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About: Mid-Rise Skinny Jeans Are a Fab Modern Classic

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And Before Skinnies Made the Comeback?

Angie

(website)

Fashion Stylist

What did you wear? Especially those who had to deal with snow and bad weather. Long flared hems are the WORST for rain, slush and snow.

The '80s had me in the best jeans silhouettes - lots of skinnies, paperbag waists, BF styles, and 501s. High rise and maximal.

The 90s had me in a uniform of 501s, bootcuts, trouser jeans, and very flared bootcuts. From high to very low rise.

The early 00's had me in transition. I had VERY soggy bootcut hems living in rainy France and Seattle. Horrible. But I couldn't not wear them at the right length!

In 2006 I resisted the the fringe skinny jeans trend for three months. I bit the bullet and tried on a pair at MNG - and was instantly transported to my favourite '80s fashion era. It took me 5 minutes to get used to them, and I was hooked by their DRY hems more than anything else.

Now, I infrequently wear skinnies because I prefer trendier and roomier silhouettes. But I enjoy the few pairs I have. They serve a purpose and I will probably always have a pair.

Over to you.

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Helena

Veteran

I was into straight jeans and bootcuts prior to the skinnies shift ... similar to you I either had soggy hems, or when I moved out of the city to a snowier area, would wrap and stuff my pants into winter boots. I still love the look of bootcuts and straight cuts; they are so flattering I think ... but skinnies win hands-down for practicality for my lifestyle! I think I was a late skinnies adopter ... probably sometime after my daughter was born in 2008 ... I think I wore a lot of yoga pants during those first couple of kid-years, but can't really remember!

anchie

Veteran

Yes, remember soggy and fried hems of bootcuts in 00’s. 90’s are blure to me - I was a poor student, a refugee and new mom in this decade and fashion was last thing on my mind. 80’s were a mixed bag. Anything from smuggled western fashion to home made clothes.

Eliza

Veteran

Soggy, ruined hems or slightly heeled boots that precluded PPL, but made puddle jumping less frequent. Also, straight legs. Always straight legs. Trousers were the worst. I wore skirts and boots to work frequently to avoid the dilemma.

Diana

Veteran

Until 1997, I lived in Southern California where we got so little rain that it wasn’t an issue! When I moved to Boston for college and afterwards, we all just lived with our super soggy flares, bootcuts, and trouser jeans. I shudder thinking of it now!
Sometimes i would wear skirts with tights and tall boots. But back then (in the early 00’s) it was a LOT harder to find tall boots that fit me - I have ~15” calves and in those days most tall boots were slimmer.

Christina F.

Veteran

I wore straight leg jeans, either purchased or hemmed to wear with flats or sneakers and not skim the ground. I think I kept one or two at a good length for heels, since I could kind of wear heels back then. I embraced skinnies earlier than some of my friends because I wanted to wear tucked in tall boots! I had some trepidation as a pear shape, but it didn't take long for my eye to adjust.

Style Fan

Veteran

I wore bootcuts or straight legs. Skinnies have never made it into my closet.

LaPed

Veteran

Hmm, my snow boots have always been loose enough (or lace-up) to accommodate bootcuts. The only time I wore really big flares was middle school (late 90s), and at that point the soggy chewed-up hems were part of the look, at least in wet, snowy New England! By high school, we all preferred more manageable bootcuts. On milder days, I've always liked a deep cuff on straight legs (or smaller bootcuts), hitting just at the top of hiking boots or other ankle boots, to keep hems out of puddles. Oh, and lots of skirts and leggings, especially fleece-lined ones! I've never liked skinnies in the winter, too hard to fit long johns underneath.

Sara L.

Veteran

I wore bootcuts and straight legs. I remember wearing 501's through most of the 90's. It's dry where I live so soggy hems weren't a problem.

Sal

Veteran

I do live in a wet climate but not a snowy climate. I can imagine your dilemma Angie in the 00s.

