For Gucci’s pre-fall 2026 collection, Demna sent a slew of models down the runway in what looked like skinny jeans. But, wait, they weren’t really skinnies, were they? They were also kind of bootcut? It’s a silhouette I’ve been seeing a lot of recently, and it’s one I’ve taken to calling the “mini bootcut”, as in, slim jeans, with an extremely subtle kick flare. This will come as welcome news to millennials everywhere who can’t abide by skinny jeans but who might dare to dip their toes (legs?) into something adjacent.
Bella Hadid has long been an advocate for the mini bootcut. Indeed, if she’s not in full glam at some red carpet event or on the runway, she’s usually–recently, at least–found in a skinny-bootcut hybrid.
Elsewhere, the likes of Alex Consani, who also modelled on the aforementioned Gucci catwalk, isn’t averse to a looser, slouchier mini bootcut, and neither were so many of the models spotted shuttling around Paris and New York this past season. “But aren’t these just bootcut jeans?!?” I hear you ask. I mean, yeah, but if I’m not pointing out a trending yet subtle variation on an old style, then what am I doing on this website?
My colleague, American Vogue’s news editor Anna Cafolla, cops her mini bootcuts from Jeanerica, which has perfected a slim-line style with a barely-there kick. “This style of jean – low-rise, skimming the leg, just the whisper of a kick flare – is in my regular rotation,” she tells me. “They feel effortless but intentional, especially with a bitchy little pointy boot peeking out. Compared to a more generous bootsy bootcut, there’s less material going on, so also less chance of sodden hemlines or getting caught on the Tube escalator (I think about that a lot).”
So there you have it. One of this year’s most enticing denim trends. And if you’re wondering whether baggy, skinny, flared, selvedge and the newly anointed “baggy skinny” (IYKYK) are also trending, you’d be correct – because in 2026, there is no dominant denim style, per se. You just have to decide what you like the most and which looks the best. And for me and many others, in the run-up to spring, it’s mini bootcuts all the way.
This article first appeared on Vogue.co.uk
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