Goodbye Skinnies
I think it’s finally time to say goodbye to skinny jeans. Well, perhaps not ‘goodbye’, but ‘au revoir’ as I know they’ll be back. But I will be packing mine away to make room for the new kids on the block.
The ‘Skinny boyfriend’ or ‘Girlfriend’ Jeans
They are infinitely more flattering than skinny jeans when you find a pair that works for your shape. But let me tell you, finding the ‘ones’ can feel like finding the perfect boyfriend when you’re 20. I have tried on (and bought) sooooo many pairs of jeans in the past few weeks and apart from a couple of old pairs from H&M and Zara, which I love, but have seen better days, I am still looking for the perfect pair.
Levi 501s are the jeans ‘du jour’ but they don’t suit me and tend to do this weird ‘V pull’ thing around the crotch area… A bit like this… (this isn’t me by the way, and it was really easy to find an example of what I mean. It seems it’s a common feature?!)
Maybe I am just not getting the fit right, or perhaps it’s that I don’t have hips or much of a bum to speak of ?
So what are the options?
H&M High Waisted Jeans with raw hems – £39.99
I have these and I am quite happy with them, but I think I got a little chop happy and made them too short. Duh. What a numpty. They’ll be no good to anyone else either since I am 5’4! Apart from that though, they are really flattering on the bum and I love having a higher waisted pair.
A fellow instagrammer tipped me off about these in the kids department in H&M if anyone reading is a size 8. Apparently they are fantastic and Age 12-13 fits a size 8 perfectly. I have actually ordered them to try – I will report back! I am not convinced that the button fly is for me. I prefer a zip for quick access. When I need to ‘go’ I really need to ‘go’ and can’t be faffing with lots of buttons!
H&M Relaxed Generous Fit Kids – £17.99
H&M Boyfriend Low Ripped Jeans – £29.99
These look worth trying and they come in so many variations of leg length. Always a winner… I think you may need to be quick with these, if they’re as good as they look.
H&M Boyfriend Low Trashed Jeans – £24.99
These look like the closest match to the pair I have lived in all year. H&M also have 10% off all denim at the moment.
Moving on to Zara.
High Rise Straight Cut Jeans – £29.99
She looks great in them, but there does seem to be potential for that V crotch thingymebob again.
Boyfriend Jeans – Relaxed Fit – £39.99
I really like the look of these for a lighter pair. I love the length, although they would undoubtedly have to be chopped for me to achieve this length.
I love the red button on these and they look like the perfect relaxed but still fitted pair of jeans. Definitely worth a try, especially with the raw hem, makes me feel less guilty about taking the scissors to them!
GAP Best Girlfriend Jeans – now £29.97
These look great and come in Tall, Regular and Petite. Someone on instagram recommended them but did say that they stretch while on, so go for a snug fit.
Topshop Hayden Metallic Jeans – £46
Toyshop’s Hayden jeans are a loose boyfriend fit that are to be worn on your hips. This is their metallic version as the plain Hayden’s seem to be sold out online. They come in Tall and Petite so it’s easy to find a length that works for you. I have the Topshop Lucas jeans but they are not my favourite so I won’t include them here.
River Island ‘Ashley’ jeans £42
These look great and come in three different lengths. They look like a perfect fit, but I am not sure I want that much of a slash on my knees in the winter. I don’t mind a few holes but I wish they wouldn’t slash the knees completely. These come recommended by instafriends too.
I am going to stop there because I don’t want you to feel overwhelmed by too much choice! My advice is to try and try some more until you find the pair that work for you. If you don’t have time to get to the shops, buy online and do a big trying on session at home when you are in a good mood. And perhaps don’t try them all on at once they way I did as you get ‘jeans confusion’ and end up sending them all back out of pure frustration.
I don’t think you need to spend a fortune on jeans. Some of my favourite pairs of jeans come from the high street, but they do tend to stretch more than designer pairs, so just be prepared to wash them after one wear to avoid baggy knees and bum.
Jeans are the ultimate wardrobe staple, so when you find the perfect pair buy at least two! Dress them up, dress them down, they work for all occasions and form the foundation of your capsule wardrobe, so it is worth spending a bit of time finding the ‘ones’. And let’s face it, finding the perfect ‘boyfriend jeans’ is a lot less painful than finding the perfect ‘boyfriend’!
(All images via Pinterest)
Good luck finding your perfect pair and if you have, let me know! I would love to hear which ones worked best for you?
Happy Shopping
Love,
Chloe x
Excited to try h&m kids ones! I currently live in Hush ones though they come up massive. I’m normally 8 in Hush trousers but I wear a 6 in these, and belted to stop them falling down! The denim is the softest I’ve found though, so a real comfort wear, and no faux distressing (pet peeve)
They are so much better in store, they have zip closures in store kids. Yes I find Hush bottoms a struggle to fit me… Just a bit on the big side… x
Loved your blog,made me chuckle as I’m 5’3 and have alsochopped ALL my jeans to achieve that ankle length I love !! My fave girlfriend jeans of late are the Gap ones,lovely denim colours.mayve my shape is changing because I haven’t shopped there for years.i m tempted to try those Ashley ones by don’t lie the knee slashing either (why oh why)
Xxx
I know, they seem to slash everything. I am too old for slashed knees. They aint what they used to be! 🙂 xx
(my phone’s being weird, maybe this posted twice?) The H&M kids relaxed fit have different options instore than online.. I found a zip fly, rather than button – they also do a standard fit rather than generous instore… soooo annoying they don’t have the same ranges across both!!
Yes, so weird that! I went in store and they were SO much nicer in store. I found a lovely lovely pair with a zip closure but they were too big and they didn’t have the size down. But really good otherwise! xx
Hello Chloe,
Great post. I can confirm that the Zara relaxed fit jeans with the red button are amazing. Lots of give in them so you might want to size down (despite them initially feeling snug, they WILL give!). And a bargain price too xx
Oh excellent! They will definitely give! xx
Thing is, once I get them JUST the right amount of baggy in the legs…they fall down and look ridiculous? I spend all day hoiking mine back up again and a belt just doesn’t ‘work’ when you don’t want to draw any more attention to your muffin top. Sigh. Will keep trying, thanks for the inspiration x
I know what you mean… I love them when they are just on, but by the end of the day they can look a bit builder! Stick to skinnies if they work for you. They haven’t gone anywhere! xx
I have the H&M boyfriend low trashed jeans which I love the look of but I’m not sure if they are too big on me! I have the same problem as others it seems, they fit on the leg but fall down unless I wear a belt. Think I should have ordered the size down but they have already been worn! Handy tip – Next do some ‘relaxed skinny’ jeans which are a great fit, more girlfriend than skinny and great price too! Love your blog Chloe!
Thanks Victoria! I have heard that about the next jeans. I must go and try them on!!
xx
Hi Chloe, thanks so much for writing this brilliant blog. I just wondered if you knew where to get some nice leather shopper bags from currently like in the pictures on this thread for the jeans. Thank you very much xxx
Have a look on Etsy (www.etsy.co.uk) and search ‘brown leather shopper’ There are some lovely ones on there…x
Great post Chloe. I love my boyfriend jeans and got them from GStar last year xx