I'm just going to say it. I don’t have any major qualms with skinny jeans.
We can absolutely do better in terms of silhouette yes, but do I truly care if I spot a skinny jean wearer in the street? No. Let's face it, a spay-on style lover is not going to burn in the fiery depths of Mordor for a cheugy trouser choice - even if the fashion industry wills it.
In comparison to the skinny silhouette, barrel jeans are a sweet relief. The silhouette consists of a nipped-in waist that billows out into a bow-legged structure below the hips. As if someone took a pair of mom jeans and pumped them with air.
Alaïa was the first brand to fully champion the cut, incorporating its popular 'High-Rise Barrel-Leg Jeans' into the autumn/winter 2023 collection. Cult brands took note, such as Toteme, Agolde and Ganni who all started to toy with the unapologetically roomy trousers.
The silhouette had already created ripples in the industry. Sam Smith's inflatable look by Harri caused quite the stir upon the singer's arrival at the 2023 BRIT Awards. The latex suit was first revealed during the designer's MA show at London College of Fashion in 2019 and featured highly exaggerated barrel-shaped legs.
It was a divisive moment. Yet, the singer's outfit allowed the conversation surrounding unorthodox trouser cuts to blossom, segueing neatly into the barrel jean debate.
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Safe to say, they also split opinion. "Ima bring scissors to school in case I see barrel jeans walking around," and "saw barrel jeans today…we have lost the plot entirely" are just a handful of X comments panning the bulky design.
Yet, that hasn't stopped the celebrity sphere from platforming the piece. Style connoisseurs including Gigi Hadid, Camila Morrone and Katie Holmes have all tried and tested the XL jean. The latter did so earlier this week while attending a New York screening of her film Pieces of April.
The ballooning bootcuts are a conversation starter. Which is why, I think they are underappreciated.
Great clothes spark a reaction. Think Bjork's swan dress, Alexander McQueen's spray-painted pieces and Kylie Jenner's lion-head Schiaparelli gown. Barrel jeans prompt passersby to whisper as you walk, offering up their opinions under their breath and, in turn, receiving your everyday look as a sartorial statement. A subtle power move wrapped up in one laidback leg silhouette.
Barrel jeans are also repellents of the male gaze. Perfect for swamping your figure in swathes of denim when an oversized aesthetic is on the agenda, the jeans are a fashion move for the girls to appreciate.
Dressing for the female gaze has taken on a whole new sartorial cachet. TikTok users and Gen Z trend followers have taken to the platform en masse to share their 'female gaze fashion,' which shifts away from form-fitting shapes and girlish prints.
Big, befrilled collars, baggy silhouettes, preppy co-ords and quilted waistcoats from the foundation of the trend, which also champions the barrel jeans as a fluid trouser option.
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In this sense, barrel jeans fly the flag for feminism. One does not wear the cut to flaunt their figure, only to feel truly good in their own skin.
They may be teetering on the precipice of micro trends, which as we all know, are the antitheses of feminism (fast fashion equals poor working conditions, low pay et al). But for now, I say enjoy the slouchy slacks in all their ogle-repelling glory and dress to impress yourself and yourself only.