In denim right now, anything goes

Low-rise and high-rise jeans are back, and so are skinny styles.

Low-rise and high-rise jeans are back, and so skinny styles.

While the so-called hemline index – the theory that in financially straitened times women’s skirt lengths drop, and rise in a bull market – may hold, right now our jeans tell us a different story.

Judging by current denim trends, a denim index may be out the window entirely. In previous generations jeans have defined an era, from the flares of the 1970s to the skinny jeans of the early aughts. Yet right now everything goes. In chaotic times, perhaps this feels right for one of the most stalwart items of clothing in our wardrobes.

How else to parse the idea that skinny jeans – the ones still haunting women of a certain age – and incredibly baggy ones are both right on trend? Miu Miu, a bellwether for fashion, showed super-skinny jeans on a recent runway, while according to the viral Instagram account @databutmakeitfashion searches for baggy jeans were up 296 per cent at the end of 2024.

Low-rise jeans are another sartorial spectral from the early aughts to have found new favour among Gen Z It girls from Hailey Bieber to supermodel Kate Moss’s daughter Lila Moss, who didn’t wear them the first time around. Yet, conversely, another of fashion’s most original minds, Jonathan Anderson, has been experimenting with a new silhouette for the past few seasons with his ultra-high-waisted jeans and trousers. As he told reporters backstage at his spring 2024 show, “How do you twist something so it’s ‘oh, yes – I recognise the Oxford shirt and white pair of jeans,’ but then it’s off in a weird way? There’s a subversiveness to it. But it’s very civilised.”

Loewe has been playing with ultra high-waisted jeans in recent seasons. Picture: Getty Images

Civilised subversiveness? It certainly has appeal right now.

Let’s not forget, too, what Kendrick Lamar has done for the renaissance of flare jeans with his internet-breaking jeans from luxury French fashion house Celine worn during the Super Bowl halftime performance earlier this month.

In the days following the Super Bowl, denim brand Mother says it experienced a 200 per cent increase in Google searches for its flare jeans and a 1000 per cent increase in searches for its skinny flare Runaway jeans on game day. The brand says it’s also experiencing increased searches for lower rises and bootcut styles. Though as Mother creative director and co-founder Tim Kaeding points out, they’ve always had this appeal.

“As a brand rooted in the experiences of growing up in the ’70s, flare and bootcut jeans have always been important to us,” he says. “Our very first jean back in 2010 was a flare and variations on the silhouette have continued to be a big part of our line.” He says wide-leg and slouchier styles are resonating now, too.

Erin Meehan, creative director of women’s denim at American brand Frame, says while bootcut and flare jeans were already trending before Lamar took to the stage, the celebrity factor counts.

“There are certain celebrities like Kendrick that really capture the zeitgeist,” she says.

“When Kendrick experiments with trends, he inspires people to feel more confident to try new silhouettes.”

Meehan says bootcuts and flares have been having a moment, in part because of the enduring Y2K and equestrian-inspired trends. She says the brand is experimenting with the silhouette with its current styles.

“At Frame we have been reinterpreting this nostalgic trend in a modern way by creating a gentler transition from mid-thigh to leg opening,” Meehan says. “This creates a long flattering silhouette that freshens a classic shape and (exudes) modernity.”

Other key trends have been the brand’s popular Bubble jeans – a barrel shape (a cut that fits at the waist, flares at the mid-leg and then tapers back in) and that despite all odds is surprisingly flattering to many – as well as baggier shapes. Baggy jeans have indeed been trending for several seasons, worn by everyone from Rihanna to Jennifer Lopez in recent months. Still, what goes out must go in.

“This year we are anticipating the bigger baggy trends move into more streamlined silhouettes,” Meehan says of predictions for this year.

“Even when playing with more relaxed silhouettes we have been focused on tailoring, giving a sleeker feel across all categories. For our recent spring collection, we love bootcuts and classic vintage straight shapes. Shorts will be trending, with a specific focus on fits that create square top blocks and ease through the thigh to create a long, lean leg.”

The Alix Earle Alix skinny jean collaboration with Frame.

Last month the brand also debuted a collaboration with Gen Z TikTok star Alix Earle. The hero product, The Alix, is, wait for it, a super-skinny jean.

“The inspiration came from taking something that was no longer ‘in style’ and giving it an upgrade that would reintroduce it in a fresh, new way,” Earle told industry publication WWD. She also pointed out that she had prioritised comfort with the design.

Sydney-based stylist Thomas Townsend agrees slimmer silhouettes are making a comeback.

“This season we are going to see a huge resurgence of slimmer straight leg cuts in grey blue (and) rich mid-blue washes,” he says. “Think the Celine Wesley jeans meet Levi’s 501.

“It’s a natural progression back to clarity from the super-baggy trend we’ve seen over the last few years … and I’m sorry but for those brave enough, skinny is back!”

So when it comes to the denim index, it seems mixed messages are, in 2025, the ultimate trend.