The Autumn Denim Edit: Barrel, Bootcut & Straight
Denim has settled into three shapes this season and they are properly different from each other, which has not been true for a while. Barrel, bootcut and...
Denim has settled into three shapes this season and they are properly different from each other, which has not been true for a while. Barrel, bootcut and straight. Skinny is having a sit down and wide leg has (sadly) become the boring safe option.
Here's what each one actually does, because the difference is about what you put on your feet more than anything else.
Barrel: the one that looks new
Curved through the thigh, tapering in at the ankle, so the leg reads as a soft O rather than a straight line. It's the shape that makes an outfit look current with no other effort, and it's the one most likely to look dated in three years. Buy it cheap, wear it hard.
It needs a shoe with some presence at the bottom, because the taper leaves your ankle exposed. A chunky loafer or a boot. A delicate flat gets swallowed.
Bootcut: the one that came back properly
Not flares. Bootcut is a slim leg with a small kick from the knee, and it's the most flattering of the three on most people because it balances the hip. It's also the only one here that works with a heel, which makes it the going-out option.
The trap is length. Bootcut needs to almost touch the floor over the shoe you're actually wearing, which means you'll probably need two pairs or a very consistent shoe habit.
Straight: the one you will still wear in 2030
Straight from hip to hem, no shaping, no opinion. It's the least exciting and the best value, because it survives every swing in what's fashionable and it goes with literally any shoe. If you're buying one pair of jeans this autumn, buy this in a mid indigo.
Buying denim without regretting it
Fit the waist, alter the length
A tailor charges very little to shorten a hem and there is no fixing a waistband that gapes. Buy for the bit that can't be changed.
Decide the shoe first
All three of these shapes are defined at the ankle. The jeans that look wrong with your trainers are often just the wrong length by two centimetres.
Rigid over stretch for shape
Barrel and straight both need some structure to hold their line. A very stretchy pair collapses into whatever your leg is doing.
Dark wash for now, pale for spring
A mid to dark indigo carries through autumn and winter. Pale washes look great in September and wrong by November.
One more thing on washes. A dark indigo does most of the work in autumn because it takes a boot and a knit without looking casual, and it is the wash that reads closest to a trouser. Black is the going-out option and the one that fades fastest, so it is worth buying black jeans cheaper and replacing them more often. A pale or bleached wash is a spring purchase pretending to be an autumn one.
If you want the shape that gets the most compliments, buy barrel. If you want the one you'll wear twice a week for the next five years, buy straight in a dark indigo and be done with it.
Denim stock turns over quickly and sizes go first, so don't leave a pair sitting in a basket.