Never has there been a more fickle or divisive piece of clothing.<\/p>\n
The Guardian\u2019s journalism is independent. We will earn a commission if you buy something through an affiliate link.\u00a0Learn more<\/a>.<\/p>\n Jeans, patented 152 years ago as workwear, have the power to make a wearer feel either on-trend or old fashioned, depending on their cut, wash and length and, most importantly, timing. As we bid farewell to 2025, it\u2019s hard to decipher what exactly the jean of the year has been.<\/p>\n In April, Vogue declared baggy white jeans as a \u201cspring staple\u201d<\/a>. By August, it was endorsing slim cigarette styles<\/a>, but by December \u201cstraight-leg jeans \u2013 not baggy, not skinny, but that sweet spot in between,\u201d<\/a> were the new must-have. In November, GQ<\/a> hailed a pair of vintage slim-cut Levi\u2019s 501s worn by Ben Whishaw in Peter Hujar\u2019s Day<\/a> as the \u201cSexiest movie jeans of 2025\u201d. Add to the mix viral carrot<\/a>, horseshoe<\/a> and stovepipe<\/a> shapes and can anyone really keep up?<\/p>\n Amy Leverton, founder of Denim Dudes<\/a>, a denim consultancy firm, says social media and a growth in competition have created greater choice. \u201cConsumers have never been more in control of the narrative when it comes to fit trends,\u201d she says. \u201cThe late 90s and early 00s were simpler times, where jean fits moved slowly, acted like a kind of \u2018universal uniform\u2019 and stuck around much longer.\u201d Now, Leverton says, \u201cthe switch has flipped.\u201d<\/p>\n She points to a Gap campaign<\/a> released in August starring the K-pop-inspired girl band Katseye as exemplifying the trend. In the advert, each of the band\u2019s six members and dozens of backing dancers appear in different types of jeans, including extra-baggy and flared styles.<\/p>\n At Gap, the focus is on a wide choice of styles and cuts \u2026 members of the band Katseye in different fits of Gap jeans.<\/p>\n While there is no agreed It-jean of 2025, there has been a general loosening and widening of the silhouette. The catalyst was Kendrick Lamar\u2019s half-time Super Bowl performance in February. When the American rapper dissed Drake<\/a> to more than 133 million viewers, he did so in a pair of women\u2019s low-rise, blue-wash, bootcut jeans from Celine.<\/p>\n According to John Lewis, out of the 1,349 styles of jeans available in its womenswear, wide-leg cuts have outpaced straight and skinny this year. At M&S, which is No 1 in the women\u2019s jeans market, selling 10 pairs every minute, the current bestseller is a wide-leg indigo wash jean<\/a>. Barrel legs, a sort of balloon-like shape that hang wide on the hip and thigh, then tapers at the ankle, are also a strong performer. Since April, it has sold 47k pairs of its mid-rise version.<\/a><\/p>\n Yet at Levi\u2019s, the XL straight<\/a> in womenswear remains its most popular style. Anne-Catherine Lepas, vice-president of merchandising of Levi\u2019s Europe, says part of their appeal is their versatility. Cut for a baggy fit, they feature an adjustable tie waist allowing the wearer to choose where they want them to sit.<\/p>\n A pair of high-waisted carrot jeans from M&S.<\/p>\n In womenswear Levi\u2019s \u201cbaggy dad barrel\u201d jean with a subtle curved leg has also gained traction, while in menswear the 568 and 578 styles, both of which take baggy inspiration from the 90s, are trending. Mitch Hughes, menswear director at M&S, describes giving its denim offering a \u201ccomplete overhaul\u201d with a focus on trend-led styles, including loose, tapered and baggy styles. After the success of the barrel leg in womenswear, the retailer introduced the shape into menswear in September and it\u2019s now one of its most popular styles. At John Lewis, sales of men\u2019s denim is up 484% year on year. Beth Pettet, head of menswear buying, says men are pivoting towards relaxed fits. Skinny jeans made up 15% of its denim offering in 2019. Now it is 5%.<\/p>\n While Levi\u2019s sees \u201ca bigger traction\u201d of low-rise and baggy fits with gen Z, Lepas says the XL straight and baggy barrel have resonated across genders and all age groups. Leverton says it is the versatility of a baggy fit that has multi-generational appeal. \u201cBaggy is more universally adopted because no matter who you are, you can wear \u2018your interpretation\u2019 of it. Looser fits don\u2019t have to be extreme,\u201d she says. Even gen Xer Parker Posey posed in Gap\u2019s baggy \u201cCarpenter\u201d jeans.