A Guide To Choosing Jeans

One of the common stuggles my clients face is picking jeans. It’s an artform finding the right fit for our unique body shapes that makes us feel and look good.

So this blog is a guide to jeans, introducing the different styles and explaining how they can work on different figures in hopes it’ll make shopping a little easier!

This is a simple not too tight or too loose kind of style. Pretty safe and in the middle. Not too much emphasis on your legs but not so baggy to overwhelm. 

You can cuff the bottoms and give it a bit of shape or pick a shorter cut off to show your ankle. These are a couple of ways to reduce the fabric if it feels too much. And make you look taller by showing some skin.

Straight jeans were worn a lot in the 80’s and 90’s and are not far off from a mum jean. You can get some that are more tapered and some that are baggier.

If you prefer clothing that isn’t too tight on the body but aren’t a fan of big and oversized shapes, a straight jean is a great comfort jean to have. Great for minimal dressers and classic retro style.

Guess what, the bootcut is designed to be worn with boots? Who knew, not that the name gives it away.

This fit is fairly regular and slim and has a little flare out at the ankle where the boot would sit. So again a fairly safe shape to wear and if you did want some extra volume on your bottom half, the kick flare will help with that.

What I would say is the line between flare and bootcut is very thin. I think if you want a flare go for a flare…

And I think if you want to wear a jean with your boot, show off the top of the boot. Roll up the jean so you can see it or wear a shorter jean. Why waste your boot by hiding it? Otherwise wear a low shoe.

This jean shape is skinny on the thigh and then flares beneath the knee in a bell shape. I’ve grown up calling them flares but the name is also pretty self explanitory.

The 70’s is when these jeans really came into their own. People were loving big bold shapes and drama in this funky era. From collars, sleeves to trousers and jeans.

If you’re a lover of retro, fabric and movement this is the fit for you. It’s fun and funky and a bit more extra than a normal jean shape.

Flaring out at the bottom can be a great way to balance out a body shape. If you are top heavy like a strawberry or apple, adding more volume to the bottom will take some of the attention away from the top. Making your top and bottom appear the same wideness.

It’s also a good shape for an hourglass to really emphasis curves with the in and out sillhouette it creates.

Crack it open for a party and feel a little special without being too much. And take care the edges of your denim don’t get too frayed.

Unlike its flared friend, the wide leg is wide from the get go. From hip to bottom creating an A-line shape.

This is another perfect fit for those wishing to balance out a larger top half. The added structure is sure to give you a sillhouette that goes in and out at the waist.

Wide legs are quite 70’s too but also very 00’s and now. The diffrence in eras is the waist. 70’s being high waist, 00’s being low waist.

Choosing your rise depends on your torso. If you have a shorter torso, a lower waist will give you the illustion of more. If you have a longer torso it will cut you evenly in the middle and make your legs look longer.

This is a fairly recent style coming from millenials finding thier mum’s jeans from the 80’s and 90’s. 

In the 2010’s millenials enjoyed vintage and repurposing our parent’s style which suddenly became cool, perhaps as 20 years had passed.

80’s and 90’s jeans tended towards a high waist and a straight leg. Many of these jeans had a slight wash to them and maybe a grungy rip.

After years of low waists in the 00’s, we craved a high waist again in the 2010’s. Bringing the 90’s fashions back in. If we were lucky enough that a mum still kept their jeans, that’s perfect. If not we could rely on the highstreet to sell that style.

A regular straight fit, as I mentioned earlier, does tend to flatter most. What I would say is that these jeans have a big zip going down the stomach of a high waist.

If you’d rather less emphasis on your stomach, perhaps try a darker tone of denim, wear a flared top over it or pick a plain trouser instead of jeans.

This fit is a fairly recent one coming from the popularity of borrowing someone else’s clothes yet again.

Male jeans on a female form tend to fit fairly baggy and a boyfriend jean has a low slung and baggy feel to it.

Like the wide leg, if you need extra shape added to a bottom half, this is the jean for you. But be wary of the low waist as I said before, it elongates the torso.

Boyfriend also laid paths for dad jeans which are simularly baggy and I’m sure social media will find more people’s jeans you can steal.

I wouldn’t say this style is massiely popular but the barrel is an interesting less classic shape of jean.

It goes wide at the knee and then tapers in at the ankle. This creates a curved shape like the letter C.

Certainly a fun shape and quite a fashiony choice to pick something different like this, in my opinion. But of course a bold descision to make.

Figure wise, like a wide leg, even with the tappering, it does give a lot of volume to your bottom half. So it could be an interesting choice of party downstairs. And it could be good for a slender athletic looking for more curves.

High rise, Mid rise and Low rise. High falls on the waist (the smallest part of you). Mid sits just under the belly button and low hangs below it.

This is tricky with high street because these are the imagined torsos of a proportionate person. And we all come in special and unique packages which it’s hard for the high street to cater for.

Some of us have small torsos and a mid rise may pull up too high. Some of us have long torsos and a mid may just fall low. Maybe our torsos are too long to get a high sitting high enough.

Every brand has different fit models and sizing modes. You’ll be different in diffrent places. And with jeans it’s more of a fine art to fit. You’ll probably have to try on a few diffrent sizes and styles to know what you like.

But you’ll know when it feels right. Not only how you feel about yourself in the pair but also how they feel on the body is important.

Some jeans are made of stiffer denim and that might feel too rough on the body. Not having enough stretch for your lifestyle. 

Perhaps you get tummy aches and you’d like extra space. Or maybe you like them extra tight to feel held in. Plus you know it’ll loosen with wear.

Don’t be afraid to try a few different types for size. Know that it’s hard and what you like and want might change so be open to new styles. You never know what may surprise you.

Once you know what shape you prefer, what fabric it’s in is the final choice.

If you’ve done a Colour Analysis with me, you can find your best shade of denim. Warmer skin would match a blue with golden undertones. Cool skin would find an icy blue or purply navy perfect.

It may be that you’d like a fun colour or pattern or even embellishment. There are many with embroidery, funky fades, holes or whatever you can imagine.

Always a nice touch to personalise a jean if you’re creative. It may have a hole and you’d like to add a few more. You can iron on patches, sew some lace, add ribbons. Even acid wash or dye them yourself if you’re crafty.

And there you have it! If more personalised help is still needed for you, please reach out and we can work together to find your jean formula.