I always find buying straight leg jeans hard. Fact. I’m 5ft 9in, a large UK 12 on the bottom but have a smaller waist, so I either find that jeans are not cut high enough on the hips, are too short in the leg or are just too tight around the hips in order to make sure they’re not baggy around my middle.
For the past few seasons ’90s-inspired straight leg jeans have been the key denim trend to buy into. Any content creator worth her salt has been photographed in a pair and they continue to be the season-less jean shape that designers and retailers bring out time and time again. So, why are they so popular? No one can deny that they’re incredibly versatile, mostly due to the classic shape and unfussy washes. They can be worn day or night, dressed up or down and can be pared back with most colour palettes. The classic Levi’s stonewash continues to be the most popular and easiest colour to style and they instantly give even the most casual of outfits an element of cool.
However, straight jeans also tend to be designed with no stretch, which is a bit of a nightmare for anyone to find the very best fit. The reality is that the larger the waist size you need to buy, the wider the leg, so if you have wide hips but slim legs this just won’t work. And vice versa, if you have thicker thighs and a smaller waist, the struggle continues!
Buying jeans has never been an enjoyable experience for most of us, with every retailer adhering to different size guides. I will happily buy larger sizes than I usually wear to ensure the perfect fit, but what is annoying is having to take two or more pairs of each style into the changing room, or my online basket, and even then it’s not a given I won’t have to pick up another. I’m a large UK 12 on the bottom, so at a push I should fit into a size 30 or 31. But, with some brands it’s really normally for me to need another two sizes or more up. Inaccurate sizing is not the only issue when shopping for jeans online. Some retailers add filters to their denim imagery on their websites making it impossible to decipher the exact colour. All in all, it can be a pretty time consuming exercise for an item that is so basic and integral to our wardrobes.
So, to save you the time and trouble—and to bring a little joy back into shopping for denim—I went out and tried on all the straight-leg jeans I could fit into, whittling it down to my favourite eight pairs available now that work on a midsize figure like mine. Enjoy!
Tagged: denim