80s were skinnies, baggies, embroidered, acid wash, coloured with zips at the ankle......

90s were 501s and then more into moleskins and cargo pants. Jeans took a back seat but I did wear bootcuts sometimes.

00s - rediscovered jeans when I had a baby and wore straights and I remember some fantastic flares (but I don't think Angie would have liked the length)..... Had some wide legged jeans I loved too about 2003. Resisted skinnies for a couple of years - possibly about 2008 I started wearing them...

teens - lots of variety again. Boyfriends, flares, skinnies, straights and even white jeans....

And.....

Most flattering on me - slim straight cuts, bootcuts and flares
Least flattering - saggy boyfriend (but I did wear and like them) and super low waisted...

I currently have one pair of skinnies that suck the calf. They are almostly exclusively worn with rain boots to sport. I have a couple of pairs of slim straight/relaxed skinnies - the definitions vary don't they. All are mid-high rise (not super high rise).

Anonymous

Team soggyhems ftw! Also leggings with tall boots, and probably some skirts and dresses.
Anyone try to fold up their flowy trousers into boots during snow, or was it just me!

abc

Veteran

I’ve been wearing skinny jeans almost exclusively for so long it’s hard to remember what I wore before them! I guess it was bootcuts, that is all there was back then, at least where I lived and shopped.

texstyle

(website)

Veteran

I wore straight leg or bootcut jeans - but snow wasn't an issue of course.

gryffin

Veteran

Before skinnes - leggings with boots in bad weather Good weather girlfriend jeans and chinos. Early 2000 - bootcuts, slouchy skinnies and boyfriend jeans. I always mix it up with jeans depending on seather, season and what I own. But the sized up jeggings are a new thing for me - but sized up and skimming I'm okay wearing them as pants and not treating them as leggings.

taylor

Veteran

In the 70’s I wore flares, bell bottoms , and SUPER bells!
In the 80’s I wore leggings and slim straight legs mostly by GUESS.
In the 90’s the resurgence on the boot cut flair returned and my daughter was all over the look and loved it ... I had had enough , I stuck to slim cut cigarette looks . When skinnies came in I found my silhouette and never looked back . I stick to slim cut , low/mid rise skinnies and cigarette leg, sometimes cropped or ankle length .
I can see how a bootcut can work for a wide range of women and enjoy that silhouette on others !

Gigi

Veteran

It's hard to remember back then because I didn't really care about fashion and so wasn't super picky. I think I wore chino-type trousers with cuffed hems for work, and straight-leg jeans that were high rise for leisure.

rachylou

Veteran

Hmm. I can’t really remember, but 2006 was 3 years before Lilypup and I was probably doing PTA and the suburban mom thing. I think I was wearing a lot of ‘trouser jeans’, heels, and cropped jackets. A lot of Anthropologie.

I’d like to know what I wore for the holidays. Because now, of course, I wear pure crazy, lol.

Katerina

Veteran

Exactly what StyleFan says!

Cardiff girl

Veteran

Do you know I can’t really remember!It s a very good question though.It must have been bootcuts in the 90s as I still have those jeans and wear them now but before then?the only pair I can remember is a bleached pair from the eighties,they were by pepe(is that brand still going?)but I can’t remember what cut they were.

Katerina

Veteran

Cardiff girl, do you mean Pepe Jeans? If so, then yes! I have just found a super cool scarf by Pepe Jeans... (surprise, surprise .-))

Jjsloane

Veteran

80's began with designer jeans (Jordache) worn as tight as possible (lay down on the bed to zip and throw in dryer between each wear).Alternatively we bought old Levi's at the thrift store to have them broken in.
The 90's were the original mom jeans for me -high rise, thick denim totally tapered (the ice cream cone silhouette if you remember Stacy London), probably why I'm struggling with high rise jeans now. I had Esprit, Pepe and DKNY.
00's my best jeans were midrise David Khan bootcuts because Stacy London told us that style was the most flattering and they eliminated muffin top for me.
I was all over BF jeans for awhile (even when they were fringe at first)
Now, I prefer a less tight skinny jean, but can usually just size up in a good skinny jean (my faves are Paige - they don't stretch out) I always tucked my jeans no matter the style into my snowboots.

