Fashion
The Dos & Don'ts Of Wearing Flats With Jeans
Striking the balance between eighth-grader and grandma is trickier than you’d think.
It’s humid and sticky across most of the world right now, but the girls cannot (and should not) put away their trusty blue jeans. We’ve noticed our favorite Gen-X director (Sofia Coppola) and the pop prophetess of Gen Z (PinkPantheress) wearing the same combo of denim and ballerinas. Call it preppy, call it middle-schooler style, but simply put, it’s a flats and jeans summer.
The majority of our sightings of this mom-ish pairing are from Europe, and indeed from France, where the fact that this article has to be written would be laughed at: It’s their uniform. But we’re taking it to cooler territory by suggesting a puddling jean instead of the classically French straight or skinny denim. See: PinkPantheress wearing floor-sweeping Louis Vuitton black denim, with just a peep of her foot showing, or Yesly Dimate, cool as a cucumber in Ami with oversized baggy jeans showing just the toe of her white ballerina. Don’t pick a jean that won’t cover at least some of the shoe — that’s the whole point of the pairing du jour.
The name of the game when it comes to styling flats with jeans is selecting an outfit that feels more elevated than a schoolgirl pick, and the runways are rife with inspiration. Valentino showed a polka-dot bustier with classic straight-leg jeans, worn with lacy socks and a cap-toe flat for a quirky grandma effect that would feel right at home on someone like Sophie Thatcher or Kai Schreiber. Stella McCartney showed low-rise denim with wow-factor tops, and the importance across both of these examples is the proportions. A bit of skin on top is key to counter the homeliness of the modest bottom half. And where the jeans go wide, either match the energy with a billowing (albeit cropped) top, or slim it out with a simple sweater like Alex Consani did.
Whichever way you split it, it really comes down to comfort. There is no fussing to be had with this pairing, so keep the rest of the accessories you wear low-key as well. Don’t reach for your loudest top or handbag, either. It’s through careful consideration that someone like Coppola goes through the world subtly, so let your stylistic choices silently scream “très chic” this summer.
