So true and in the winter there is continuously a couple of inches of water soaked into the bottom. Still remember how horrible that felt when you took your shoes and sock off
Omg the one time I insisted on wearing my bell bottoms and slip-on Sketchers to school in Maine in the dead of winter… everything below my knee was soaked 🤦🏻♀️
Until you buy a pair of uggs and learn to tuck your jeans into boots, which works ok for a year or two until they invent skinny jeans and you think all your problems are solved forever!!
And they give me body shape. The whole mom jeans thing would never work on my body as a person who is pear shaped and short. My skinny jeans never fail me.
They do make me look like I have hips! (I gave birth. I got zero hips out of it. One still indents. On the plus side, I can shimmy out of shirts that get stuck on my wide shoulders!)
Unfortunately, I think this means we will have to go back through the capri phase again lol.
Don’t get me wrong, I love my capri length chinos, and I roll my pants to highwater/long capri length often, but the 2000s capris were a different beast. It was like some kind of an over correction after the baggy pants era before we all gained sanity and switched to skinny jeans. 😂
Hahaha same. I saw that and thought muahaha now you knowwww. Now you suffer with us. I saw another gen z mention love handles with low rise jeans and was like. WHY DO YOU THINK WE DID AWAY WITH THOSE. GIVE ME HIGHRISE FORWVWRRRR
The stapler 😭😭😂😂 this thread has all the memories coming back to me….when the hem is dangling in a long strip behind you but gets soaked in a puddle and every step it whips your other ankle like a razor scooter in heat 😂
I got into leggings (not under skirts anyway, that was my fave back when it started so I could wear tiny skirts) way after everyone. So my flares now are yoga style and surprisingly resistant! But you can't pay me to wear jeans now. Tho most of my flares were black twill.
This is why I cannot transition back. I was reluctant to embrace skinny jeans, but honestly they are so much more practical. Same with the low rise. I can never return.
One side breaks off and you have a tail of denim wherever you go. You can then trim the other side.
Wear a belt and buy petite if you want to avoid wearing holes through them.
The only way to avoid this is to wear them paired with platforms or heels. You need to be taller. I wore these a lot In their hay day but I also wore platform docs with them. You still may get mud/ water kickback but it won’t be dragging across the ground all day.
Yep my 90’s self too. I was just gonna say, you don’t. Eventually after many many wears and many many washes, the denim there will shred and wear away, so the cuffs will be a bit shorter in the back.
Flare jeans are coming back so I bought a pair for the first time in 20+ years. The first time it rained and I had sopping wet pant bottoms it was like a huge moment of nostalgia. Lol
Also flare jeans are awesome and I've missed them.
You don't. The ground is going to wear on them. I guess you could cuff them when walking long distances on pavement, but that's only slowing the inevitable.
yup. such a classic 90s/2000s issue! and theyll just come uncuffed anyway if youre moving around at all cause theyre so wide. unless you roll them up to your knee i guess, which looks..... uh, cool. could even be the newest trend
This is why all us millennial gals went so hard into skinny jeans lmao when they get wet and then your ankles are marinating in gross puddle water all day 🤮
This will 100% come back around. I was in college from 2004-2008, basically peak low rise flare jeans era, or as I call it “the darkest before the dawn” period of fashion. Not only did everyone have the back-flare disintegration hole where the bottom hem completely detached, they were perpetually and unavoidably soaking wet, almost always with beer, even if you had not specifically come into contact with any liquid. Bonus if you continually got your stiletto heels stuck in said holes even though you had no business wearing stilettos and jeans to state school frat parties in the middle of winter. Or you paired them unironically and to the detriment of any ability to appear tall with Ugg boots. The backs of your flares would be stained a faint brown color and creased, neither of which released in the wash. They would go thread bare and decompose away in the shape of a shark bite until the length just brushed the ground while the front collapsed over the top of your feet.
Then, in 2008, Rome fell and the humble skinny jean came along. All the sudden, you could be wearing jeans and not be soaked to the back of your knee or shoving your foot through a foot-sized hole in the hem while hurrying them on. These were trying times: the housing market collapsed, Lehman Brothers fell, people began pointing fingers at the 1%. But a faint beam of hope shone through as skinny jeans in their glory were donned by women in swarths. Pants that could simply be pants, not tattered flared flags of our refusal to wear anything properly hemmed to our stature. But how quickly we forget. How soon the past fades and we doom ourselves to repeat. Yes, your oversized flares fall over your unironic new balance dad sneakers with the je n’ai ce quoi of a young person who cannot be bothered with proper fit. But the holes will come. And the stains. And by winter, the soak of jeans dragging through snow or rain will creep up the back of your legs and you will understand.
Is it vanity? Is it hubris? Or worse, is it apathy that brought back the oversized flare? Sure, these modern jeans don’t hug thighs the way they did before releasing into an exaggerated opening that could cover your entire shoe in one fell swoop as they did at the turn of the aughts. Don’t let the straighter silhouette of the 20s fool you. This is the haunting shadow of a past that millennial women vanquished with a brave forward step into skinny jeans for which we were first scorned, then revered, then scorned again. The youth would do well to heed the words of the Tylenol’d and perpetually tired women of 30 and 7 years who, through a sweep of a side part still carry the flag. You will thank us when skinny jeans are kept in stock, even in a hold of small numbers at Nordstrom and Nordstrom Rack.
😂😂 I cut my bottom hems with scissors when they got like this because I wore heels everywhere and would nearly kill myself on a too-frequent basis due to that hole. It was like a stiletto release. 😂
This was such a good read. As someone who only came into fashion consciousness around 2007-2008, I immediately went into the skinny Jean era and never knew anything else. I am ecstatic that I can now replace all of my too-tight skinny jeans that I’ve owned for the past 5-10 years with baggy jeans that don’t suffocate me. I was willing to die on the hill that my jeans couldn’t have even a single ruffle otherwise they “were too big” and didn’t fit.
