by As the men’s shows came to a close this week, something looked different on the runway. The pants clung to the calves. Fabric that once billowed around her thighs was stuck. Shoes that were normally hidden by hems were now visible.
After several seasons in which wide-leg trousers had spread beyond the catwalk to men shopping at Uniqlo, Muji, Zara and M&S and beyond, were slim, tapered trousers making a comeback?
For men and women, wide and baggy trousers have been the dominant trend in recent seasons. From Paul Mescal in Gucci at the Oscars last year to Cos’ Fall 2024 collection, pant size has been everything. But this year that could change.
Like most trends, this one was consolidated on the Prada runway. While the previous season featured pants that were 10 inches wide, about the size of a dinner plate, this season they were calf-hugging and the width of a saucer. Elsewhere at Tod’s, fine wool trousers fit tightly around the knee, and at Paul Smith, the master of fine tailoring, the cut was narrow and straight.
When asked about the size of her pants backstage on Sunday, Prada’s co-creative director Raf Simons said it was less about trends and theories and more about “what feels right.”
In some ways, this shift feels entirely predictable. A decade after he invented the term normcore, trend forecaster Sean Monahan coined the equally catchy if nebulous term “vibe shift” to explain why sometimes things change and something cool seems somehow dated. On his 2025 prediction list this month: skinny jeans. Depop, the Gen Z-loved second-hand site that often serves as an authority on trends, predicts that “the new indie avant-garde,” in which skinny jeans play a key role, will be “this year’s Brat Summer.” ) will be.
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Skinny jeans first came into fashion around 2005, shortly after Hedi Slimane’s Dior Homme collection. A difficult introduction to the slimline look often referred to as “indie sleaze,” slim silhouettes, epitomized by Cheap Monday jeans and Pete Doherty, soon flourished—regardless of wearer, gender, and body type.
The cut remained central to the zeitgeist until the pandemic era, when trouser waistbands and shapes usurped loose and baggy clothing from formal—and physically restrictive—suits. The change has been so great that the New York Times put baggy pants on the cover of its magazine last spring.
There are many theories as to why slim-fit pants are back in style. A sign that work from home is over? Proof that we want the “pandemic pants” to be a thing of the past? Or is it the hem size index, fashion’s response to “shrinkflation,” in which companies shrink their products without lowering prices?
The reactions are mixed. Vogue called the skinny look its “most feared denim trend revival” for winter 2024. The good news is that it will be a few seasons before it goes back on sale.