Toban

Veteran

Jeans weren’t really part of my wardrobe until 2-3 years ago. I’d usually have one pair — usually Gap jeans, but no idea on cut — and rarely wear them. I found them uncomfortable. Didn’t start wearing them regularly until I found petite jeans with stretch. In retrospect, perhaps it was the rise-length (in regular sizes) that was particularly challenging for me. Now, my favorites are bootcuts and cropped bootcuts. I currently have four pairs (bootcut, crop bootcut, straight, skinny, all in dark washes) and could easily add another couple now that they are regular parts of my fall/winter wardrobes. In the spring/summer I only wear jeans on travel to cooler climates.

Suz

(website)

Veteran

Oh my. Between the skinnies/ tapered jean eras,I was completely out of the loop when it comes to fashion. What did I wear? Mostly (out of style) skirts and dresses and some yoga pants. I must have owned some boot cuts and baby boot cuts somewhere in there from the Gap. But that is about it. Good thing I found YLF!!

K.M.

Veteran

Tapered as a teen in the late 80s--wouldn't have been caught with anything with a straight leg or, even worse, flared! I also wore stirrups!

Then fell in love with flared legs, bootcuts, and widelegs in the 90s, and ditched all the tapered legs and so-called "cigarette" pants.

In the early 2000s I moved to a snowy clime and had soggy bottoms. Everyone had soggy, frayed bottoms. It was just how it was. I loved that fashion era. I still swoon over old episodes of Friends and Gilmore Girls!

My foray into skinnies began transitionally when the trend to tuck pants into boots began around 2006. You had to fold the hem just right to fit in the shaft. Wearing that silhouette acclimated me to skinnies, but it took me maybe three or four years to buy my first pair. I like them for their practicality (dry hems, go with every heel height, so versatile with tops), but to be honest I never fell in love with the look. I missed flares, bootcuts, widelegs all this time. So glad they are back!

Joy

Veteran

Before skinnies I didn't wear jeans at all. I did have a pair of denim trousers, but mostly wore skirts and dresses with tights.

Jaime

(website)

Veteran

What did I wear? In the 90s I was commuting on foot through snowy streets in Manhattan, and yet all I can remember are boot cuts. Were they somehow tucked into my duck boots?

Jessikams

(website)

Veteran

Shevia, maybe your boots protected your feet and ankles from the wet hems.

My worst memory of flares and bootcuts is not the damp but the dirt. I like them long, but they would always drag on the ground and get frayed and filthy around the back heel. So. Gross.

Like the Season

At various times, I have enjoyed men's 501s, women's 501s, straight legs, bootcuts, super high-waisted '80s-style mom jeans (before they were called that), boyfriend jeans, ripped jeans (in the '90s), acid washed jeans (yikes!) and low-rise jeans.

I remember in middle school, I wanted a pair of sparkly Sara Jeans more than anything in the world. My parents agreed to buy me a pair if I took piano lessons and practiced every day. Gah! But I did it, and those jeans became my most prized possession.

Anonymous

I probably had one pair of jeans back then and who knows what the heck they were . At that time , I was working as a buyer for a huge Canadian mid-level mall chain and wearing suits and pumps and “ fashion stuff” . In my down time I went to aerobics classes in leotards and tights and leg warmers . Oh my god I’m old .

Laura

(website)

Veteran

In the early 2000s, right before skinnies, I recall wearing low-rise bootcuts -- and pretty dramatic bootcuts at that, bordering on flares. They had rear pockets with flaps and maximal stitching. About the weather, I think I managed to stuff those bootcuts into boots. Skinny calves for the win! Haha.

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