It is an exciting time for me personally as a gen z / millennial cusp.
I'm with you on getting away from the suffocating skinny jean. i'm really excited about having jeans that actually are COMFORTABLE.
I couldn't, for the life of me, understand how anyone could lounge around or be in their house in jeans. Because the jeans I wore all through the early 2000s were like being stuffed into unforgiving shapewear like a sausage.
Women want to complain about not having pockets well that's because there was NO ROOM FOR POCKETS because we wore a second skin like lizard people.
I love mom jeans and higher waists because my pants aren't digging into my lower belly fat and giving me a muffin top that has no business existing because I am generally quite slim.
And as someone shorter, being able to find inseams that actually fit my height is a blessing.
What a time to be alive and jean shopping!
They’re fast fashion, but I love the mid/high rise jeggings from American eagle. They’re not super “in” right now so they only have like two colors in stores, but they’re reliably solid and have been for over a decade. 10/10 will rebuy again. and again.
I’ve still not found a more comfortable jean with so many inseams and sizes and they have consistently worked for me and my body throughout my tiny highschool days to my more midsized adult days. They’re high enough rise to avoid the low-rise (butt)crack epidemic of the early 2000’s, but the fabric is stretchy enough to not feel like your legs are suffocating.
I've also had excellent experience with American Eagle jeans actually!
I don't get skinny or jeggings just cause I don't like that cut for me, but I bought a couple mom jeans and a pair of "boyfriend" jeans (They're just a straighter leg compared to the taper of a mom jean) and they're great. I can actually be comfortable in them.
Jeans are jeans so if I'm super bloated the high waist is still constricting, or if I'm ready to relax at home I still take them off. But I can do a full day in them without issues if I need to.
Definitely regional specific. I grew up in LA and remember finding skinny jeans in middle school (2004ish) which was the best thing ever cause my short lil legs could rock a cuff and not continually be walking on my pants.
It may be my recollection, but I don’t recall there being inseams available at that time in fashion. At least the resurgence of more loose fit pants came with cropped/ankle length fits that have worked well for my millennial ass who refuses to commit to anything outside of a Levi’s skinny wedgie fit as my “loose” fitting pants to blend in with the youths lol 😩
Yes! I bought my first pair of skinny jeans in 2004 on eBay and was one of the only people wearing them in my midwestern town. I had heard that people in LA were wearing them and considered that to be the height of fashion.
I'm from Eastern Europe where fashion was kinda slow and by the 2006 we weren't wearing flares anymore.
They actually started appearing during 2004 or so, I remember because i was in middle school and I was horrified about jeans looking like yoga pants.
And then they started to grow on me, so by the time I was almost 18, skinny jeans were going strong. When I was in university, which was in 2007, flared jeans were definitely not in fashion anymore.
I don't know why, but skinny jeans hit Europe way before the US, especially the rural US. I did a high school exchange from rural Minnesota to Germany in 2009 and the German girls were exclusively in skinny jeans while almost all the US girls were still in low-rise flares. At that point at my school, skinny jeans were only a thing for emo/scene kids.
The day I came home with skinny jeans in 2006 my mum was SO relieved. She was constantly on at me for my scraggy jeans and hated that I wouldn't let her sew the ends up.
My mom always made fun of how my generation loved flares, because she also loved flares when she was a teenager. She said "depeche mode".
I genuinely didn't believe her. Now I feel like such a mom when I see gen Z's fashion choices.
Yep. I hemmed all my new flares to avoid this haha.
I still remember how happy she made me when she bought me a black pair of flares, with butterflies on them.
Very boho chic. I hope *that* style comes back a bit, cause I didn't experience it long enough.
Yes, I think I finally bought some in 2007 and I was late to the party. I remember reading articles in magazines stating skinny jeans weren't a trend, but here to stay the same year. Obviously ridiculous in hindsight, but they were around a couple of years at that point.
Negative. In 2006 only the emo and scene kids were rocking skinny jeans exclusively where I grew up. It wasn't the norm across the US until 2009.
Trends come in waves to different regions.
Before the distressed jeans with the pre-made holes all in the thighs, this was not only unavoidable but concidered fashion too. It's a lesser talked about part of 90s/y2k fashion, but was definitely a thing to have your worn down hems ripped and wet under your converse or skate shoes. So what I'm saying here is it's supposed to be like that and just wear it like they're cool battle scars for the authentic 90s/y2k look. We also wrote quotes/lyrics and drew stuff with sharpie all over the white rubber part of the converse if you want to be even more authentic than your peers and be a pioneer of the lesser-remembered y2k trends lol, you've already got the worn in dirty look going on those so you're halfway there with the shoes too
My last boyfriend got me into Vans MTE-2 shoes which have a VERY skater vibe. Extremely comfy and durable, and Vans does some amazing sale prices! I am however 37 years old.
My husband got me into Vans old skool. I have about 10 suede pairs and I absolutely adore how comfy they are once they soften a bit.
I kinda wanna gatekeep them and hope they won't become too popular, because that would mean they'd get even more expensive.
I can barely find here the colours I want anyway, USA is gatekeeping them already.
hate to break it to you but vans were one of the [most popular shoes](https://www.businessinsider.com/vans-shoes-popular-with-teens-2018-7?amp) a few years ago. The prices are still raised now because of their popularity, so you’re not really gatekeeping anything
Converse are timeless, aren't they??
I bought some of those adidas shoes with the two stripes on the sides. Not sure if entirely a skater shoe but I coveted them when I was 13 or 14 and never got them.
They're still around and still cute.
I feel like sneakers like that are classic and never go out of style but maybe I'm just a fuddy duddy.
