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The skinny on jeans this spring is just that: Thin is in. After years of boot-cut denim dominance, slim cuts, a la '80s punk rock, are squeezing back into the fashion vernacular.
"For so many years, boot-cut jeans were it," says Lucky fashion director Hope Greenberg. "It was the one thing that almost every woman went to. Boot cut is universally flattering, but the trend had to go somewhere else."
Cameron Diaz, Hilary Duff and Avril Lavigne donned "skinnies" at Nickelodeon's Kids' Choice Awards. American Idol hopefuls Kellie Pickler, Lisa Tucker and Katharine McPhee have rocked out in slim cuts on stage. Other celebrity fans include Mischa Barton, Lindsay Lohan, Kate Moss and Jessica Simpson.
Designers Nicolas Ghesquiere, Karl Lagerfeld and Stella McCartney have included skinny jeans in their collections for the past two seasons, but the look is just beginning to intrigue mainstream America.
"A year ago, you couldn't even find them in the mall, and now it has absolutely trickled down," Greenberg says.
Mall mainstays such as Express, Bebe and even the relatively conservative Banana Republic are showcasing skinny jeans for spring. Levi's skinny-fit jeans are so popular that the brand plans to expand its offerings, rolling out a "Rock Skinny" style in its mid-range Levi's red line now and introducing a premium "Stacked Skinny" Capital E jean in August.
At Girlshop.com, an online retailer of designer duds, sales of skinny jeans have increased 80% since last summer. When the site introduced a skinny jean last spring, "some people got it, but most people were scared of it," founder and CEO Laura Eisman says. "Now we've seen a progression of people embracing them."
Women don't need to be rail-thin to pull off the look, says Michael Carl, Allure magazine's fashion director. Paired with a stiletto or wedge heel, skinny jeans can add visual height, and a tunic can camouflage the hips and accentuate below the knee.
Cassidy Karakorn, 28, a Washington, D.C., marketing director, says skinnies make her feel sexy. "I can't help but get a sense of satisfaction each time I squeeze into a pair. That satisfaction leads to confidence, and confidence is sexy."
Though British jeans designer Suzy Radcliffe, whose Radcliffe line is sold at Barneys New York, is giving boot cut the boot for fall (she'll focus on new washes and colors for her best-selling skinny), most say the boot cut isn't going to fade all that quickly.
Says Greenberg: "Everyone can wear a boot-cut jean. There's one for every body shape. I don't think that's necessarily true of a skinny jean. Very, very curvy just doesn't look great."
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