The reply to the above is a straightforward three phrase rule: Copy Kate Moss. Whereas roughly all of vogue wriggled into skinnies within the early Noughties, solely Moss managed to affect a whole technology of women and boys to purchase Topshop’s Jamie denims. Amy Winehouse, Alexa Chung and Victoria Beckham all technically gave us the thin on methods to navigate denim’s slimline silhouette, however nobody pulled off drainpipes fairly like Kate, who made them–in opposition to all odds–look fully easy.

2003 was a major yr for Moss as a result of, after giving beginning to her daughter Lila in September 2002, the mannequin mom reaffirmed the foundations of her wardrobe. Central to this was denim. Particularly, figure-hugging denim. The good mother on the planet, Moss pushed prams and appeared at Dazed & Confused events (Lila’s father, Jefferson Hack based Dazed Media) carrying variations of the identical outfit on repeat: skinny denims tucked neatly into boots with a navy or fake fur jacket thrown on and a slouchy tote (Balenciaga’s Le Metropolis, Longchamp’s Gloucester Duffle and Mulberry’s Bayswater have been all favorites) nestled within the criminal of her arm. It was easy but a soupçon rock‘n’roll—the uniform that will take her from Loulou’s to the Isle of Wight competition by the point she was relationship Pete Doherty.

Kate was by no means loyal to a particular model of denims (she has collaborated with Body and Rag & Bone, in addition to Toppers), however the lower was at all times the identical–tight, however not in peril of chopping off the circulation to 1’s extremities, low on the hips and lengthy sufficient to softly pool across the ankles, relatively than kissing them. (Because the Ben Sherman shirt crowd would later show, nobody needs their legs to appear like they’re encased in sausage wrappers.) Ballet pumps from Repetto have been–and nonetheless are–a mainstay within the hotter months, however boots–from Vivienne Weswood’s Pirate pair to Alaïa’s booties and Hunter wellies–are nonetheless the MVPs.

As my colleague Julia Hobbs just lately acknowledged, whereas poring over an image of Kate being Kate in 2003, skinny denims walked in order that denims in boots might run. Translation: skinnies’ most profitable outings are after they don’t appear like spray-on denim in any respect. They’re a clean canvas for excellent equipment–Celine, as Julia factors out, at the moment does an adjoining pair to Kate’s foldover boots and Balenciaga has fortunately simply relaunched its Le Metropolis bag. To execute the snake-hipped silhouette in 2024 is to not make an enormous deal of it, to let one’s trophy heeled boots and messy totes sing, to stride out as if the modern-day equal of the Groucho–or, certainly, the Hawley Arms–is looking. It doesn’t require ripping your denims on the knee in an effort to look punkish, or by no means washing them to appear like [insert favourite indie band here]. To put on sylph-like denim now could be to look thought of and polished, safe within the data that the thin has certainly grown up–as have you ever.