The Fundamentals: Baggy Jeans
Searches for wide leg, relaxed fit jeans are up 55% so far this year. Even if you’ve been in a steady relationship with skinny jeans for the past decade, notwithstanding a brief flirtation with straight-legged styles somewhere in between, it’s now officially time to call it quits. If you’re investing in a pair of jeans this season, it’s simple: the baggier, the better.
Our top-trending pair of baggy jeans, with a search increase of 366% month-on-month, are the baggy ‘dad’ jeans from Levi’s®. Why? Well, the denim outlook on the catwalks has been decidedly loose for the past few seasons, with slouchy jeans spotted at the likes of Balenciaga, Courrèges and Gucci. And as Y2K continues to rule TikTok, the pendulum has swung back to a baggier state of mind, favouring jeans that first gained a cool-girl fan club in the early noughties, and are now finding a whole new wave of followers in the process.
This season’s trending styles are comfortable, give effortless model-off-duty energy, and have the ability to make any outfit look more directional. These are the fundamentals of finding the best baggy jeans for you.
Focus on the Fabric
First up, dive deep into composition. Care labels will tell you the vital stats when it comes to the weight and feel of the fabric of your jeans. A lightweight denim can be more comfortable to wear and easier to break in, while heavyweight denim is more rigid but also more durable. Most baggy jeans are made from cotton, known for its softness and breathability, and can also contain Elastane, which gives jeans their stretch. The popular Levi’s® 568™ Stay Loose Carpenter Pants have a fabric weight of 13.75 ounces, meaning they’re at the heavier end of the scale for extra strength.
Respect the Fit
The scientific definition of baggy is that the ‘leg width’ — the width of the jeans at the bottom of the leg — is considerably bigger than the ‘front rise’, the measurement from the inseam to the waist. High rise jeans sit just above your natural waist, over 10 inches to be precise, while low rise sit closer to your hips at 7- 8 inches. The Levi’s® Baggy Dad Women’s Jeans are mid-rise, with a relatively straight-leg silhouette that is loose through the hip and the thigh, while the Ribcage Wide-Leg Jeans are particularly leg-lengthening with their super high rise waist.
Inseam length, which is measured straight down the inside leg from the crotch to the ankle, also matters. Depending on how you want your baggy jeans to fall and what shoes you plan on wearing them with, you could opt for an extra few inches so the hemline pools at the ankle, or go ‘true to size’ so that the hemline brushes the tops of your shoes.
Baggy jeans can make a strong fashion statement, or be a subtle styling tool. Counterbalance is key; going full oversized with your look can overwhelm those with smaller frames. Instead, try and balance the silhouette out with something fitted, like a tank top and a cropped jacket or cardigan. An oversized jumper with a similar amount of slouch-factor to your jeans will also work if you want to maximise the relaxed vibes from top-to-toe. A tailored coat thrown over the top will always add a note of polish, while a pair of sneakers or ballet flats will complement the exaggerated proportions.
Watch Your Wash
Baggy jeans come in a multitude of colours or ‘washes,’ because the blue of blue jeans comes from indigo dye that gradually develops tonal variations unique to each wearer. The Levi’s® Baggy Dad Women’s Jeans are available in a range of shades, from ‘What Once Was’, an ever-so-slightly faded black, to ‘Blue Utopia’, a blue wash with faded stripes along the wear points. Stick to darker blues, whites, creams or blacks for a smarter look, and leave lighter tones for the daytime. Right now, pale blue baggy jeans with a lived-in feel are trending on Lyst.
Depending on the pigment of its dye, the colour of your jeans might transfer to other materials (a process known as crocking) or even run during its first wash, hence why you should always wash them with similar colours. The more you wash your baggy jeans, the more you’ll mess with their material. Levi’s® recommends a wash once every 10 wears at most, turning your jeans inside out on a cold-normal cycle. A lot of denim aficionados, however, will tell you to avoid machine-washing as much as possible (and tumble drying at all costs), using spot-cleaning and steaming for a quick refresh that will retain the integrity of your jeans.
Don’t Compromise on Brand
Levi’s® jeans are designed to be durable. So durable, in fact, a famous trademark used to be that two horses pulling in opposite directions couldn’t tear them apart, the Levi’s® Two Horse Pull. This achievement is still commemorated today by the leather patch over the back right pocket. A Levi’s® pair of jeans is also differentiated from garden-variety jeans by a few key characteristics that have come to define its heritage as the purveyor of gold-standard denim. The Arcuate stitching on the back pockets, so called because of its iconic arc formation, has been used since 1873, the year the brand earned its patent for what it then called ‘waist overalls’ (aka, jeans). Their inventors, Levi Strauss & Co. and Jacob Davis, also added a piece of metal hardware called a rivet to their working man’s trousers, which are strategically placed on the pockets for strength. Finally, its signature batwing logo, which over time has come to be a visual signifier for a pair of jeans that will stand the test of time.