Styling tricks for jeans worth noting, from straight to stovepipes, curved shapes to baggy boyfriends …
Jeans: once a friend, now a foe? Or, like many of us, perhaps your relationship status is complicated. Judging by the jumble of denim on offer this season, it may have reached crisis point. Can’t get on board with a barrel? Mystified by what shoes actually look good with wideleg jeans? Perhaps you’re questioning how flattering such billowing jeans are in the first place. If so, you’re not alone. Unless you’re in the 90th percentile, the jeans trending now likely elude you. In fact, any attempt to buy a pair may elicit the following reaction: when did everything get so voluminous? The stylist Allison Bornstein summed it up recently: “For millennials, used to skinny jeans and ankle boots … our world has been turned upside down.”
A few seasons ago, getting vintage Levi’s altered to fit was the big thing. Now, pardon the hyperbole, it’s all changed, changed utterly. The reality is that, at each turn, denim is throwing curveballs. Waists are lower. Baggy trumps skinny. Legs curve into a C-shape. And that’s before we crack the code of which shoes work with each style. You needn’t have been a skinny jeans addict to indulge wistful memories of simpler times. A brief mental audit reveals – save for a tentative experiment via a pair of straight jeans by Skall Studio – I’ve spent the last five years in the denial zone of cropped or slim jeans with high waists, hoping that if I hold out long enough the madness will soon pass. I’m either exactly right or, as TikTok would say, utterly delulu.
Determined to extract myself from the ranks of the passé, I road-tested the styles of the season. Which are the ‘It’ jeans to know in SS26? First up, it’s all about cigarette jeans, also called stovepipes. These nostalgic jeans are neither skinny nor baggy, but slim; 2026 fashion borrows so much from 2016. Can narrow still feel current? The Faye jeans by Citizens of Humanity are slim and cropped, with a slight flare at the end. Teamed with trainers, they have a retro feel that is pleasingly Alexa Chung-esque (fittingly, Chung was recently pictured in a similar pair at the Dior Haute Couture show). Meanwhile, Agolde’s Ren jeans – in a softer, less rigid denim with a mid-waist and a wide straight leg – definitely require heels. I’d team them with a boot that has an elongated toe, either square or pointed. Lastly, the Neat jeans by Frame tap into the barrel trend that abounds, however the extra volume around the thighs reads, to me, as unnecessary, even unflattering. Perhaps I am a recovering skinny jeans addict, after all?
“Don’t discount barrel jeans,” says Sarah Gill, founder of Seagreen boutiques in Dublin, who cites their popularity. “The exaggerated shapes we’ve seen the last few seasons are slimming down to be even more wearable.” Despite playing with volume, barrel jeans are noted for how they flatter different body shapes. Personal stylist Orla Sheridan, pictured, nods to Mint Velvet’s barrel-leg jeans, which come in petite and tall options, and COS’s Arch tapered jeans, which enhance your figure instead of swamping it. (In wide-legs, Citizens of Humanity’s Ayla jeans are noted for having universal appeal, too.) “The right pair of barrel legs are incredibly versatile,” Sarah adds. (Honourable mention goes to Marks & Spencer, quick to adopt the most au courant shapes, for its barrel styles.)
Hailey Bieber in Agolde’s Low Curve jeans.
Hailey Bieber was recently spotted wearing Agolde’s Low Curve jeans with a pair of pointed-toe stilettos and a clutch bag. A fashion editor friend says she loves barrel jeans because the dramatic shape looks more formal: they instantly feel more luxurious than your average denims.
Stylist Pernille Teisbaek wears vintage Levi’s 501s with Phoebe Philo studded belt.
This tracks: wearing jeans now is a dressier affair. There’s an emphasis on luxury. There’s a dollop of the fresh, hip and cool, too. At the Chanel Métiers d’art 2025 show, the look that went viral was a camel half-zip knit teamed with slouchy jeans. (Praise be! Fashion we actually want to wear!) It shouldn’t be, but storied fashion houses presenting denim in a genuinely relatable context is a big deal. It’s confirmation that the women whose style we crush on are neither besuited or bedazzled. Rather, they make a simple jeans and knit look like a rarified choice: no easy feat. Matthieu Blazy’s jeans at Chanel were neither baggy nor super-tight; they were the cigarette shape mentioned above (the most wearable of all the new styles now). And they were made from laminated silk. Again, it’s about luxury.
