THE JOURNAL
The Style Debate: Celebrate The Return Of Skinny Jeans Or Stick To Looser Cuts?
From left: Tom Cruise in London, England, 25 July 2022. Photograph by Ricky Vigil M/GC Images. Theo James in London, England, 1 September 2026. Photograph by Ricky Vigil M/Justin E Palmer/GC Images
From the arrival of The Strokes and Hedi Slimane in the early 2000s for a good decade or so, you couldn’t move for skinny jeans. (This was certainly true if you were sporting a particularly tight pair.) And then, almost overnight, they just vanished – into thin air, appropriately enough – while more capacious trousers moved in. However, if you thought you’d seen the back pocket of snug denim, think again. The cyclical nature of fashion, multiplied by the revolving door of trends in the age of algorithms means that no item of clothing is gone for long. And so, if rumours – and runways – are true, then skinny jeans are due a return. Should we just suck it up and embrace this comeback? Two correspondents have opposing thoughts. Here’s the skinny.
Holding on tight to skinny jeans
Lauren Cochrane, senior fashion writer, The Guardian
“Too much of a good thing” is a phrase apt for trousers in 2026. Recently, the arrival of volume has meant a certain look – one where the wearer appears to be drowning in fabric – has become strikingly familiar, whether on passersby on the street, on the runway or smothering Justin Bieber.
The ubiquity of this look, which is, admittedly, aesthetically pleasing, not to mention extremely comfortable, means it has become the mood music of fashion. And, anyone who knows fashion, knows familiarity breeds a certain amount of contempt.
Enter, a new look. Watching altogether tighter trousers make their way down runways at brands such as SAINT LAURENT and CELINE certainly made me sit up and take notice. The fact that this shape has been in a drawer for a while makes it look fresh again. Compared to the oversized look, these silhouettes were pleasingly precise. It made me wonder: could the much-derided skinny jeans actually come back again?
“They are now more grown-up, less rock’n’roll, with an artistic feel”
The skinny jean has blue-chip music style references. Sid Vicious wore them. So did The Ramones. And The Strokes. In fact, it might be the early 2000s band who made them so popular in recent times – when every man under the age of 30 wanted to look like Julian Casablancas and co.
A generation on from Is This It, skinny jeans are back in the conversation – if not (yet) on musicians – but they look different. Updated for 2026, they are now more grown-up, less rock’n’roll, with an artistic feel. They can be worn with knitwear, as per SAINT LAURENT, or as part of an art-student look, as at CELINE and Acne Studios.
The crucial thing to remember? You don’t need to wear them all the time. Back in the day, denim was tribal; you picked your silhouette to fit in with your peers. But today’s landscape is very different. Right now, you can go over-oversized one day and super-skinny the next. Just try not to let your memories of a dive bar in 2005 influence the consideration of a new shape.
It might have suffered for its ubiquity, but skinny jeans deserve a spot in your wardrobe.
Break loose from skinny tyranny
Kit Swann, Fashion Editor, MR PORTER
Over the past couple of seasons, there have been mutterings about the return of skinny jeans to menswear. And while they’ve certainly made an appearance on the runway, we’re doubtful they’ll be the comeback some are predicting. We may have had our fill of the vast cuts and oversized fits that have dominated in recent times, but the shift in proportion has become more refined and, arguably, more tasteful.
Rather than a return to skintight, what we are starting to see is a more considered approach to proportion, achieved through cut and material choices. So, while many designers are getting slimmer with the legs of their trousers, enough room is maintained for said pieces to feel modern and wearable.
“The shift in proportion has become more refined and, arguably, more tasteful”
On one side, you have brands such as ssstein, Auralee and Our Legacy who, while maintaining their classic and sometimes wide silhouettes, have taken a more relaxed approach to tailoring. Trousers are cut from fluid fabrics that drape naturally, creating a softer, less structured fit. We’ve even noticed a similar shift starting with the likes of Polo Ralph Lauren and Canali. Our recent seasonal offering from the former presents a much wider variety of trouser widths than before, with its classically slim-cut jeans becoming more relaxed and straight through the leg.
Canali’s latest Le Langhe capsule also offers a contender for the best white winter jeans. While straight-cut in profile, the high waist and additional room through the thigh give it, for me at least, the most desirable and comfortable denim silhouette: a 1990s-inspired straight leg.
Skinny jeans may well be growing in popularity within fashion, but from our view, comfort still seems to be reigning king.