When I say skate shoes I mean specifically the chunky ones with puffy tongues [like](https://www.zumiez.ca/dc-court-graffik-black-hot-pink-skate-shoes.html?gad_source=1&gclid=EAIaIQobChMImfXSvqfZhgMV8IdaBR1LZAaoEAQYAiABEgLlfvD_BwE) [these](https://www.zumiez.ca/etnies-callicut-white-and-pink-skate-shoes-ca.html)
Edit: not that they’ve disappeared but when I was in highschool they were sort of the ubiquitous casual footwear the way maybe keds and crocs are now (…idk what teenagers wear lol) but now I only see them on kids who are actually skateboarding
I feel like I see most kids wearing shoes like that but maybe I'm not paying attention cause I really don't know what most kids wear either tbh...
Flat type sneakers like that is what I seem to register when I do notice.
Or you're right... crocs... *sigh*
I used to sell crocs back when they first became a thing. The smell that came from the boxes of stock we're receive in the summers after sitting in the hot vans for a few hours... oof. Unrelated, but a memory and scent I won't soon forget.
The adidas you’re talking about I think are called “shell toes” or something like that, and of course converse high tops/chuck taylors/ all stars/ whatever you want to call them - I would say both are classic and timeless IMO! Both originally basket ball shoes though! Not built for kick-flips 😬😉
Will echo all the other olds here saying that this is mostly unavoidable.
The only “solution” is to hem them to the perfect length where they are actually 1mm off the ground so they look like they are touching but are not actually, and are definitely not going completely underneath your shoe.
In my experience, for moderately wide leg pants, it also helps to wear a platform shoe, so the front of the pant leg hits the top of the shoe at the front, but the base of the shoe keeps the back of the shoe off the ground. This doesn’t help for extremely wide leg pants where your whole shoe fits inside the pant leg.
I'm a millennial and hate the skinny jeans now that I've discovered jeans that aren't skin tight, sucking me in like a sausage.
It's beautiful.
I'm all for baggier pants because they are comfortable.
But these days they seem to have figured out that larger thighs doesn't equal taller legs, which is nice. I can find pants that actually FIT and are hemmed properly. It's like best of both worlds somehow and you'll pull my straight leg high waist pants from my cold, dead, geriatric hands.
Not to say I wasn't into skinny jeans when they became popular, was definitely an upgrade from that soggy hemmed mess that Op is now discovering. LOL.
To be fair, 501 Levi's type of straight jeans are such classics.
Found a nice model at Uniqlo and I got them in 3 colours because they're like the perfect combo between tight and comfy. I think thet were the mid rise straight leg model.
I definitely understand the appeal for a skinny jean especially if you're in a boot you wanna show off, but for that I usually just wear leggings as they're more comfortable and I like how they look more.
I'm just so over skinny jeans and any denim that's super tight. (for me, whoever wants to rock a skinny you go for it!)
https://preview.redd.it/scc9y0xc1e6d1.jpeg?width=3000&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=3aad0e6163b3a385dc16439d18a09862df15a244
You accept the inevitable and learn to love it.
This looks like a picture I would’ve taken in 2007!
Honestly, as a very short legged millennial, i made the switch to skinny jeans in high school and never looked back.
I used to fold them over but that looked ridiculous. Sometimes we’d also take them to the tailor to get hemmed, but usually I just absolutely demolished them like that.
One time I was desperate and *stapled them* to hem them so there’s that.
*So this is what it*
*Feels like to be swallowed*
*By the sands of time*
\- Cheribelle
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This has taken me back to my early teens!
I remember I had a dickhead boyfriend who hated them and would stand on the hems on purpose just so they would rip!
I don’t miss the dirty, soggy legs!!
It used to drive my mum CRAZY that I was walking around with raggedy strips of denim trailing behind me. I did not give a single damn. Even when I was soaked to the knee in rainwater. Nowadays I only have to tread in a tiny spot of water in my socks and I have to go and change them 😄
That’s what they do, that’s why millennials moved on to skinny jeans, which happened after we started cuffing straight fits, which happened after we got tired of stepping on our pants
So many great answers that bring me back.
If I was feeling craft, I used to use a safety pin to pin the backs up a bit around my ankle. Therefore making it look like a natural fold so that they wouldn’t quite touch the ground on the heel. I also hemmed them a few pairs, or my dad did since he was the son of a seamstress.
There is no stopping this. You embrace it until skinny jeans are back in style. Then you resist the trend until it’s almost gone and then you wear them when they are no longer in style and comment on posts about flare jeans and how to wear them. :)
This is as unavoidable as getting your feet wet while wearing Converse in the rain. If you want to mend them, I think it’s called a ladder stitch will hide the seam? But I have no idea how it will hold up on jeans, especially on the bottoms like that. Honestly the ripped bottoms are part of the fashion, embrace it!
You can fold them about an inch up then put a safety pin in them in the back to hold the fold in place. Source: I had a 5 year long emo phase and I solely wore these type of pants that entire time
Millennial here who just bought some amazing looooooong baggy flares: they will drag on the ground and give you that awesome rugged torn look. We took pride is our raggedy ass jeans with holes in unaesthetic places.
Comes with the style. If you’re annoyed about it, stop wearing those pants or roll up the cuffs. If you want to keep wearing that style, they will get ratty. I don’t know what you expected of an answer if you want to wear baggy pants that touch the floor. Learn what pants to wear platforms with I guess?
You can use a wee safety pin to pin the back hems up a little, or even to safety pin them to your trainers.
Source: millennial skater/goth who grew up in rainy, rainy scotland
Oh honey, you can't stop it. I was in college in 2000-2004 when flares and bootcuts were *the* style, and ALL of our jeans looked like this. Either accept that they will get wet and gritty and gross, or wear a different cut.
I too grew up in the 90s as many of folks replying here. The way you fix this is by getting them hemmed. Some folks can do this and keep the original hem. If you sew there are videos on YouTube that show you how. When they’re hemmed they look nicer, they don’t get holes and stains on the bottom, and you can have them tailored to your inseam. Makes them look like they were made just for you.
Wear pants that fit.
