Category: Relaxed Jeans

The thing to know before you buy relaxed jeans is that relaxed does not mean baggy and it does not mean the next size up from your usual. It means room through the thigh and a straighter line down to the ankle, so the denim skims rather than clings. Buy them in your actual size, not a size up for comfort, or you end up with a waistband that gapes and a crotch seam that sits somewhere around mid thigh.
There are days this cut is the wrong answer. If you need to tuck in a fitted top and want the bottom half to look neat, relaxed jeans will add bulk exactly where you don't want it, especially in a heavier denim with a lot of body. A rigid, unwashed denim holds its shape beautifully on the hanger but takes a good few wears to soften, and in the meantime it can look stiff rather than easy, more cardboard than cloth. Stretch denim with a bit of elastane behaves faster and is kinder if you're between sizes, but go too far on the stretch and the leg loses its structure and just hangs there, which defeats the point of the cut. They're also not the jeans for anything that involves a lot of movement in a tight space, a packed train, a narrow stairwell, a bike, because there's more fabric to catch and drag than you'd think.
Where they do earn a place is the ordinary, unglamorous bulk of your week. Cold weather days when you want a thick sock and a proper boot underneath without fighting a skinny leg opening. Long walking days, because the room through the hip and thigh means you're not tugging at anything every time you sit down. Layered autumn outfits, a chunky jumper half tucked, a long coat over the top, work with the extra volume rather than against it. What they don't sit well with is anything already loose on top, an oversized jumper or a boxy jacket, because then you've got volume meeting volume and the whole shape disappears. Keep the top half fitted or at least defined at the waist, so there's a line somewhere for the eye to land on, and avoid a chunky platform trainer with a wide hem, since the two together swallow the ankle completely.
Before you buy, stand sideways in the changing room mirror and check where the leg actually breaks over your shoe, because that's the bit that decides whether this looks deliberate or simply too big.
Picked by Freya Lindsay. More in Jeans.