Don’t Freak Out, But Cigarette Pants Are Back—5 Ways to Style Them

If you’re simultaneously obsessed with the latest micro-trends and too intimidated to test them out, you’ve come to the right place. This is Ways to Wear, a monthly series where editor Eliza Huber offers a dose of outfit inspiration focused on current trends that feel intriguing yet overwhelming at the same time. Consider it your guide to actually wearing the coolest items of the moment, no matter how puzzling they might appear at first.

Whenever talk of a comeback for skinny silhouettes, from jeans to trousers, starts to pick up, the fashion community and beyond tends to react with panic. Probably due to trauma from past iterations that haven’t lived up to our standards, many are in mutual agreement that slim-leg bottoms should be met with a hard pass—no questions asked. But after a sprinkling of fitted styles showed up on the fall 2024 runways, leading to yet another set of whispers about a return for cigarette pants, I was surprised to find that, unlike with past attempts, people were noticeably more open to at least trying an alternative to all things big, billowy, and baggy.

While I have certainly been wronged by skinny pants in the past, this time around, I found myself firmly planted on the yes side of the cigarette-pants debate. To know for sure, though, I had to try them out for real. On the runways, even the most controversial of fashion items can work. That isn’t always the case in person, especially when you only have your existing wardrobe to style around. To confirm whether or not cigarette pants are for me, I secured a top-selling pair from Lafayette 148 that was recommended to me by my co-worker Anna Laplaca and started playing around, taking inspiration from Hermès, Toteme, Khaite, Altuzarra, and more fall collections in the process. Scroll down to check out two ways that I’ve loved styling cigarette pants thus far and three runway-inspired outfit ideas I’m planning on copying next.

On the runway:

If timeless elegance is the look you’re going for in terms of your wardrobe, taking inspiration from Hermès is never a bad idea. The French brand might be most known for its leather goods, but its ready-to-wear is not to be slept on, especially when it comes to the F/W 24 collection. The cigarette pants from the curation were especially awe-worthy, particularly this gray style that was strategically paired with a matching knee-length coat and wide belt.

IRL:

Wearing: Tory Burch V-Neck Stretch Wool Sweater ($314); Lafayette 148 Gramercy Acclaimed Stretch Pants ($598); Prada Re-Edition 1995 Brushed-Leather Large Handbag ($4100); Khaite shoes; Linda Farrow sunglasses

My ultimate muse for this testing project was Jackie Kennedy, who had an unmatched air of elegance about her, and whenever she wore trousers, they were almost always fitted like a cigarette pant. I wanted to create an outfit that felt casual and put together at the same time, like I threw it on at the last minute but did so with sophistication in mind. What I came up with was a sweater-and-trouser combination that included an oversize Tory Burch V-neck from the brand’s F/W 23 collection and Lafayette 148’s lauded Gramercy pants. To go with, I added a Prada 1995 bag that was named after Kennedy’s daughter-in-law, Carolyn Bessette-Kennedy, and black suede kitten-heel pumps from Khaite. The look is extremely simple, which is what I think I like most about it. I could wear it to work, to dinner, or anywhere really and feel dressed for the occasion without being “dressed up.”

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On the runway:

Altuzarra’s F/W 24 collection was one of the most influential of the entire season, with the white tights, pillbox hats, and court shoes included in it all going on to become viral, season-defining trends. Another big-deal inclusion was the cigarette pant, a silhouette that two models paraded around the brand’s Woolworth Building headquarters with gold-hardware belts, frilly collars, and almond-toe flats. Before devouring photos from this show, I would have never said yes to wearing camel-colored slim-fit trousers. Now? If they fell into my lap, you bet I’d style them as often as possible.

IRL:

Wearing: Aligne Leo Long Waistcoat ($180); Lafayette 148 Gramercy Acclaimed Stretch Pants ($598); ME+EM Chisel Toe Wedge Slingback ($495); Linda Farrow sunglasses; Usisi bag

Whenever I try out a trend that I’m not particularly used to yet, I usually go with a monochrome black look to start things off. It’s my comfort zone and the color that takes up a majority of the space in my closet, so since I was using all pieces I already owned other than the Lafayette 148 cigarette pants, it felt the most natural. To go with the trousers, I wore a longline Aligne waistcoat and some new ME+EM black-and-tobacco slingback wedges, adding a tortoiseshell headband and open-top, ’60s-inspired handbag to go along with the look’s subtle retro vibe. An outfit like this, to me, makes wearing skinny-leg pants easy, squashing the belief that the silhouette is at all scary or intimidating.

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On the runway:

When it comes to modern-day cigarette pants, the brand I think of first and foremost is Khaite. When every other brand under the sun was opting for baggier silhouettes, Catherine Holstein’s designs were going slimmer, with the New York label’s Lenn and Waylin pants being among the most recognizable of all of 2024’s slim-fit trouser offerings. More so, the way they’ve been styled on the runways season after season will no doubt become the blueprint as more and more members of the fashion community start to stray away from looser fits and focus their attention on skinnier alternatives.

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