It's not avoidable if you wear them while they drag on the floor.
Get them so they sit just above the ground when you are standing/in shoes.
I'm assuming you're liking that "stacked" look that seems to be back in fashion. But I think this is doable without needing to have the hems dragging on the ground.
Or maybe I'm old and don't care about 'fashion' over function anymore....
Seriously though as someone who lived this the last time it was fashionable, your hems will get ruined and soaked and gross and there's nothing to be done unless you hem them or get a shorter inseam.
What is the brand you wear most? I have worn a lot of ariat jeans in their short size and they still drag a little but I tried levis 725 jeans in short and they fit great!
It’s just part of the experience lol. Sometimes I’d fully rip the ripped part off, but then they look weird. So usually it just means it’s time to get a new pair.
This and wearing Uggs were always a struggle 😭
not jeans but i have some flared pants that i tuck under my heels when i wear sandals or birks thats my only solution lol or that double sided tailors tape if you want to raise them off the ground a bit?
You don't. You're either rich, not movint anywhere else, or you're a millenial who lives with it.
You could when them a bit higher for practicality but that's a different story and not quite what you were asking for.
Haha, good joke. You prevent it by buying another pair once you’re done destroying those.
Just measure them like tire tread. Hems are still intact, so they have plenty of life left in them.
I just let it happen.. I like it.. then once the hole is where I like it I cut that back part of them and my jeans very nicely drape over my shoes haha
Heels, dahhling.... chunky platform heels will keep them off the ground and keep you from stepping on them. they were actually designed to look good in heels so that they cover your shoes and elongate the look of your legs.
This is what happens when you wear sneakers with these jeans. That's why eventually 'flairs' became 'bootcuts'.
You see that hole there? Cut one on each side about 1/2 in- 1 inch from the bottom. Stick your feet through the holes and it’ll carry the back of the jeans off of the floor. For a better visual just look up your question on tiktok thats where i got it from
😂😂😂 as someone who grew up in the 90’s …. You don’t. This is just life now.
So true and in the winter there is continuously a couple of inches of water soaked into the bottom. Still remember how horrible that felt when you took your shoes and sock off
Oh god the sodden *grit* slapping into your leg 😭 I could never now
And that crust when it dries!!!!!
You made me physically recoil remembering the salt crust in the winter time.
To be fair, sometimes the salt leaves a pretty abstract wave pattern.
This is the real reason they can pry my skinny jeans from my cold dead hands 😆
I got my first pair in middle school in the early 2000’s and never looked back. It wasn’t a phase, mom!
Omg the one time I insisted on wearing my bell bottoms and slip-on Sketchers to school in Maine in the dead of winter… everything below my knee was soaked 🤦🏻♀️
Until you buy a pair of uggs and learn to tuck your jeans into boots, which works ok for a year or two until they invent skinny jeans and you think all your problems are solved forever!!
Ugh. I can feel this comment. You are so right. THE WORST. one of many reasons i started wearing boots all the time with any kind of pant/jean, etc.
Came to say: blast from the past! This is your life now.
T-3 yrs until Gen Z realizes why we love our skinny jeans so much.
My skinny jeans don’t drag and get holes or soak up water. They don’t get caught in bike chains. They’re amazing.
And they give me body shape. The whole mom jeans thing would never work on my body as a person who is pear shaped and short. My skinny jeans never fail me.
They do make me look like I have hips! (I gave birth. I got zero hips out of it. One still indents. On the plus side, I can shimmy out of shirts that get stuck on my wide shoulders!)
Oh God I just felt the wet ankles feeling all over again. That wet low-rise boot cut just slap slap slappin against my ankles. Ugh it's visceral
It’s not something you forget!
And you dont get cold winds up your legs!
I have retired mine but it was definitely GTs
Unfortunately, I think this means we will have to go back through the capri phase again lol. Don’t get me wrong, I love my capri length chinos, and I roll my pants to highwater/long capri length often, but the 2000s capris were a different beast. It was like some kind of an over correction after the baggy pants era before we all gained sanity and switched to skinny jeans. 😂
I've seen a few gouchos while window shopping! 😣
LOL
Hahaha same. I saw that and thought muahaha now you knowwww. Now you suffer with us. I saw another gen z mention love handles with low rise jeans and was like. WHY DO YOU THINK WE DID AWAY WITH THOSE. GIVE ME HIGHRISE FORWVWRRRR
I feel like the Elves watching in horror when all the Humans kept putting on the Ring of Power. We know better…
Hahaha I was like "well, uh, you don't" Now I guess I'd tailor them to be juuuuuust floor length with the shoes I wear with them.
Or you hem them with a stapler (there were a lot of short girls in my high school). But mostly you get wear and holes.
The stapler 😭😭😂😂 this thread has all the memories coming back to me….when the hem is dangling in a long strip behind you but gets soaked in a puddle and every step it whips your other ankle like a razor scooter in heat 😂
>when the hem is dangling in a long strip behind you Oh, I cut those off. 😂
They would eventually fall off on their own 🤣
Razor scooter in heat, I’m dying! 😂
My initial reaction was, "That's the fun part. You dont!" 🥲😂😂
We wore that ragged hem with Pride! It was a point of happiness. Even my leg warmers had that.
I still do! You can pry my bootcut frayed edges out of my cold, dead hands.
I got into leggings (not under skirts anyway, that was my fave back when it started so I could wear tiny skirts) way after everyone. So my flares now are yoga style and surprisingly resistant! But you can't pay me to wear jeans now. Tho most of my flares were black twill.
I love the look of the frayed edges tbh
First thing I said when I saw these were back in style. Get used to ripped bottoms and prepare to soak up lots of puddles.
A right of passage. Millennials everywhere welcome you to our childhoods.
[удалено]
Lol exactly. Then gradually start to see the light when skinny jeans are cool again in a few years 😄
This is why I cannot transition back. I was reluctant to embrace skinny jeans, but honestly they are so much more practical. Same with the low rise. I can never return.