<\/p>\n Leverton describes a sense of individualism as a new challenge for brands. \u201cA regular high-street brand really has to carry every fit and size in store, which isn\u2019t great for the environment,\u201d she says. \u201cBut in my opinion it is positive when it comes to easing the social pressure for consumers to jump on the new trend \u2018just because\u2019. Finding what you love and sticking to it is more acceptable.\u201d<\/p>\n You have to be careful with skinny jeans. We don\u2019t want the whole world to look like sausages<\/p><\/blockquote>\n By August, baggy and flare styles were endorsed by the gen Z actor Sydney Sweeney in her controversial American Eagle campaign that was accused of pro-eugenics messaging<\/a>. Despite widespread criticism and Trump weighing in<\/a>, it fuelled interest in the brand, with shares up nearly 60%<\/a> since the ad launched in July. It wasn\u2019t the only politicised moment for jeans this year. Clips<\/a> of the 71-year-old US health secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr went viral in August when he was filmed doing a \u201cMake America Healthy Again\u201d gym challenge in baggy-ish blue jeans.<\/p>\n In September, the lines between millennials and gen X were blurred once more when the actors Amanda Seyfried (millennial) and Julia Roberts (gen X) shared a pair of Versace high-rise, dark-wash, straight-leg jeans<\/a> during the Venice film festival. Elsewhere, Levi\u2019s leaned into its western roots, which saw Beyonc\u00e9 don some classic 501s.<\/p>\n Kendrick Lamar performs at the Super Bowl in women\u2019s low-rise, blue-wash, bootcut jeans. Photograph: Biloxi Sun Herald\/TNS<\/p>\n So does this mean it\u2019s all over for skinny jeans? In short, no. Lamar\u2019s jeans were designed by Hedi Slimane before he left Celine in 2024. He is the designer responsible for launching skinny jeans at Dior Homme circa 2000 and Saint Laurent during the 2010s. Fans of Slimane\u2019s spindly silhouettes are known as Hedi boys, and now, thanks to the LA band the Hellp, are once again gaining traction<\/a>. Its members, Noah Dillon and Chandler Lucy, gatekeep where their spray-on skinnies are from, although it is widely believed they hail from Slimane\u2019s time at Dior and Saint Laurent. His successor at Celine, Michael Rider is also backing them<\/a>. Even the ex-Balenciaga designer Demna, who made oversized everything his default, told Die Zeit<\/a> in June that he has lost interest in the XXL style. Although he did caveat with: \u201cThat doesn\u2019t mean I\u2019m going to start wearing tight stretch jeans. You have to be careful with skinny jeans. We don\u2019t want the whole world to look like sausages.\u201d<\/p>\n So what can we expect in 2026? While Leverton describes a baggy flare as \u201ckind of cool\u201d, she doesn\u2019t believe they have \u201cmain character energy\u201d. For her the flare is \u201ccounter culture\u201d, referencing how people collectively wore flares in the 70s. \u201cI don\u2019t see it as taking over again, at least not right now. It\u2019s certainly a B-list denim trend and we\u2019ll see it on the runway and on the streets, but I don\u2019t think it has universal appeal.\u201d<\/p>\n Right now, jeans seem to be simply extreme. Jonathan Anderson, who showed straight styles in his debut Dior collection, just launched extra-long pavement-scraping styles for a mid-season women\u2019s collection, describing them<\/a> as \u201creally weird\u201d. On the final day of the F1 season in December<\/a>, Lewis Hamilton was pictured in a giant pair with the circumference of a bank vault as he exited the paddock.<\/p>\n Lewis Hamilton in extra-wide jeans this year. Photograph: Ahmad AlShehab\/NurPhoto\/Shutterstock<\/p>\n Leverton suggests that once we reach peak baggy, the pendulum will swing back and we will see \u201cslimmer silhouettes gain traction, but not in the super-stretch \u2018jegging\u2019 direction that shaped the 2000s\u201d. Her money is on a twisted baggy style, where the seams curve around the leg rather than sitting in a straight line.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, Levi\u2019s is betting on \u201cthe freedom to move between silhouettes \u2013 loose and baggy one day, skinny or low-rise the next\u201d. But for those worried about soggy hems being the future, there is some reassurance. Leverton says looks such as Hamilton\u2019s will \u201calways live on the fringes of fashion\u201d. But she says: \u201cWhat I would bet my life on is that we\u2019re not all going to be wearing them down Tesco Metro on a random Tuesday!\u201d<\/p>\n