about 15 years, and that it took a pandemic, driving a new desire for relaxed shapes, to dislodge them, finally.

And that actually they haven’t really been completely dislodged, so many people have taken them to their heart, even where they don’t even suit their body shape particularly. Has people power kept them in fashion?

To answer the op, I think a big reason why skinnies were around for so long is that much of high street fashion revolved around that silhouette and thereby helped to make them more wearable. So for people like me who weren't fans to begin with - cos thighs - there were loads of tricks, such as slouchy knitwear, breton tops and biker jackets that balanced them out or distracted the eye. As I remember, even the accessories - massive bags and sunglasses and statement necklaces, all played a part.

And then they reached a stage where they were so commonplace that no-one really noticed them any more so you could hide in plain sight, no matter how they looked on you.

Where I am, they're still around but no longer the default look, which means I've gone back to seeing all their flaws.

I’ll be wearing skinnies until my dying days, mainly because they suit me and I look like a sack of shit in legs that don’t touch my legs, if you know what I mean. Also comfort.

I have a big gut so baggy tops suit me and they dont go with wide leg jeans or mom cut

To answer the op, I think a big reason why skinnies were around for so long is that much of high street fashion revolved around that silhouette and thereby helped to make them more wearable. So for people like me who weren't fans to begin with - cos thighs - there were loads of tricks, such as slouchy knitwear, breton tops and biker jackets that balanced them out or distracted the eye. As I remember, even the accessories - massive bags and sunglasses and statement necklaces, all played a part.

@Floisme i totally agree. And it doesn’t help that many of us have no idea how to style mom or baggier jeans. Although just looking at Next’s website, a lot of their mom jeans look like cropped skinnies, very confusing!

Coffeepot72 that's arguably one of the downsides of having so much choice of jeans styles. When skinnies were The dominant shape on the high street you didn't have to think that hard about tops and jackets because they all worked together. But now I think there's a wider selection of everything so there's more thinking and risk taking and sometimes mistakes involved.

Which brings me to my next theory as to why skinnies have been around for so long: modern shopping habits. Buying online might be fine when you know exactly what you want but it doesn't lend itself to experimentation.

When skinnies first came in, I held out for quite a while because I'd read Trinny and Susannah and they'd said, 'not for pear shapes'. But eventually curiosity got the better of me so I spent a few lunch hours mooching round the shops, and I realised that, while skinnies did indeed look awful with what I was wearing, they looked totally different when I tried them with an almost knee length 'boyfriend' cardigan from Gap. (I should have remembered that was how I'd worn skinnies in the 80s too, although they were far less extreme then cos it was pre lycra). I also learned that not all skinnies were the same, that Top Shop's were pitiless but that Next Relaxed Skinnies were much kinder on the thighs. This is why I no longer subscribe to 'only wearing what suits your shape' - I think lots of us can carry off different looks but it's about wearing things in different ways.

And of course the reason I could do all that was because I could grab handfuls of jeans and tops, try them on and then leave them on a rail outside the changing room - all without paying a penny or taking out a Klarna card or having to parcel them up and take them to the drop-off. How long would I have spent figuring all that out if I'd only shopped online? Years probably. And yes, I know lots of us don't have a choice because there's virtually no real high street left now but I think we're paying a price for it.

I also remember Next Relaxed Skinnies, they were fab!

Wide jeans look best with a cropped t-shirt or a bodycon top.

This is why they look shit on me. There are certain areas I prefer not to display, and skinnies were perfect for that.

Yes Next relaxed skinnies were fab. They absolutely changed my mind about skinnie jeans. The thing is, I must have tried on 20+ pairs before I found them, which was do-able in a couple of lunch breaks when I had dozens of shops and two department stores on hand. I couldn't do that now because at least half of those shops have gone and there's no way I'm ordering 20+ pairs of jeans.

And this, in my opinion, is why we end up sticking with what we know, not because it's the best but because finding anything better has become too much of a faff.

I wear Next medium rise skinny jeans. Only ones I have found that fit nicely without being too skinny