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Skinny/straight jeans were more flattering and easier

131 replies

StubbornStool · 05/04/2025 07:56

I have a theory, (you’ll probably all say it’s wrong 😀) that skinny and or straight jeans were easier to choose and style than these great flapping things we’re supposed to wear at the moment.
Being out last night, unless you’re like a size 6 the big wide jeans just make you look well, big and wide. Agree skinny weren’t for Everyone but most arses looked better in them.

OP posts:
NattyTurtle59 · 07/04/2025 05:30

I look my best in bootcut. Wide jeans make me look short (I'm not) and I really don't like skinny jeans and have never owned a pair.

deeahgwitch · 07/04/2025 08:45

As an apple shape skinny jeans look better on me - I have skinny legs and a long top hides my tum.
I’ll be flamed for this but I don’t think jeans look great on some people
yet they seem to be everybody’s go to.

mondaytosunday · 07/04/2025 08:52

Skinny jeans only look good if you are actually skinny and I’ve never seen them look good on males. Straight jeans are better but boot cut seems the most flattering. Wide leg in jeans seems silly and kinda against the point of wearing them.

Mirabai · 07/04/2025 08:59

deeahgwitch · 07/04/2025 08:45

As an apple shape skinny jeans look better on me - I have skinny legs and a long top hides my tum.
I’ll be flamed for this but I don’t think jeans look great on some people
yet they seem to be everybody’s go to.

I agree actually. Jeans are one of the most unflattering garments on women.

VeriteAmmalie · 05/06/2025 13:36

Never understood the "you need to adjust your eye" comments.

No, she doesn't.
We are all different and prefer different styles.
When a new trend evolves, it may stand out at first, but since huge, wide jeans have been dominating the scene for over 5 years now, I don't think anyone's eye needs a prod.

It has been aaaages since skinny styles were dominant. I would say they are probably less familiar to the eye now than ever before.

I don't wear jeans, but as an observer, I do think that slimmer styles look more balanced on most women, especially the online models who advertise them. Sadly a lot of wider styles are badly made, with hideous proportions and mile long gussets of flapping fabric. They are nothing on the quality and cut of the wider cuts of the 90's, which I guess is what people are going for.
It doesn't work well now because the fabrics and cuts are bizarre, cheap looking and badly fitting.

Same fate happened to dresses.
Only my opinion, so don't shoot me!
Slimmer cut jeans are the most attractive to MY EYE, even though the most dominant silhouette for many, many years now has been crumpled Columbo Grin
The oversized styles also tend to make everyone look financially challenged. Many of us are - but we don't need to make it worse, lol.

If you are too large to enjoy slimmer fit clothes, that's not the fault of the jeans.

Comefromaway · 05/06/2025 13:40

I wear straight jeans. Levi 724 to be precise. Wide ones only look good on slim youngsters.

longnapenthusiast · 05/06/2025 13:43

I still wear skinny jeans from before - it always depends on how you style it and if you look confident wearing them.

Floisme · 05/06/2025 14:18

After several years wearing wide leg and barrel leg, I'm back in flares. They suddenly started looking good again, no idea why. But I have no loyalty to any single style of jeans and no intention of picking a side.

namechangeGOT · 05/06/2025 14:20

I agree. I’ll never stop wearing low rise skinnies. So much better. I can’t stand all these high waisted baggy legged monstrosities.

henlake7 · 05/06/2025 14:47

Low rise only look good if you dont have to decide to tuck your tummy in or just flop it out over the waistband!
I'll stick with my high waists for a more flattering fit (sticking with wide legs just coz I feel more comfortable in them).

Comefromaway · 05/06/2025 14:52

namechangeGOT · 05/06/2025 14:20

I agree. I’ll never stop wearing low rise skinnies. So much better. I can’t stand all these high waisted baggy legged monstrosities.

I'm guessing you are not over 50?

High rise skinny or straight for me all the way to hold the tummy in.

FeelingSoOverwhelmed · 05/06/2025 16:34

I think it's interesting to have a variety of silhouettes to experiment with, it keeps things fresh and is nice to try new things. I still like barrel/carrot leg shapes. I like showing off coloured socks with trainers and wearing a slightly cropped or fitted top. I am not skinny (12/14) but I like the look. I'm not dressing to look skinny, or to appeal to the male gaze so I'm ok with it not being "flattering".

However, what I hate about these threads is all the negative language around looser fitting clothes - vile/whale like/fat/frumpy/arse looks huge/only looks good if you're young or skinny...
There are a lot of clothes that aren't really to my taste but I can't imagine why I'd need to be nasty about it, it's just as easy to say that you prefer x over y.

lindyloo57 · 05/06/2025 17:31

I prefer fitted tops, as anything billowing make my top half look bigger, I'm a size 12 top, so I wear a boot cut or a wide leg not to wide, mine are one pair mango the Catherine crop, on me they are just about full length, and m&s front pocket wide leg again full length, I haven't mastered the crop jeans yet, as they seem to make my legs look shorter as I am 5ft2 I don't want to look any shorter.

WorriedRelative · 05/06/2025 17:52

Most of it is just what you are used to. I remember these discussions when bootcut jeans fell out of fashion!

Skinny jeans aren't more flattering for most, in fact the lumpy parsnip look is what most people get.

Wide legs are very different to style which makes it more difficult than switching to straight or bootcut.

