These days, the boot-cut jean is an easy punchline. But no more than a decade ago, men and women everywhere were wearing the flowy-bottomed jeans like there was no tomorrow. Boot-cut denim rose to fame (and stayed there) during an era when the coolest stuff—think Ed Hardy T-shirts and Von Dutch trucker hats—was also the ugliest. The silhouette mostly faded from the fashion spotlight, replaced first by skinny jeans and more recently by weird and baggy pants of all shapes and sizes. But nostalgia works in cycles, so it was only a matter of time until the boot cut made a comeback. Which it did recently when Balenciaga designer Demna Gvasalia decided to include the style in the brand’s spring lookbook. Whether paired with a red flannel overcoat or an oversize quilted jacket, the flared-out jeans are hard to miss. That, we're pretty sure, is the point.
It’s easy to see why Gvasalia might have picked this particular moment in fashion to resurrect boot-cut denim. This year has brought on a pants revolution within the world of menswear. Guys are opting for jazzed-up tan chinos, wavy pleated trousers, and contemporary cargo pants. Which is to say that men are stepping out of their comfort zone when it comes to pants. But will the adventurous streak extend to boot-cut jeans? It’s a pretty tall order to get fashion-savvy men wearing flared-out denim again, but if anyone could do it, it’s Gvasalia. He is, after all, largely responsible for turning the bulky dad sneaker from fashion faux pas into certified banger. Gvasalia’s elevated take on normcore has helped him skyrocket to one of today’s most buzzed-about designers. But the boot-cut jean has the deck stacked against its return.
The jeans taper at the knee like your regular modern-fit denim, but then flare out at the bottom of the leg to house a larger boot. (Hence the name.) That's a tough proposition in 2019: The great pants renaissance has also coincided with the fact that crazy sneakers are now the norm. (It's sort of a chicken-and-egg scenario: Did we get into cropped cargos to show off our hot sneakers, or did we cop hot sneakers to show off under our weird pants?) By design, the boot cut is meant to cover up your footwear, which isn’t exactly something in high demand in 2018. Even Levi's rolled out a brand new silhouette this year—the Hi‑Ball Roll jeans—engineered specifically for sneakerheads to flaunt their kicks.
Brands like American Eagle, Gap, and Levi's have never stopped producing the boot-cut style. But to see them show up in the lookbook of a buzzy, capital-F fashion brand like Balenciaga? That's a little surprising. But Gvasalia is a master fashion troll, turning wretched, meme-worthy items into grails people clamor to post first on Instagram. If he can pull the same off with the humble boot-cut jean, it might be his biggest trick yet.