“It’s almost like you’re making the denim look like a palazzo pant or a chic cocktail pant,” says THE GLOSS stylist Luis Rodriguez (@luisthestylist). “Wear them with a feminine silk blouse and kitten heels; the style is full without being sloppy, or street.” Elsewhere, look for fabrications that mimic traditional denim, but don’t compromise on polish. Rag & Bone’s Miramar printed wide-leg “jeans” are made from cotton terrycloth but couldn’t look further from the anodyne house pants which defined the work-from-home era.
Orla Sheridan in Frame Le Slim palazzo jeans.
Don’t overlook the slouch trend. Boyfriend jeans – essentially, baggy jeans – are being touted again. Loose styles worn low on the hips resemble something that could have been pulled off your boyfriend’s floor and shrugged on with an oversized knit. (Imagine: 1990’s Kate Moss eating breakfast with Johnny Depp.)
At the luxury end, Phoebe Philo’s jeans are noted for their long rise and how they sit, just so, on the hip, a look brimming with louche appeal. Arket does a version for €89. “It’s a look that can be more successful in an Instagram pic than in reality,” Orla Sheridan warns. “Especially in Irish weather.” Our advice? You don’t always need to size up or seek out drop-crotches from the men’s department. The new guise of jeans are often generous on fit and tend to have an inch or two of extra fabric on the length that automatically puddles around your ankles. It’s a small update that instantly looks current. Note: you’ll need to choose a shoe that showcases a flash of skin, like a ballerina flat, to elongate your foot. Stylish folk finish the look with a faux fur-trimmed leather coat or a vintagelook Mandarin jacket. Get it right and you might just jive with Moss, Philo et al.
Kate Moss in cigarette-leg jeans in 1994.
As for footwear? Overall, pointed-toe flats work best with wide-leg styles, as do kitten heels. “A pair of dark straight-leg palazzo jeans with a pointed-toe heeled boot is a polished work look as people are no longer wearing towering heels,” Orla says. Whether you buy Levi’s 501s, puddle jeans from Massimo Dutti or wide-legs by Mother Denim, it would be foolhardy to assume the same trainers will work with every pair of jeans you own. “Now, more than ever, you need a varied shoe collection,” Orla says. (I’ll be scouring Vestiaire Collective for a pair of classic two-tone block heel Chanel pumps.)
Denim enthusiast Lu Hough wears low straight-leg jeans by Totême.
Speaking of pre-loved, Imparfaite is recommended for vintage Levi’s, with prices from €70. Establish your size in real life and then you can buy them online. “I always go up two waist sizes in a vintage pair,” says THE GLOSS Deputy Editor Síomha Connolly. “If I want a lower rise, I’ll choose from the men’s section instead of women’s. For a looser fit, I’ll go for Levi’s 550s.” You’ll often hear fashion people buzzily say they buy vintage jeans and tailor them. But it’s important to be realistic. “I’d only really tailor length,” says Orla Sheridan. “You can’t alter width too drastically.”
Marianne Smyth wears Sweetest Taboo 90s mid-rise cigarette-leg jeans by Agolde.
A great tailor for denim is like gold dust. Alter Eva in Galway and Golden Stitch in Dublin are two solid recommendations. Aside from tailoring or trawling the internet for the perfect, and elusive, vintage wash, there’s another T to consider: the try-on. Engage one of the many (free) personal shopping services offered by department stores (ask for Emma at Brown Thomas Dublin) and independent boutiques, to save time. The quest for the perfect pair of jeans – often like finding the ideal boyfriend – is not easy, but we live in hope. The promise of a no-brainer wardrobe solution you can wear seven days a week, both effortless and cool – is too seductive not to pursue.
Frayed-hem cropped jeans spotted in Paris.
We all have our ideal. Style Editor at THE GLOSS Aislinn Coffey paints a picture: “The chicest thing imaginable to me: cigarette jeans paired with a white tank and a Chanel jacket à la Cindy Crawford in the ’90s.” Investing in denim is akin to entering into a long-term relationship, and paying in the region of €350 for mid-range brands is hardly an impulse buy. Get it right, though, and the return on investment will be huge.
THE GLOSS MOODBOARD
Jonathan Anderson’s knit cape and straightleg jeans combo at Dior.
Wide-leg jeans at New York Fashion Week.
Dressy palazzo-style jeans with a sculptural skirt unfurling across the waistband worn with heels at Jacob Cohen.
