I’m probably showing my age here, but I remember when skinny jeans were not even a thing and nobody wore them. I’m not talking about the 80’s as they were hot then, but from the 90’s onward, skinny jeans were nowhere to be seen and bootcut was the cut that everyone adored.
When J Brand released their first skinny jean (well I say skinny, it actually had a 14″ leg opening which is more like a straight), the craze took a little while to get going, but everyone loved it and jumped on board. Then the 912 came out which was even skinnier, and they were the most popular cut for over a year, but I still class a 12″ leg opening as really large as I personally love 10″ or less, so I have a close fit. As the years have gone on, jeans have gotten skinnier and skinnier, to the point that they are spray on leggings, or according to whoever coined the term, a fit called jeggings.
With this in mind, and the fact that I see skinny jeans out and about 95% of the time over bootcut jeans, are bootcut or flared jeans still your thing? I know a lot of brands have been releasing newer takes on bootcut jeans this year, but we rarely ever see any celebs in them, neither do I see them in the street or on fashion bloggers. On the occasion it’s not skinny jeans being worn, it’s mom/vintage fit jeans, so apart from this rare sighting of Charlotte McKinney in her flared jeans, I feel like they’re a thing of the past.
Do you think bootcut or flared jeans on women will ever be popular again? I feel like skinny jeans are so mainstream now and so comfortable with the high amounts of stretch, that they’re the go to cut. It’s rare I walk into a shop and see numerous bootcut options available, it’s always skinny, and perhaps one bootcut. If you are a fan of the wider leg opening, what is your take on it? There is a great selection of bootcut jeans available at the moment, so you can still buy them online! This particular pair is by FRAME Denim and I think they’re really pretty! Vote in the poll below and tell me your opinion on it!
[poll id=”10″]
Nope, can’t do it.
Reminds me of the 70’s Bell Bottoms, Popeye the sailor man.
I’m too short, and too lean to wear them.
Author
Same as me, I’m too short for them as well.
Yup totally! They just seem so unflattering and look so dated.
Hi Lorna we’re on the same page about J Brand. Half my J Brand collection is all 12″ and the other half is all 10″ and the 12″ are more like a straight cut to me which I still like but the 10″ is my favorite among them. I have 16 pairs combined and that seems like a lot because some pairs are duplicates. You must love The Skinny by 7FAM too for their close fit since they have 9″ hems. They aptly marketed them as second skin and they weren’t joking! Don’t want to see flares come back at least not to the extent they were in the past but that’s just my take on it.
Author
The Skinny by 7FAM is a nice fit, but I actually prefer Citizens Rocket, Hudson Barbara (that’s super skinny!) and GRLFRND Candice! I love those! The Farrah by AG is really skinny too, which is great! I don’t class that as a lot of J Brand at all, it’s good to have duplicates, you never know when yours might break and you can’t get them again!
What a great post, Lorna! And I am so with you LOL – my thing is totally vintage straight and made of rigid denim, or, maybe at the most 2% stretch. Bootcut and/or flare jeans are just not, well, cool. 😉
But if I found some real vintage bootcut or flare jeans, I would totally go for it – without the stretch and with the total vintage vibe.
Author
I think a lot of people are on the same vibe as well as us! Vintage ones sound cool 😀
I’m a guy, and I still women’s bootcuts or somewhat flared on days when I want more leg room. I think while this isn’t what’s on trend, for the time being, I still like the style and fit. Amethyst makes really great looking bootcut jeans that are more on the skinny side, not so flared out. They look as trendy and stylish just the way the back pockets look, and very durable quality. I’m a slender guy, and these type of jeans seem to favor me.
Author
That’s great you suit them so well!
Lorna,
Great post as it brings back fond memories of the new millennia. I recall a period or time where the defacto uniform for young women was a pair of bootcut jeans coupled with pointy toed black heeled boots. The bootcut seemed to complement the symmetry of a women’s figure – lwide at the bust, narrow at the waist, wide at the hips, narrow at the knees with the width of the bootcut then creating the illusion of a pedestal.