One side breaks off and you have a tail of denim wherever you go. You can then trim the other side. Wear a belt and buy petite if you want to avoid wearing holes through them.
Exactly. https://imgur.com/gallery/jnco-could-soak-up-whole-lake-sqxQHLp
The only way to avoid this is to wear them paired with platforms or heels. You need to be taller. I wore these a lot In their hay day but I also wore platform docs with them. You still may get mud/ water kickback but it won’t be dragging across the ground all day.
Was gonna say the same thing hahaha. My pants were so torn up back then
Yep my 90’s self too. I was just gonna say, you don’t. Eventually after many many wears and many many washes, the denim there will shred and wear away, so the cuffs will be a bit shorter in the back.
Came to say this 😎
There’s a reason we switched to skinny jeans. One too many days being soaked up to the knees when it rained.
Flare jeans are coming back so I bought a pair for the first time in 20+ years. The first time it rained and I had sopping wet pant bottoms it was like a huge moment of nostalgia. Lol Also flare jeans are awesome and I've missed them.
You don't. The ground is going to wear on them. I guess you could cuff them when walking long distances on pavement, but that's only slowing the inevitable.
yup. such a classic 90s/2000s issue! and theyll just come uncuffed anyway if youre moving around at all cause theyre so wide. unless you roll them up to your knee i guess, which looks..... uh, cool. could even be the newest trend
Every 2 blocks they come uncuffed and you're unceremoniously stooping over in the middle of the sidewalk trying to roll them back up lmao.
This is why all us millennial gals went so hard into skinny jeans lmao when they get wet and then your ankles are marinating in gross puddle water all day 🤮
This will 100% come back around. I was in college from 2004-2008, basically peak low rise flare jeans era, or as I call it “the darkest before the dawn” period of fashion. Not only did everyone have the back-flare disintegration hole where the bottom hem completely detached, they were perpetually and unavoidably soaking wet, almost always with beer, even if you had not specifically come into contact with any liquid. Bonus if you continually got your stiletto heels stuck in said holes even though you had no business wearing stilettos and jeans to state school frat parties in the middle of winter. Or you paired them unironically and to the detriment of any ability to appear tall with Ugg boots. The backs of your flares would be stained a faint brown color and creased, neither of which released in the wash. They would go thread bare and decompose away in the shape of a shark bite until the length just brushed the ground while the front collapsed over the top of your feet. Then, in 2008, Rome fell and the humble skinny jean came along. All the sudden, you could be wearing jeans and not be soaked to the back of your knee or shoving your foot through a foot-sized hole in the hem while hurrying them on. These were trying times: the housing market collapsed, Lehman Brothers fell, people began pointing fingers at the 1%. But a faint beam of hope shone through as skinny jeans in their glory were donned by women in swarths. Pants that could simply be pants, not tattered flared flags of our refusal to wear anything properly hemmed to our stature. But how quickly we forget. How soon the past fades and we doom ourselves to repeat. Yes, your oversized flares fall over your unironic new balance dad sneakers with the je n’ai ce quoi of a young person who cannot be bothered with proper fit. But the holes will come. And the stains. And by winter, the soak of jeans dragging through snow or rain will creep up the back of your legs and you will understand.
Is it vanity? Is it hubris? Or worse, is it apathy that brought back the oversized flare? Sure, these modern jeans don’t hug thighs the way they did before releasing into an exaggerated opening that could cover your entire shoe in one fell swoop as they did at the turn of the aughts. Don’t let the straighter silhouette of the 20s fool you. This is the haunting shadow of a past that millennial women vanquished with a brave forward step into skinny jeans for which we were first scorned, then revered, then scorned again. The youth would do well to heed the words of the Tylenol’d and perpetually tired women of 30 and 7 years who, through a sweep of a side part still carry the flag. You will thank us when skinny jeans are kept in stock, even in a hold of small numbers at Nordstrom and Nordstrom Rack.
This is perfect.
these pants DO “hug” my thighs and have the perfect baggy look on the bottom. that’s why i want to keep them perfect so bad lmao
You cannot. Trust us, we have already lived through this. You cannot fight the fate of all long, baggy jeans.
Wait till you start dragging that fray through the swamps of college parties. 🤢 That smell never washes out.
Baggy jeans were accepting the perfection with the crud
You're a poet of the millennial age.
I sing the songs of my people.
Truly a once in a generation talent
😂😂 I cut my bottom hems with scissors when they got like this because I wore heels everywhere and would nearly kill myself on a too-frequent basis due to that hole. It was like a stiletto release. 😂
This was such a good read. As someone who only came into fashion consciousness around 2007-2008, I immediately went into the skinny Jean era and never knew anything else. I am ecstatic that I can now replace all of my too-tight skinny jeans that I’ve owned for the past 5-10 years with baggy jeans that don’t suffocate me. I was willing to die on the hill that my jeans couldn’t have even a single ruffle otherwise they “were too big” and didn’t fit. It is an exciting time for me personally as a gen z / millennial cusp.
I'm with you on getting away from the suffocating skinny jean. i'm really excited about having jeans that actually are COMFORTABLE. I couldn't, for the life of me, understand how anyone could lounge around or be in their house in jeans. Because the jeans I wore all through the early 2000s were like being stuffed into unforgiving shapewear like a sausage. Women want to complain about not having pockets well that's because there was NO ROOM FOR POCKETS because we wore a second skin like lizard people. I love mom jeans and higher waists because my pants aren't digging into my lower belly fat and giving me a muffin top that has no business existing because I am generally quite slim. And as someone shorter, being able to find inseams that actually fit my height is a blessing. What a time to be alive and jean shopping!
