Skinny Jeans Aren’t Dead—but They’ve Got Some Competition - The Wall Street Journal

THROUGH THICK AND THIN The latest menswear debate? Whether to stick with trim trousers or to go for something with girth.

Photo: Stuart McLachlan

MEN'S PANTS have gone through every possible design configuration over the last decades: from suffocating stove-pipe pants to roomy '70s flares and baggy styles with tight pants reasserting themselves in the 1980s new-wave era. And the loose-tight style pendulum kept swinging into the '90s and up to today, when we find ourselves at an interesting crossroads. Even as skinny jeans continue to lose currency with Gen Z, a lot of men remain fans of narrow cuts. But wide is surging in style-forward circles. And so battle lines are being drawn. Here are two (very strong) points of view.

WHY SOME GUYS GO WIDE

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MEN'S PANTS have gone through every possible design configuration over the last decades: from suffocating stove-pipe pants to roomy '70s flares and baggy styles with tight pants reasserting themselves in the 1980s new-wave era. And the loose-tight style pendulum kept swinging into the '90s and up to today, when we find ourselves at an interesting crossroads. Even as skinny jeans continue to lose currency with Gen Z, a lot of men remain fans of narrow cuts. But wide is surging in style-forward circles. And so battle lines are being drawn. Here are two (very strong) points of view.

WHY SOME GUYS GO WIDE

From the moment you slip into spacious slacks, say men in the broad-pant camp, you can smugly take pleasure in knowing you are modish and, unlike your tightly clad counterparts, won't be called "basic" by judgmental teens. This was part of the draw for Stewart Bean, a 34-year-old graphic designer in Manhattan, when earlier this year, he bought JW Anderson x Uniqlo jeans that felt "huge" compared with the straight-leg denim he'd been wearing. "As someone in my mid-30s, I didn't want to seem dated or be left behind," said Mr. Bean. "I do feel like I'm joining a club of big-pants youths."

GO WIDE Marc Forne wore a pair of roomy jeans to the Jacquemus fashion show in Saint-Denis, France, in June.

Photo: Getty Images

That said, his advocacy of ample pants is not just about being on-trend. Mr. Bean said he feels "more free" in them, while Kyle Norville, a teacher in Brooklyn, enjoys the heightened comfort billowing pants deliver. "I have room around my thigh. I can walk, bend and run more easily" than in slim fits, said Mr. Norville, 31. He has appreciated the pants' roominess as his weight has yo-yoed during the pandemic. And after a year of working from home, slacks with breathing room seem a natural progression from his other Covid standby, pajamas, as he ventures out.

Voluminous pants let Derek Manansala, 28, a film director's assistant in Los Angeles, experiment with "shapes" when assembling ensembles. His stack includes a navy pair with parachute-like dimensions from Parisian brand Casey Casey. "With menswear there's not too much to play around with," said Mr. Manansala. "Wider pants help me make interesting outfits." He pairs his with oversize shirts for a "flowy" look or slim tops for contrast. And Mr. Bean plays the opposites-attract game by teaming his wide pants with slight Bode house shoes.

To avoid looking sloppy, London stylist Mitchell Belk suggests such simple tricks as tucking in a T-shirt or cuffing a hem. No matter how slouchy the pants, they have to "fit somewhere," emphasized Nick Wakeman, founder of Studio Nicholson, a London brand known for capacious cuts that nevertheless always hug the waist and backside.

Mr. Manansala, who is five-foot-six, often chooses cropped styles to avoid looking like he's submerged in fabric. "It's all about keeping your proportions in check," he said. Once that's sorted, he added, "just have fun with them."

WHY OTHER FELLOWS PREFER NARROW

Not all skinny pants are created equal. When you think of trim trousers, you might picture a brawny man—possibly a "Love Island" contestant—in jeggings that bulge at the calf and thigh, as if each of his legs were a python who'd swallowed two Christmas hams. While a cling-film aesthetic is indefensible, adherents of reasonably tailored slacks insist their silhouette is flattering, and won't ditch the tidy look simply because Gen Z prefers pants cut from as much fabric as a circus tent.

BOTH SIDES NOW At Celine's spring 2022 menswear show, creative director Hedi Slimane showed both his signature skinny pants and some wide, billowing pairs.

Photo: Celine

Leg-skimmers appeal to thin men who might drown in wide styles. Elias Marte, a 31-year-old realtor who lives in Queens, N.Y., wears tapered pants from tailoring brands like Berg & Berg that neatly outline his coltish legs. If he sported anything baggier, the fabric would flap "like a flag on a windy day," he said Similarly, when six-foot-two beanpole Zach Garst dons boot-cut jeans, "it looks like I'm wearing a potato sack." The Houston-based senior tax associate, 25, is partial to selvedge denim cut narrowly enough to mold to his limbs "like a loafer conforms to your foot."

Slim slacks can "lengthen the leg," especially when they're cropped at the ankle, said Mr. Belk. By making your top half look broader, added the stylist, they can help you achieve the inverse-triangle shape a lot of men want. They "create the illusion that I'm bigger than I actually am," said Mr. Garst.

Narrow trousers appeal to larger guys, too. Miles Poola-or, 31, a therapist's intern in Orlando, Fla., has a "stockier, chubbier" build and finds that form-fitting cotton and linen Brunello Cucinelli chinos give him a sleeker line. Looser pants, with their added volume, "actually make me look bigger," he said.

Whatever your physique, skinny pants must not be overly tight. "If your body parts—the knee, the calf—are showing through," that's no good, said Andrew Chen, co-founder of New York menswear label 3sixteen.

If you care that the trend cycle is pushing wider cuts, remember that perennial pacesetter Hedi Slimane, Celine's creative director, remains a proponent of slender pants (though to be fair, he also showed baggy ones for spring). "Of course they can be fashionable," said Mr. Belk. "Look at brands like Celine and Saint Laurent that play into that '70s-rock or '60s-mod look. Those are still very relevant."

Goldilocks and the Three Pairs

Not too loose, not too tight, these mid-width pants are just right

Left to right: Bondi Trousers, about $310, smrdays.com; 551 Z Straight Jeans, $90, Levis.com; Field Chino, $125, alexmill.com

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