Whether such a style will once again be predominant is questionable. Yes the great fabrics developed for skinny jeans can and probably have been adapted to flair/bootcut jeans. And the pair you referenced from Frame are essentially a skinny jeans from the knees up. Whereas skinny jeans drove complementary accoutrements (such as enabling over the knee boots – a much better look if I do say so myself) I cant see bootcut jeans creating such an impact. If they do come back in style, my guess is that they will do so as a secondary item in support of a broader look such as a resurrection of the disco look form the 1970 – wide leg jeans/pants, lots of bling, and big platform shoes.
OK, so I have to admit, I am probably one of the older people to respond to this post, but being that I was born in 1984, I got to see the skinny fit of the 80’s as well as the bootcut/flare of the 90’s, and we’re now back to the skinny jeans again and I don’t really understand why?! To this day, I have seen 1 woman with a body that looks half way attractive in skinny jeans, and she was not built like the average woman! She was tiny, but had curves like no other, and even though she looked amazing in them, they actually seemed provocative, but she had every right to be wearing them! This simply is NOT the case for most women! Skinny jeans make skinny gals look like straight up and down string beans, I personally, think they make an average sized gal look bigger than she actually is, and if at all over weight (which I’m not hating on, I have quite a few lbs I need to lose) it makes them look like a smushed cumquat! I’m somewhere between a cumquat look and the over provocative… I feel like skinny jeans make me look disproportional (heeellloooo booty!) and accentuate my curves too much, which I feel like a lot of gals are hoping for when wearing skinny jeans and horribly failing at, because skinny jeans do NOT give you a banging body if you don’t already have one! They accentuate whatever your mother gave to you, so if you’re built tall and skinny, they make you look even more tall and skinny, if you’re vertically challenged and a little fluffy, they make you look like a giant stepped on your head and are now wider than you are tall! Bootcuts and flares give curves to those that don’t have them and for those of us that do have them, they make our bodies look proportional! I may be a 34 yr old mom, but I am quite comfortable with my body (labor does that to you lol!) and I can appreciate other women’s bodies, I think they’re all beautiful, but this skinny jean deal is killing it for 99% of gals! I think women are too much followers and need to learn how to dress their own bodies in whatever flatters their shape the best, because I’m sorry, but most women walking around these days look comical to me!
Author
Thanks for your input, Summer! You’re not too much older, I’m a 1988 born so we’re not far off. I personally do think it depends on the jeans, the fabric, and the wearer, but that’s the case for most clothing items in general. A lot of girls are probably wearing the wrong size, are choosing fabric that does nothing to the body, are picking back pockets which aren’t positioned correct etc, so it’s about finding the right fit for sure. Most the skinny jeans I wear are sculpting and very figure enhancing, as I find on myself, bootcut jeans are just too big, too much fabric, as I only have small legs so it throws my proportions off, but like you said, it depends on the body entirely, but I’m all for showing off our legs and shape and body confidence! Glad bootcut jeans work well for you, it’s nice to hear that!
I gotta say women and men look way better in skinny jeans than boot cut or flared ones. They always highlight the wearers assets in a good way. The only time I’ve thought skinnies didn’t work was when the wearer had them a size or two too big so they hung off them. That’s just not a good look. As for Boyfriend cut jeans, they’re a complete no-no!!
As an aside, I was out shopping today wearing a pair of my favourite jeggings and they ripped across the back of the leg just under my bum!! Can you imagine walking about town like that? I didn’t realise until a lady in the queue behind me in Costa told me! Luckily I found another pair in a charity shop, but how’s that for embarrassing? Lol
Author
LOL! Didn’t you feel a breeze?
No!!. Like most jeggings they were pretty thin so I didn’t notice. Shame ‘cos they were a great fit, like a second skin, but what I wonder about is how I managed to split them across the leg, not down a seam. Bizarre or what?!
Author
Ha ha, yeah, I can only imagine the area had become weak there somehow, or caught on something?