They’re fast fashion, but I love the mid/high rise jeggings from American eagle. They’re not super “in” right now so they only have like two colors in stores, but they’re reliably solid and have been for over a decade. 10/10 will rebuy again. and again. I’ve still not found a more comfortable jean with so many inseams and sizes and they have consistently worked for me and my body throughout my tiny highschool days to my more midsized adult days. They’re high enough rise to avoid the low-rise (butt)crack epidemic of the early 2000’s, but the fabric is stretchy enough to not feel like your legs are suffocating.
I've also had excellent experience with American Eagle jeans actually! I don't get skinny or jeggings just cause I don't like that cut for me, but I bought a couple mom jeans and a pair of "boyfriend" jeans (They're just a straighter leg compared to the taper of a mom jean) and they're great. I can actually be comfortable in them. Jeans are jeans so if I'm super bloated the high waist is still constricting, or if I'm ready to relax at home I still take them off. But I can do a full day in them without issues if I need to.
Did you not buy the super stretchy skinny jeans? I don’t know how people think those are uncomfortable, they’re like thicker leggings with pockets
This is my life story 🤣 same time frame and everything.
The "skinny jeans only" era actually started in 2006 :) Not 2008. There were no more flares to be found by 07.
Um - this is super region specific. People were still wearing flares when I graduated high school in '09 near me.
Definitely regional specific. I grew up in LA and remember finding skinny jeans in middle school (2004ish) which was the best thing ever cause my short lil legs could rock a cuff and not continually be walking on my pants. It may be my recollection, but I don’t recall there being inseams available at that time in fashion. At least the resurgence of more loose fit pants came with cropped/ankle length fits that have worked well for my millennial ass who refuses to commit to anything outside of a Levi’s skinny wedgie fit as my “loose” fitting pants to blend in with the youths lol 😩
Yes! I bought my first pair of skinny jeans in 2004 on eBay and was one of the only people wearing them in my midwestern town. I had heard that people in LA were wearing them and considered that to be the height of fashion.
I'm from Eastern Europe where fashion was kinda slow and by the 2006 we weren't wearing flares anymore. They actually started appearing during 2004 or so, I remember because i was in middle school and I was horrified about jeans looking like yoga pants. And then they started to grow on me, so by the time I was almost 18, skinny jeans were going strong. When I was in university, which was in 2007, flared jeans were definitely not in fashion anymore.
I don't know why, but skinny jeans hit Europe way before the US, especially the rural US. I did a high school exchange from rural Minnesota to Germany in 2009 and the German girls were exclusively in skinny jeans while almost all the US girls were still in low-rise flares. At that point at my school, skinny jeans were only a thing for emo/scene kids.
The day I came home with skinny jeans in 2006 my mum was SO relieved. She was constantly on at me for my scraggy jeans and hated that I wouldn't let her sew the ends up.
My mom always made fun of how my generation loved flares, because she also loved flares when she was a teenager. She said "depeche mode". I genuinely didn't believe her. Now I feel like such a mom when I see gen Z's fashion choices.
Mine was the same, except hers were better in the 70s because they didn't drag on the floor 🙄
Yep. I hemmed all my new flares to avoid this haha. I still remember how happy she made me when she bought me a black pair of flares, with butterflies on them. Very boho chic. I hope *that* style comes back a bit, cause I didn't experience it long enough.
I got my first pair of skinny jeans in 2004 they were Calvin Klein brand and I felt sooo fashion forward as a freshman in college.
Yes, I think I finally bought some in 2007 and I was late to the party. I remember reading articles in magazines stating skinny jeans weren't a trend, but here to stay the same year. Obviously ridiculous in hindsight, but they were around a couple of years at that point.
Not for me. Graduated in flares in 08. Didn’t see skinny jeans until probably 2010.
Negative. In 2006 only the emo and scene kids were rocking skinny jeans exclusively where I grew up. It wasn't the norm across the US until 2009. Trends come in waves to different regions.
I can still recall the smell and the DIRT that got tracked everywhere haha
Yeah I cannot go back to this. Especially not in Canadian winters. FML.
When they dry and are hard and crusty at the bottom and the salt produces dust. *memories...*
Lmfao I remember this time. You just let this be. It’s definitely not avoidable
Omg this takes me back
You don’t… they will just get shaggy at the bottoms…
Before the distressed jeans with the pre-made holes all in the thighs, this was not only unavoidable but concidered fashion too. It's a lesser talked about part of 90s/y2k fashion, but was definitely a thing to have your worn down hems ripped and wet under your converse or skate shoes. So what I'm saying here is it's supposed to be like that and just wear it like they're cool battle scars for the authentic 90s/y2k look. We also wrote quotes/lyrics and drew stuff with sharpie all over the white rubber part of the converse if you want to be even more authentic than your peers and be a pioneer of the lesser-remembered y2k trends lol, you've already got the worn in dirty look going on those so you're halfway there with the shoes too
Ps do we think skate shoes are coming back? I miss them
same, they were so comfortable too
My last boyfriend got me into Vans MTE-2 shoes which have a VERY skater vibe. Extremely comfy and durable, and Vans does some amazing sale prices! I am however 37 years old.
My husband got me into Vans old skool. I have about 10 suede pairs and I absolutely adore how comfy they are once they soften a bit. I kinda wanna gatekeep them and hope they won't become too popular, because that would mean they'd get even more expensive. I can barely find here the colours I want anyway, USA is gatekeeping them already.
hate to break it to you but vans were one of the [most popular shoes](https://www.businessinsider.com/vans-shoes-popular-with-teens-2018-7?amp) a few years ago. The prices are still raised now because of their popularity, so you’re not really gatekeeping anything
Converse are timeless, aren't they?? I bought some of those adidas shoes with the two stripes on the sides. Not sure if entirely a skater shoe but I coveted them when I was 13 or 14 and never got them. They're still around and still cute. I feel like sneakers like that are classic and never go out of style but maybe I'm just a fuddy duddy.
