• CNN got Anna Wintour to respond to criticism of Lauren Sánchez Bezos funding the 2026 Met Gala. Anna described her as a “great lover of costume and obviously of fashion,” and said “we’re thrilled she’s part of the night.” It’s a pivot from 2024 when, Back Row exclusively reported, she helped her pick a Met Gala dress because she knew she had “poor taste.”

• All’s Fair’s zero-star reviews only resulted in the show getting renewed for season two, god help us.

• A stylist source tells me that jewelry brands were paying a $10,000 to $25,000 placement fee for All’s Fair. (Paid jewelry placements are pretty standard these days.)

• Back Row friend Dana Thomas is writing the definitive biography of Giorgio Armani and I can’t wait to read it. I’m making Dana, who lives in Paris, come back on the Back Row podcast to discuss Emily in Paris and French girl style (she has never watched the show and I am making her do that for us, too). Follow the Back Row Podcast (Apple, Spotify, YouTube) so you don’t miss it.

• I’m reviewing Victoria Beckham’s clothing line ahead. I did not include the Rolex and Patek Philippe watches she wears, which are eye-wateringly expensive and up for auction on secondhand luxury watch site Bezel. On the lower end is this five-figure white gold Rolex she’s worn. (For only slightly more you can get the Chanel watch style I love in gold with lots of diamonds.)

I Dressed Like Victoria Beckham

Victoria Beckham isn’t just a celebrity known by a single adjective. (Posh.) She isn’t just the rare celebrity who managed to launch a namesake brand that fashion people respect enough to review with sentences like, “Beckham played her silhouettes in other ways.” (Women’s Wear Daily.) And she’s not just the woman who went to the DMV for her American driver’s license, took a photo, and then asked, “Can I get approval?” (Victoria Beckham: Coming to America, 2007.)

She’s also the woman whose plain gray T-shirt has, since 2024, consistently generated the affiliate slop that trails celebs of her status around the internet, and inspired entire podcast episodes (Jam Session, recommend).

Her Netflix docu-special that came out last month was more or less an infomercial for her Victoria Beckham clothing line. In the show, Beckham charts her journey from self-proclaimed awkward child to tacky Spice Girl to reformed owner of neon apparel who graduates from the school of Roland Mouret so that fashion people take her seriously as a high-end clothier. By taking her style down to brass tacks — simple dresses, swishy suits, mostly neutrals — she got the industry to treat her like a real designer.

But the real purpose of the show, as we all know, was to cinematically showcase Beckham wearing her clothing line. And it left many of us wondering whether there was something magical in that T-shirt, which seemed somehow better and slightly stiffer in the sleeve than every other plain gray T anyone has ever beheld.

Investigative journalist that I am, I decided to find out for this issue of Back Row Labs.

After the show aired, I ordered five outfits that I strongly associate with her: the T-shirt and jeans; the black pants that look, on her, like they could annihilate every other horrible black pant (i.e., basically every other black pant ever) that came before it; an oversized suit; and a dress with the rouching in the front that has become one of her line’s signatures.

First up, let’s talk about that gray T-shirt.

Yes, it costs $150. You may be thinking, My, that’s expensive! And you’d be right: It is expensive! But in the greedflated upside-down that is luxury fashion right now, where distressed Balenciaga T-shirts sell for $825, $150 has ye olde “attainable luxury” vibes.

Is there anything special about this shirt, aside from the little “VB” logo at the nape of the neck?

Honestly, no. It’s a good T-shirt — it’s soft enough, the shape is good if you don’t want it to be too long — but it’s still a T-shirt, and a cotton one at that.

I actually realized what makes the look isn’t the tee itself, but the pants, and the put-together effect of tucking the shirt into these “Alina” jeans, which are high-waisted and fitted through the hips. I ordered them in my usual size, and they were so small I asked ChatGPT for tips on how to get them fully on.

I liked the cut a lot, but I know that denim is deeply personal. I took to the wide-leg jean trend like one of the Beckhams’ chickens to their coop on the Cotswolds manse presumably handcrafted by resident tradwife David Beckham. But I know not everyone has.

The line is clearly designed for Victoria, who the internet says is 5-foot-4, and the pants did not fit me the way they did her. At nearly 5-foot-10, even in the extra-long style, I did not achieve the look of the pair grazing the ground that’s so appealing on rich people who are seldom outside for longer than it takes to walk from a building to a waiting car. (I wore my Manolo pumps, which have a 4-inch heel.) They are high-waisted and fitted through the waist and hip before flaring above the knee, similar to the rag & bone Sofie style I’ve been wearing, but more fitted through the upper leg. However: Props to Victoria Beckham for offering extra-long at all, which I don’t recall as an option on other pants I’ve bought.

