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Evening Standard

Entertainment

Victoria Moss

OPINION - The £89 jeans that fashion editors are obsessed with (and how to style them)

Loewe Miu Miu (Organization) Valentino

Jeans on the catwalk are a fairly recent phenomenon, but at last month’s shows there was barely a designer who didn’t include a pair. Have they just run out of ideas you might wonder? Or do they simply know a cash-cow mark up when they can flog piles of them?

But — I think it’s also testament to the fact that our wardrobes are more fluid than ever. We’ve long moved past that old notion of saving things for best: trainers with silk dresses, tailored blazers with jeans and sparkly shoes, and even Crocs — once the preserve of small children and NHS workers — are a fairly unremarkable addition to any outfit. We’re also in a sort of post-Instagram moment, where all those shrieking make-me-go-viral statement pieces are feeling pretty naff. There’s nothing knowing about a bit of bad taste if everyone knows about it.

Left to right; Miu Miu, Loewe and Valentino spring summer 24 collections (Imaxtree)

Taking a cue from Valentino, Miu Miu, Stella McCartney, Chanel and Loewe’s spring/summer collections, the vogue for wide-leg blue jeans is going nowhere. There is currently nothing cool about a skinny jean. The looser and more worn-in the better. Trends should always be taken with a pinch of salt, but dipping a toe into a simple tweak can be helpful — ie one pair of new jeans will make everything else you own look a bit keener.

Where to source such a thing though? There are endless purveyors of denim, and in reality the best pair of jeans for you is the one that fits. Is there anything more irritating than a fashion editor waxing lyrical about an expensive pair of rigid denim jeans which are only available up to a size 12? Personally, I am devoted to Good American which never lets me down in terms of getting them on, or in style. I’m currently living in its Good Waist cropped wide jeans (£130, netaporter.com) — just the right shade of blue, and short enough to not get trampled in the rain.

Also unearthed this week, I took a look at the revamped Hush — yes, the cosy brand of catalogues-dropped-on-your-doorstep-past has had a chic glow-up. Driven in part by the fact that no one who worked there wanted to wear any of it anymore. Out with the anodyne floral dresses then, and in with remarkably great denim and knits as well as partywear that won’t make you cringe (there is a fun tasselled black maxi skirt coming in November, and silver leather trousers if you can’t miss out on A Thing right now). The outerwear is great — one of the chicest women I know, who tends to be head-to-toe in Saint Laurent, has ordered the black-and-white check coat (£239), which frankly sold it for me.

Hush 2.0; the brand’s Rose coat is just as tempting as their best-selling denim (Hush)

Its blue Lya wide-leg jean (£89, hush-uk.com) has — for good reason — already become its best-selling style and been restocked four times. It’s a lyocell cotton mix which means it’s super soft and malleable. The pleats may not be for everyone, in which case check out the Abi wide leg (£95, also in blue and black) or the Agnes straight leg (£79), which comes helpfully with two per cent stretch.

The keenest catwalk pairing was with a white top — a classic shirt or a poshed-up T-shirt. In that vein, see Mother of Pearl’s Monica T-shirt which comes with an elegantly pleated sleeve complete with its signature pearl pinched detail. I’m also into the idea of a slightly crumpled (life imho is too short to iron) striped shirt to go with — Yaitte makes some of the best shirting around — great fit, and completely timeless.

No one wants to be boring, so to feel less James Dean cosplay and more Stylish Woman In The Know, add on a fun (!) shoe. These red Ganni ones have just the right amount of weight to them; or if red’s not your thing, try Jigsaw’s elegant Linnie pointed silver ballerinas (£110, jigsaw-online.com).