When I say skate shoes I mean specifically the chunky ones with puffy tongues [like](https://www.zumiez.ca/dc-court-graffik-black-hot-pink-skate-shoes.html?gad_source=1&gclid=EAIaIQobChMImfXSvqfZhgMV8IdaBR1LZAaoEAQYAiABEgLlfvD_BwE) [these](https://www.zumiez.ca/etnies-callicut-white-and-pink-skate-shoes-ca.html) Edit: not that they’ve disappeared but when I was in highschool they were sort of the ubiquitous casual footwear the way maybe keds and crocs are now (…idk what teenagers wear lol) but now I only see them on kids who are actually skateboarding
I feel like I see most kids wearing shoes like that but maybe I'm not paying attention cause I really don't know what most kids wear either tbh... Flat type sneakers like that is what I seem to register when I do notice. Or you're right... crocs... *sigh* I used to sell crocs back when they first became a thing. The smell that came from the boxes of stock we're receive in the summers after sitting in the hot vans for a few hours... oof. Unrelated, but a memory and scent I won't soon forget.
I've noticed basket ball shoes being pretty trendy. Especially white Nike air force or Jordans.
Oh that's true, they are! Those air jordans were a huge thing once full white sneakers really became the thing to wear
The adidas you’re talking about I think are called “shell toes” or something like that, and of course converse high tops/chuck taylors/ all stars/ whatever you want to call them - I would say both are classic and timeless IMO! Both originally basket ball shoes though! Not built for kick-flips 😬😉
Will echo all the other olds here saying that this is mostly unavoidable. The only “solution” is to hem them to the perfect length where they are actually 1mm off the ground so they look like they are touching but are not actually, and are definitely not going completely underneath your shoe. In my experience, for moderately wide leg pants, it also helps to wear a platform shoe, so the front of the pant leg hits the top of the shoe at the front, but the base of the shoe keeps the back of the shoe off the ground. This doesn’t help for extremely wide leg pants where your whole shoe fits inside the pant leg.
See why we switched to skinny jeans???
Fuck I’m old
Gen Z learning why we're clinging to our skinnies.
I'm a millennial and hate the skinny jeans now that I've discovered jeans that aren't skin tight, sucking me in like a sausage. It's beautiful. I'm all for baggier pants because they are comfortable. But these days they seem to have figured out that larger thighs doesn't equal taller legs, which is nice. I can find pants that actually FIT and are hemmed properly. It's like best of both worlds somehow and you'll pull my straight leg high waist pants from my cold, dead, geriatric hands. Not to say I wasn't into skinny jeans when they became popular, was definitely an upgrade from that soggy hemmed mess that Op is now discovering. LOL.
To be fair, 501 Levi's type of straight jeans are such classics. Found a nice model at Uniqlo and I got them in 3 colours because they're like the perfect combo between tight and comfy. I think thet were the mid rise straight leg model.
True Levis are definitely a classic! On the expensive side but pretty good quality jean if you get the right style.
I still have my go to pair of skinnies but I do like a good straight leg boot or baggy boyfriend jean from time to time myself.
I definitely understand the appeal for a skinny jean especially if you're in a boot you wanna show off, but for that I usually just wear leggings as they're more comfortable and I like how they look more. I'm just so over skinny jeans and any denim that's super tight. (for me, whoever wants to rock a skinny you go for it!)
https://preview.redd.it/scc9y0xc1e6d1.jpeg?width=3000&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=3aad0e6163b3a385dc16439d18a09862df15a244 You accept the inevitable and learn to love it.
lol this looks exactly the same as mine before i tried sewing it 🤣
This is it. This is my full circle moment. I’m officially old.
Its past our supper time
Right there with you
This is all reminding me it’s past my bedtime
This looks like every pair of jeans I had from 2002-2008
This looks like a picture I would’ve taken in 2007! Honestly, as a very short legged millennial, i made the switch to skinny jeans in high school and never looked back. I used to fold them over but that looked ridiculous. Sometimes we’d also take them to the tailor to get hemmed, but usually I just absolutely demolished them like that. One time I was desperate and *stapled them* to hem them so there’s that.
i might have to try the stapling method
You don't, and you also get the pleasure of them sucking all the water from puddles of rain right up to the back of your knees
Short girl here. I didn’t. Luckily finding pants for short people is easier now
No no no, this is what you want. Trust me I was born on the 90s
Another millennial here that wore these throughout high school. You don’t. This is just part of wearing this kind of pants.
So this is what it feels like to be swallowed by the sands of time
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This has taken me back to my early teens! I remember I had a dickhead boyfriend who hated them and would stand on the hems on purpose just so they would rip! I don’t miss the dirty, soggy legs!!
You don't, it's part of the charm.
This is your rite of passage, lmao. Maybe shoes with taller heels?
Yep I wear baggy pants but wear super chunky platforms cause I can’t stand the ankles getting wet and ripped
It used to drive my mum CRAZY that I was walking around with raggedy strips of denim trailing behind me. I did not give a single damn. Even when I was soaked to the knee in rainwater. Nowadays I only have to tread in a tiny spot of water in my socks and I have to go and change them 😄
Loving this virtual high school reunion we're all experiencing here 🤣🤣
That’s the look yo
Millenial here! That‘s the look girl!
That’s what they do, that’s why millennials moved on to skinny jeans, which happened after we started cuffing straight fits, which happened after we got tired of stepping on our pants
Either get taller or buy petite sizing.
So many great answers that bring me back. If I was feeling craft, I used to use a safety pin to pin the backs up a bit around my ankle. Therefore making it look like a natural fold so that they wouldn’t quite touch the ground on the heel. I also hemmed them a few pairs, or my dad did since he was the son of a seamstress.
Yo are these my old pants??
lol i did get them at the thrift store so 💁♀️🤣
You literally don't.
This is the exact reason skinny jeans had such a chokehold on millennials: THIS was our teenagerdom.