Again, at $590, these aren’t cheap. Basic Khaite jeans in a similar cut are $680, and Dior’s similar-looking “Denim Couture Flared Jeans” are $2,050. I guess if you’re willing and able to spend a little more on clothes but don’t want to spend LVMH prices, you might turn to VB.

Next up, the legendary black pants.

When Victoria wears a black pant, it’s downright unfair. They just look so good and swishy on her. Finding a pair that looks as fantastic is like trying to find a great salad in the airport.

These $850 “side panel trouser[s]” are lower rise but stay put when you move around in them, and I loved the cut through the leg. Again, they did not skim the ground. They also didn’t feel as cozy as she looks in these clothes. The website says these are “55% Polyester 45% Virgin Wool.” I think the tailored pieces could be greatly improved with better, softer fabrics. I tried them with her same black muscle tank (a $150 “sleeveless T-shirt”), and aside from the length, it’s a good look. The woman knows what she’s doing.

Third, we have the oversized gray suit.

This suit had some of the same issues as the black pants — the fabric (“100% virgin wool,” per the website) was stiff and came out of the box with some deep creases where you don’t want them. To be clear: I work from home every day and don’t usually have to Zoom with anyone, so I have absolutely nowhere to wear something like this.

That said, it might be a contender if I ever have to defend myself against a spurious ski-related lawsuit in an internet livestream.

But I think this outfit (which I wore with my go-to Reformation tank) was giving more “corporate crusader” than, like, “cool girl at Fashion Week” or “celebrity walking to car.” Ideally, a suit like this would give you a blend of both? Especially since the jacket is $1,550 and the pants are $890. Those of you who are corporate lawyers or similar: please weigh in in the comments on what you look for in work clothes these days. Can you do a suit like this? Can you be more fun? Maybe it wasn’t oversized enough on me, owing to aforementioned length issues.

I know I didn’t bother to style this with more interesting shoes, but if the whole vibe of her line is, “simple stuff that makes it easy to look cool,” I feel like I shouldn’t have to.

She’s wearing a different pant style in the above photo, but still, the length seems short on me.

Lastly, my absolute favorite — the Blair midi dress.

I don’t think this dress, which retails for $1,090 though other colors are $1,250, appeared on her in the Netflix show, but I have looked at this line and her enough over the years to associate that particular rouching at the tummy with Victoria Beckham. (She wore a version of it for her husband’s knighting ceremony at Buckingham Palace.)

The dress fit me perfectly. It came out of the box almost entirely without wrinkles, which I always look for when I unbox because I want to steam my clothes about as much as I want to rub sand in my eyes. It has a conservative Kate Middleton vibe if you style it with the closed-toe pumps like I did, but you could probably make it a little funkier and sexier for a party with a nifty shoe, or dress it down with a flat sandal. If anyone who was raised on print magazines in the ‘90s and aughts is still worried about “going from day to night,” this is the dress for you. (And it is on sale right now on Net-A-Porter.)

And that concludes this important investigation.

Every successful brand has a few things they do better than everything else. For Victoria, it’s the dresses and T-shirts, if spending $150 on them is an emotionless experience for you. (It is not for me.) The T-shirt is mesmerizing on her, but when you wear it in your bedroom — and remember you are not Victoria Beckham, strolling the grounds of your Cotswolds estate with your celebrity husband and pet ducks — you see it really is just a T-shirt.

Earlier in Back Row:

• Demna released images of his first Gucci collection, which he will showcase in Milan Tuesday in a short film. Paid subscribers will get a full issue with unfiltered thoughts on his debut tomorrow. In the meantime, I started a chat thread on it that’s open to all if you want to discuss or see what Back Row readers are saying.

• Burberry’s music festival-inspired spring 2026 show included fake mud and a canvas tent. Designer Daniel Lee told reporters, “[M]usicians always have the best style.” He is tired of everything being oversized, therefore showed skinnier Beatles-inspired proportions. But more importantly, Burberry sells trench coats, and Lee seemed to offer a lot of options there.

• Dilara Findikoglu's show included, per 10 magazine, “looks that ranged from tiny white corseted mini dresses, their hair matted with twigs and leaves as if they’d been romping outdoors, to a buckled leather harness dress complete with a long horsey tail swishing behind. One model wore a bit between her teeth.”

• Since we’re talking athletic-wear ahead, size-inclusive brand Knix is having a flash sale on some items, including seamless bras (on sale for $35) that reviewers say are great for working out (it’s signature leak-proof underwear is also 40 percent off).

