'After years in jeans that cling to your calves like a desexualised, knee-height wet T-shirt competition, there is something appealingly elegant about looser jeans'
Were the aliens to land this summer, they would no doubt be puzzled by one aspect of our society above all others. Namely: why do humans wear such tight jeans? The stranglehold the skinny jean has over our wardrobes is pretty much absolute. Boys in bands wear them; mums on the school run wear them. Wags wear them for lunch; Starbucks baristas wear them to work. It may have taken a while to get us into skinny jeans, but now we're in them, they've got us in a tight grip.
But the first rustlings of denim rebellion are being heard. Most jeans sold are skinnies, but the look has started to disappear from shopping pages. (No one needs to be told where to buy skinny jeans any more.) We are being tempted back into "proper" jeans – jeans that are more than tracing-paper outlines of our lower halves stitched in denim – by the new body-conscious face of the old-school slouchy jean, which is the slim boyfriend jean.
The name is clunk itself, but that's because the point of the name is to convey a message: "These are 'boyfriend'-style jeans, but don't worry, girls – they won't make your bum look big." In Gap, they call this style the sexy boyfriend jean, which is even sillier and sounds as if it has been conceived by someone with English as their fifth language.
After years in jeans that cling to your calves like a desexualised, knee-height wet T-shirt competition, there is something appealingly elegant about looser jeans. Elegance is not a quality often associated with loose jeans, but we're not talking Stone Roses baggy, rather a cocktail-trouser, skimming silhouette. Many designers have gone to town on the casual look, with pre-ripped knees and pre-faded feathery bits, but I'd sound a note of caution if you're over 35: just because you can still rock a miniskirt, don't think you can pull off ripped jeans – they tend to look age-inappropriate at a relatively tender age. On the other hand, a roll at the cuff is a key part of the look, accentuating the borrowed-from-the-boys idea.
But all that really matters is that they are Not Skinnies. Wait… can't we just call them that?
• Jess wears jeans, £209, by Paige, and sweatshirt, £109, by Monrow, both from fenwick.co.uk. Heels, £365, jimmychoo.com.
Styling: Melanie Wilkinson. Hair and makeup: Tonee Roberio using Mac Cosmetics.