Look at the wardrobes of the most stylish women—Jane Birkin! Alexa Chung! Kendall Jenner!— and you’ll find a pair of jeans lurking about. Their proximity to the most tasteful dressers has made them a certified staple for those seeking the off-duty elegance innate to these style savants. But what does one wear during summer, when the scorching temperature renders wearing this polished staple near impossible? Enter: The stylish array of anti-jeans trends.
These trends could be seen as a call to abandon denim for good. But these key anti-jeans summer trends are more appropriately viewed as an extension of your trouser vocabulary; styles that achieve the same chic appearance, but won’t have you sacrificing the comfort and quality your favourite pair of stovepipes or barrel-legs provides. So, what to wear instead of jeans this season?
“People are looking for variety and ease,” explains Angela Gahng, the founder of sustainable minimalist brand Alimna Concept. “Denim shapes the body in a specific way and looks its best only after it's been lived in, whereas most trouser and short styles offer something different: a silhouette that feels effortless from the very first wear."
Interestingly, for Gahng, denim is a category she’s never designed with, more so focusing on understated, Scandi-inspired shapes rendered in natural fibres. “We wanted to focus on the pieces that aren't being treated as core wardrobe staples but should be,” she says of her expertise in anti-jeans trends.
“Elastic wide-leg pants, for instance, when designed with intention, are quietly one of the chicest things a person can wear,” she says. “It’s comfortable and can be dressed up or down, which makes it a wardrobe staple.” Another anti-jeans trend of note? “Pedal pushers are resurfacing in a more refined way, alongside fluid tailoring and soft, draped trousers."
“People are gravitating toward pieces that feel intentional,” Gahng concludes. So, before you instinctively reach for a pair of loose-cut low-rises or sculpting straight-legs, remember that there are plenty of alternatives that can easily fill this gap. From tailored shorts to architectural trousers, uncover them all below.
1. Knee-Grazing Shorts
Style Notes: It's a silhouette that will make you look like you’ve taken a pair of shears to your favourite trousers, but one that will earn you countless compliments nonetheless. (And ensure that your preferred pants remain out of harm's way.) Fusing the sophistication of The Row tailoring with the casualness of a pair of Leset lounge pants, this style is both polished and relaxed.
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"Easy, but doesn't look it", is how Reformation described these lust-worthy shorts, and we'd have to concur.
Polished and loose, these are available from a size UK 4 to a size UK 18.
Take cropped trousers to the next level with these extra-baggy shorts.
2. Capri Leggings
Style Notes: If you were to take a general census of the current jeans trend, you’d notice the overwhelming preference for body-conscious cuts. For those looking for an alternative to cigarettes and skinny jeans, reach for the perennially appealing capri leggings. Equally sculpting to the frame and adored by enduring tastemakers like Audrey Hepburn, this style will have you looking like you’ve just stepped out of a Slim Aarons photograph.
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Fluid and functional.
Wear these and you'll feel like a Richard Avedon muse.
Woven into a slim-fit silhouette with an elasticated waistband.
3. Tassel Trousers
Style Notes: Jeans are appealing in the way they tie an ensemble together without minimal exertion. Tassel trousers are the same in the way the fringed hem adds dimension, intrigue and, by direct consequence, the illusion that you spent hours piecing together an immaculate ensemble when all you’ve done is throw on a pair of trousers. Pioneered by Dôen, this trend will have you set for any alfresco dinners, languid evenings spent in cocktail bars and all those summer soirées on the horizon.
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Simply dreamy.
Fit for working on your night moves.
This paisley print is inspired by the colour of Taormina.
4. Balloon Trousers
Style Notes: Though some would argue that jeans are a year-round staple—and to those, please direct them to the sweltering 30°C-plus days that have graced the UK recently—embracing the merits of each season is the best way to inject your wardrobe with a fresh sensibility, month after month. So, retire your favourite pair of jeans for the time being and embrace balmy trends, like the undulating balloon trouser trend. A style that made its comeback on Pieter Muller’s penultimate runway for Alaïa, these pants will have you forgetting all about trusted bootlegs and boyfriends.
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Throw on with a white t-shirt, scarf, belt and et voilà.
Butter yellow rears it head for another season.
Without the elasticated waistband, these trousers feel much more suitable to elevated, everyday styling.
5. Cargo Trousers
Style Notes: Structured and stiff are two adjectives closely associated with the current jeans landscape. But for those seeking an alternative to denim that doesn’t stray too far from these descriptors, cargo trousers are your best bet. What’s more, this shape is rooted in utility, meaning that it’ll always offer the same practical nature as your trusted jeans do. All that’s left to do is pair it with your preferred statement tops. (Styles from Elizee Swim, With Jéan and Rixo are currently very popular.)
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From Mallorca to Maida Vale, there's not a setting this pair wouldn't suit.
Invest in them now, and you'll have reaped dividends in cost-per-wear come winter.
This entire ensemble is my current hyperfixation.
6. Peplum Trousers
Style Notes: Hybrid pandemonium has reached fever pitch, and now it’s coming for your trousers. Taking the millennial-approved peplum hemline and applying it to the bottom of a pair of peddled pushers, this style is flirty, romantic and oh-so graceful. Adding a South of France flair to even the most mundane ensemble, this is a trend that will have you rethinking why you ever wanted to pick up a pair of jeans in the first place.
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How beautiful.
Such a darling pair.
The inimatable original.