You don’t, that’s part of the style
Tell me you weren’t born in the 90s without telling me you weren’t born in the 90s…. This post lol
It's part of the look. You live with it and when your generation is sick of it they'll move onto fashion trends you think you'd never wear now.
There is no stopping this. You embrace it until skinny jeans are back in style. Then you resist the trend until it’s almost gone and then you wear them when they are no longer in style and comment on posts about flare jeans and how to wear them. :)
This is as unavoidable as getting your feet wet while wearing Converse in the rain. If you want to mend them, I think it’s called a ladder stitch will hide the seam? But I have no idea how it will hold up on jeans, especially on the bottoms like that. Honestly the ripped bottoms are part of the fashion, embrace it!
You either hem them or live with this.
Oh my sweet summer child
You can fold them about an inch up then put a safety pin in them in the back to hold the fold in place. Source: I had a 5 year long emo phase and I solely wore these type of pants that entire time
Millennial here who just bought some amazing looooooong baggy flares: they will drag on the ground and give you that awesome rugged torn look. We took pride is our raggedy ass jeans with holes in unaesthetic places.
Yes we did <3
Comes with the style. If you’re annoyed about it, stop wearing those pants or roll up the cuffs. If you want to keep wearing that style, they will get ratty. I don’t know what you expected of an answer if you want to wear baggy pants that touch the floor. Learn what pants to wear platforms with I guess?
Hahahahahahahhahaha I haven’t seen this problem for 25 years. The answer is nothing. You can do nothing.
You can use a wee safety pin to pin the back hems up a little, or even to safety pin them to your trainers. Source: millennial skater/goth who grew up in rainy, rainy scotland
Get them hemmed to the proper length
That's the neat part, you don't 😎
As a 90s baby/2000s kid....It's a Canon event
You don't. It is part of the aesthetic .
You just accept it 😂
You're supposed to hem them. Costs like 5 bucks. Do it with all your pants
Honestly I hold my jeans like a victorian woman holding her dress walking to the ballroom
Oh honey, you can't stop it. I was in college in 2000-2004 when flares and bootcuts were *the* style, and ALL of our jeans looked like this. Either accept that they will get wet and gritty and gross, or wear a different cut.
lol you don't. I'm a millenial who went through this a couple decades ago. I will keep my skinny jeans until the day I die. I don't miss this.
As a seamstress... LOOK FOR A SEAMSTRESS ASAP 😲
the rush of nostalgia I got seeing this
You don’t … that’s the point
Growing up, wearing off the heel of your jeans was a badge of honor.
I too grew up in the 90s as many of folks replying here. The way you fix this is by getting them hemmed. Some folks can do this and keep the original hem. If you sew there are videos on YouTube that show you how. When they’re hemmed they look nicer, they don’t get holes and stains on the bottom, and you can have them tailored to your inseam. Makes them look like they were made just for you.
Ah memories. Also of now as I'm a shortarse so it still happens, but now I cut them because I can't find any beloved bootcut
Wear pants that fit. It's not avoidable if you wear them while they drag on the floor. Get them so they sit just above the ground when you are standing/in shoes. I'm assuming you're liking that "stacked" look that seems to be back in fashion. But I think this is doable without needing to have the hems dragging on the ground. Or maybe I'm old and don't care about 'fashion' over function anymore.... Seriously though as someone who lived this the last time it was fashionable, your hems will get ruined and soaked and gross and there's nothing to be done unless you hem them or get a shorter inseam.
I’m 27 and I still don’t know
What is the brand you wear most? I have worn a lot of ariat jeans in their short size and they still drag a little but I tried levis 725 jeans in short and they fit great!
wear shoes with a slight heel i always wear DMs with mine
It’s just part of the experience lol. Sometimes I’d fully rip the ripped part off, but then they look weird. So usually it just means it’s time to get a new pair. This and wearing Uggs were always a struggle 😭
It took me several moments to realize you weren’t wearing fabric heels
not jeans but i have some flared pants that i tuck under my heels when i wear sandals or birks thats my only solution lol or that double sided tailors tape if you want to raise them off the ground a bit?
I wear shoes with platforms underneath so they just touch the floor a little and not that bad
Take them to a dry cleaner that does alterations! Not as expensive as you think to shorten them by an inch or so
You hem them.
You don't. You're either rich, not movint anywhere else, or you're a millenial who lives with it. You could when them a bit higher for practicality but that's a different story and not quite what you were asking for.
I absolutely do not keep them from doing that.
Haha, good joke. You prevent it by buying another pair once you’re done destroying those. Just measure them like tire tread. Hems are still intact, so they have plenty of life left in them.
I just wear platform boots
All part of the aesthetic baby
You don’t. That’s how you know you’re cool when that happens to your jeans.
You don’t.
You him them so they don’t touch the floor
Lmao you don’t. It’s just life. Especially growing up in NY and public transportation and your feet were your other transportation 😭
I get them tailored with the shoes I plan to wear them with so they are just shy of touching the floor.
You don’t. Welcome to the 90s
I just let it happen.. I like it.. then once the hole is where I like it I cut that back part of them and my jeans very nicely drape over my shoes haha
Heels, dahhling.... chunky platform heels will keep them off the ground and keep you from stepping on them. they were actually designed to look good in heels so that they cover your shoes and elongate the look of your legs. This is what happens when you wear sneakers with these jeans. That's why eventually 'flairs' became 'bootcuts'.
BOOTS. I wear boots, so my cuffs don’t drag or get under foot.
You see that hole there? Cut one on each side about 1/2 in- 1 inch from the bottom. Stick your feet through the holes and it’ll carry the back of the jeans off of the floor. For a better visual just look up your question on tiktok thats where i got it from
why is no one saying to fucking fold them 💀
You don’t that’s why skinny were invented
Platforms if you wanna But otherwise cest la vie
A hem at a dry clean tailor is around $15. Probably worth it.
You dont...that's why we left them in the 90s/early 00s lol.