Tight Jeans

Here are a couple of examples of new shapes in jeans from Spice Girl/fashion designer/soccer wifeVictoria Beckham.  For several years, she has been introducing alternatives to tight jeans.

Here is a 2012 idea -- tight jeans with flared hems.

And here is Ms. Beckham modeling her 2014 look -- very wide-legged jeans.

New Alternatives by Other Designers

I mean no disrespect to Ms. Beckham.  Hers is just one of many fashion houses that have been trying to pry young women out of tight pants, and especially tight jeans.  Here are some designer looks that were shown at fashion shows in recent years.

In 2013

Did you see any of these these in your neighborhood?  Me neither.  Ha ha ha ha ha.

In summer 2014, the trends were reeled in a bit, but the young women still weren't buying.  

Early this year, there was some capitulation -- a few thin-legged pants if not really tight ones.

  

A Report from California

Over many visits to southern California, I have noticed that young people there start the fashion trends that designers, and then the rest of us, adopt several fashion cycles later. 

When it comes to jeans, though, these young women have not changed their look:  The waistlines are higher than in the Britney Spears era, but otherwise, the jeans are tight.  

I was on a college campus last week, and I saw hundreds of young women.  Most were wearing tight jeans.  The next most popular looks were very short skirts and athletic-style knit leggings.  

I saw only one young woman in light, loose pants.  She looked great, but sweet young things (SYTs, my mother used to call them) generally look great, no matter what they wear.    

Here are some photos I took over the course of about 10 minutes:

Why oh why, I wondered, are these young women so attached to the tight-jean look?

Then I noticed what had caught the eye of the young man in the picture below.