Overhaul54 · 05/06/2025 18:39

Comefromaway · 05/06/2025 14:52

I'm guessing you are not over 50?

High rise skinny or straight for me all the way to hold the tummy in.

I'm am apple and a lower rise flare/ bootcut is MUCH more flattering.
A high/mid rise just shows off how much rounded gut you have - particularly if your fat bits start at your crutch. Not a good look.

Hallywally · 05/06/2025 18:57

Skinny jeans are so much better for me in every way. I’m mid 40s and spent a lot of my youth wearing flared/baggy and I never want to go back to them. I’m still wearing skinny- I don’t care if it ages me. I’m not young any more.

LivingDeadGirlUK · 05/06/2025 19:15

I was thinking about your thread OP when I was was walking home today, the skinny jeans I saw made people (men and women) look like they had trussed their legs up ready for the sunday roast.

CluelessStyle · 06/06/2025 00:14

I think slim look best on most people. Skinny and/or wide leg not so much. Wide leg looks great on teenagers. Skinny most flattering with a longer top.

SilverCoins · 06/06/2025 00:22

I just don't get the shape obsession with jeans and there only being one true answer. Do people only wear one shape of skirt, dress, or coat? I have multiples of those, and the same goes for jeans. Surely the answer is to wear the jean that looks good for you at the moment and for the occasion?

Summer, I prefer very wide leg jeans with espadrilles, winter I prefer straight rolled up to sit on the top of Docs or similar style boots, I guess if I had to tuck into boots I'd go skinny but personally I don't like that look, "dressed up" I usually go for straight jet black, for a relaxed day I would go slouchy one sized up boyfriend jeans, and of course all time favourite long and lean bootcuts by gap.

Floisme · 06/06/2025 08:23

I agree and I don’t get it either @SilverCoins
I understand when people are pissed off because they can’t buy what they want, e.g. if you’re struggling to find fitted clothes because the trend has been oversize for a while then I can sympathise, even though I quite like oversize myself. But, as posters regularly point out, skinnies are still available along with just about every style you can think of. Every jeans wearer should be happy - I know I am - and yet the complaining continues.

And yes Gap Long and Lean - best jeans ever. The end.

Floisme · 06/06/2025 08:37

Too late to edit my post - ‘complaining’ wasn’t a great way of putting it, not everyone’s complaining. I just find it a bit bizarre that the arguments are still going on after all these years when no-one, as far as I can see, has lost out.

namechangeGOT · 06/06/2025 12:09

Floisme · 06/06/2025 08:23

I agree and I don’t get it either @SilverCoins
I understand when people are pissed off because they can’t buy what they want, e.g. if you’re struggling to find fitted clothes because the trend has been oversize for a while then I can sympathise, even though I quite like oversize myself. But, as posters regularly point out, skinnies are still available along with just about every style you can think of. Every jeans wearer should be happy - I know I am - and yet the complaining continues.

And yes Gap Long and Lean - best jeans ever. The end.

That’s the issue though! Good quality, low rise skinny jeans are not readily available. To get a pair of jeans that fit me I’m having to spend a fortune on Diesel skinzee 2017’s! High waisted skinnies don’t fit, I’m tiny and high waisted anything come under my boobs because I hardly have a torso! Mum jeans make me look like a sack of shit that just bury me and make me look like I posses a massive cock & balls when I sit down because they scrunch up just above the crotch! The only jeans that come close to being ok are River Island Mollies which claim to be mid-rise, they’d still be mid-rise of the BFG! The torso challenged amongst us are having a mare with the high-waisted fashions of late and I can’t wait for the tide to turn again!

PiggyPigalle · 06/06/2025 12:21

springbringshope · 05/04/2025 08:56

You met two guys? What does that even mean? Did you feel validated?
you do realise don’t you that many men will find anything tight, short, low cut and transparent alluring no matter how awful woman looks in them. It’s not an indication of a flattering outfit.

Let's face it, most men you meet, couldn't care less what you wear, only what comes off.
I used to stay in hotels, where young reps would go out to "grab a granny" at the local bars.

PiggyPigalle · 06/06/2025 12:25

Come Winter and rain, straight and skinny will be back. Who wants long, wide jeans acting like a wick.
I do think barrel legged will be looked back on as mullet hairstyles are.

Floisme · 06/06/2025 13:26

namechangeGOT · 06/06/2025 12:09

That’s the issue though! Good quality, low rise skinny jeans are not readily available. To get a pair of jeans that fit me I’m having to spend a fortune on Diesel skinzee 2017’s! High waisted skinnies don’t fit, I’m tiny and high waisted anything come under my boobs because I hardly have a torso! Mum jeans make me look like a sack of shit that just bury me and make me look like I posses a massive cock & balls when I sit down because they scrunch up just above the crotch! The only jeans that come close to being ok are River Island Mollies which claim to be mid-rise, they’d still be mid-rise of the BFG! The torso challenged amongst us are having a mare with the high-waisted fashions of late and I can’t wait for the tide to turn again!

That's a specific grievance though and I can sympathise with it even though I much prefer a higher rise myself. It's when the argument runs along the lines of, 'There are loads of skinny jeans in the shops and loads of us are still wearing them and besides I don't care what's in fashion (yes I'm paraphrasing) that I'm left wondering what exactly the issue is.