Bonjour everyone! This is the first Great Debate. The topic for today is skinny-leg vs wide-leg jeans, which is better?
SKINNY:
Trying on my first pair of skinny-leg jeans was like uncovering the key to happiness, it rates up there with the best moments of my life. I have spent most of my life trying in vain to make boot-cut jeans; or, in my most shockingly unstylish periods of my teenage years, flared jeans, flatter my 5ft 3in figure. Let me tell you, boot-cut jeans and I worked about as well painting a wall in your house black to uplift the mood; the extra flare-y bit at the bottom of my jeans always made it seem like my ankles were the same size as the rest of my leg.
Thus I was absolutely beside myself when I walked into a store in Sydney one day and tried on my very first pair of skinny-leg jeans. They were a pair of dark blue denim Tsubi’s; thick and durable but with just the right amount of stretch to hug every single one of my curves (as few as they may be) all the way down to my ankles. Elongating my legs by clinging all the way down meant that my legs were no longer hidden in folds of extra material, thus giving me the illusion of “thunder-thighs”. Needless to say, I bought them then and there; they made me feel liberated and free. I felt like I had not only found the perfect pair of jeans; but that I owned a reflection of my personality; carefree, confident, with a little bit of edgy style.
And that is, in fact, the ethos of skinny jeans; they represent rock and roll and everything risqué. The wearers of skinny jeans need the confidence that goes with them; you can’t wear them and not have attitude, otherwise they won’t suit you. They’re the Tom Ford of the jeans world; they shout out sensuality with a little bit of raw, dirty sex mixed in for extra flavour. You can’t wear them and not feel like a million bucks, because that’s what you look like, and everyone knows it. Also, neither can you wear them and expect to fade into the background; they’re jeans made for strutting in (preferably in towering round-toed Christian Louboutin pumps).
Skinny jeans have been everywhere for the past seasons; Stella McCartney sent hers out high waisted and non-stretchy, real rockstar glamour paired with high platform round-toe pumps. Superfine in London perfected the skinny jean for the Primrose Hill and London fashion set; Kate Moss was rumoured to have 10 pairs and wore them everywhere. The best maker of skinny jeans however, is Tsubi, by a long shot. Theirs are perfect; they’re stretchy and the perfect length for petite girls like me coz if they’re a bit too long they look great cuffed at the ankle. Bettina Liano also makes a great pair, really low-cut with little pockets that sit high on your bottom; perking it up and giving it amazing shape. The thing with these jeans is that they also look great with any outfit; wear them with jewelled sandals and a tunic in the summer and tie a bandanna around your head, or tuck them into knee-high round-toe boots in the winter and throw on a cropped boxy jacket in winter.
I still have those first Tsubi’s in my wardrobe somewhere; even though they are now paper-thin and have faded to a light blue-grey from washing over the years. They are a reminder of the day that I found a little bit of myself in a pair of jeans; the day when I liberated myself from fashion-complacency and realized that I was indeed as self-assured as a believed myself to be. As every self-respecting wearer of skinny jeans should know; it’s not the glam factor that draws you to a pair of skinny jeans, its your signature style drawing the jeans to you.
WIDE-LEG:
One of my best friends in the world is a lover of wide-leg pants and jeans. She’s one of those really down-to-earth but funky stylish girls who gets along with everyone and is “one of the guys”. She favours the really extra-wide legged jeans; slung low on her hips, worn with Havaianas and a Bonds singlet, but pulls it off perfectly. It’s the comfort of them that attracts her to them; she hates jeans that suck and pull and restrict your breathing so that you feel like you’re going to lose both your legs to gangrene as a result of lack of circulation. Her favourite pair is an old pair of Tsubi’s which she’s had for years; they’re soft from wear and faded from dark blue to a light, but they feel like she’s wearing cotton pyjamas.
This season, wide-leg pants are making a big comeback; they started creeping in with Alexander McQueen’s nautical look a couple of seasons back, which also started the pirate trend which is still en force in most style circles. Then with mannish tailoring came Fendi, Prada and Burberry with high-waisted wool-blend versions for chic, androgynous style. The Belgian clique; Ann Demuelemeester, Dries Van Noten and Martin Margiela came up with gravity-defying feats of jersey and cotton, along with wool-blends which were light as feathers but yet hung perfectly in creaseless folds, paired with tailored tweed waistcoats and loose, billowy yet solid, pristine white cotton shirts.
Worn as an alternative to the cocktail dress, a pair of wide-leg pants symbolise sophistication and glamour; think Katherine Hepburn, no one would ever have accused her of being outré. When worn floor-skimming with a pair of chunky high heels they elongate the legs and slim the whole figure, giving the wearer poise and a refined grace. It’s no surprise that Yves Saint Laurent’s famous Le Smoking had wide legs; or that Bianca Perez Morena de Macias married Mick Jagger in a white wide-leg pantsuit.
Worn as jeans with a pair of sandals they are a sign of comfort; of timeless elegance, they indicate that the wearer is effortlessly chic but yet will not sacrifice her body needlessly to fashion. What these pants do that no other style even comes close to, is flatter every body shape; it’s surprising how most people would attempt to make themselves look skinnier by squeezing into the tightest, boa-constrictor jeans when the easiest solution to their body issues is just to buy a wide-leg pair. However, not to say that they’re just the fat persons’ answer to fashion; they most certainly are not. In fact, wide-leg pants look the best on people with trim figures who can balance the roominess of the pants with a long, slim top to lengthen and refine the entire figure so that when you walk across the room, you do not do so as a mere mortal, but rather you glide, much like a ballet dancer.
