Are we witnessing the death of skinny jeans? This time the "trend that refuses to die" might have actually reached its end

Ever since, almost a year ago, we found ourselves locked in our homes, in search of a new daily balance between the sofa and the kitchen table converted into our office, we've been wondering about the effects that the pandemic is having and will have on our way of dressing, and whether they will be lasting changes. The news released by Levi's a couple of weeks ago maybe a good indicator in this sense. After introducing more and more models in stretch fabric, with a baggy silhouette and less tight fit, Levi's is preparing to launch the Red Tab line on a large scale, a collection that features mainly sweatpants and tracksuits, the symbolic items of this pandemic year. The main target of the new collection will be the Gen Z, as stated by the brand, which however takes a clear position on the future of skinny jeans, one of the most talked-about items of the fashion industry. 

While Slimane remains anchored to his vision, bringing it, albeit revisited, also at Celine, skinny jeans have become almost a political bulwark, a stance against a fashion that was, and that now should (and is trying to) open up to more body types, through different models and silhouettes, such as mum jeans, boyfriend denim, wide-leg or baggy. In this sense, a possible return of skinny dominance seems almost out of place, in a world that is becoming more and more aware of the concept of the body, and in which the controversy over Celine's too small pants sizes had caused a great debate. 

The pandemic may also have accelerated the shift towards another kind of taste. On the one hand, there are those who, after a year spent almost continuously on the couch wearing sweatpants, shy away from any snug or tight-fitting item, now too used to a comfortable and therefore baggy lifestyle; on the other hand, those who, after all these months, are waiting for nothing more than to slip into tight-fitting clothes able to bring out the silhouette. 

Maybe we're writing an obituary too soon, maybe we still have Howard's image from The Big Bang Theory printed in our heads as a vademecum on how not to wear a pair of skinnies. In general, like the TV series just mentioned, this item also seems to belong to a past era difficult to replicate today. Perhaps when we'll return to see many more skinny jeans on the street it won't be the sign of a return to the past, but of a return to normal. Interspersed only at times by a pair of sweatpants.