• A reader recently asked me to resurface the AI shopping tool I recommended here not too long ago: it’s called Plush. Check out the difference between their results for “backless dress” versus Google.

And now, today’s big story…

Can You Be a Big Workout Pants Person?

“You’re a boomer if you wear leggings,” the Wall Street Journal told us last month. I wear leggings, but, unlike many of their commenters, I was receptive to their message that tight workout pants no longer seem like the moment and loose ones may be the future.

I admitted to myself a while back, after living for years under the Kim Kardashian-ruled tyranny of spandex everywhere all the time, that I don’t actually enjoy wearing leggings as athleisure. They are useful for yoga and riding a bike. But if I’m going to drop my kids at school and then work at my desk, I find leggings only marginally more enjoyable to wear at home than a bathing suit. I do not find them to be especially comfortable or warm.

To be clear, the fashion industry needs to get people to buy a different kind of workout pant. We have to have exhausted nearly every iteration of legging by now. We’ve done printed leggings. Jean leggings (jeggings). Liquid leggings. Leggings with mesh paneling. Leggings with pockets! Since we ran out of colors and patterns, we decided to wear them in brown and beige. What would you have thought if I told you in 2004 that you would be wearing brown leggings in 2025? Maybe even as part of a set??

Pants silhouettes don’t change all that often, so when they do, it’s a big deal. Eras are defined by the shape of our pants: the seventies had bell bottoms; the eighties gave us “power pants” that were tapered and pleated; the nineties were all about baggy, low-rise pants (many with cargo pockets). These gave way to low-rise boot cut pants in the aughts. Then we moved into skinny jeans, then mom jeans, and now the dominant styles are wide-leg.

Changes in pant silhouettes tend to stir up a certain amount of pearl clutching. In 2006, after skinny jeans for men started taking off thanks to Hedi Slimane’s aughts collections for Dior Homme, Eric Wilson tried them out for the New York Times, writing, “The skinny jeans had a life of their own, one that was exhausting and seemed to call for a lifestyle more exciting than spending Thursday nights at doggie obedience school.” He added that some styles were “as snug as denim hosiery” and that they started to give him both body image issues and an achey back.

Similarly, WSJ commenters are warning of injury by way of big workout pants:

Yet, as someone who embraced the move from skinny to much more comfortable wide-leg denim, I was looking forward to working out wearing something other than leggings. I have sweats for the morning drop-off and working from home, but I find them too heavy for exercise (which, for me, is usually running, biking, or barre). In embarking on this experiment, I specifically wanted pants that I could comfortably take me from my morning chores (drop-off, etc.) to newslettering to jogging outdoors.

The only problem is that the market for big workout pants seems miniscule compared to that of leggings and sweatpants. I searched the internet for pants I could actually exercise in, not just lounge in, and found that many retailers don’t even distinguish, which made me wonder if I’m the fool for working out in the majority of my workout stuff.

Take these, for instance, by the brand Jaded London. They feel very “Balenciaga handbag owner rides on a plane” — but are they ALSO for exercise?

Who can say? The brand’s own website certainly can’t, but suggests this is the type of pant that WSJ commenter warned against (highlighting mine):

WSJ cited Free People Movement as a brand that has leaned more heavily into the big exercise pants trend than ye olde athleisure superpower Lululemon, the subject of unrelenting articles about their declining stock price and how generally over they are. I tried some of Lulu’s big workout pants and they did not do it for me.

It is true that FPM has leaned heavily into big pants for doing physical things. A sizable subcategory of their big workout pants seems to serve a demo I would term “hiking hotties.” My friend told me some months back that Free People catalogs are the new Victoria’s Secret catalogs. I see what she means — they are kind of intriguing in that they have a way of photographing everything so that it becomes sexual. Hiking poles? Sexual. Caribiners? Even more sexual. A dorky hydration vest? Grab yourself a fan.

In August, I was looking for UPF hiking pants for a trip to the Galápagos and the pickings were SLIM. I was willing to throw all style concerns to the wind be properly dressed as a pale person on the equator and settled on an LL Bean pair that lived up to the reviews of being functional and not-hot (in every possible way). So I can confirm FPM definitely has a lock on the category I never before could have imagined of “sexy hiking clothes.”

The best big workout pants I tried from FPM — and my favorite overall — were the “Retro Rider” pants, which are not exactly cheap at $128 but come in lots of colors and are highly functional. To be clear, these are basically a long version of the board shorts I bought from Delia’s as a tween (except the contrast sides are soft cotton instead of nylon).

I wore them to little league, to work at my desk, and ran and lifted weights in them. I was pleased. I am 5’ 10” and didn’t sag them the way some FPM models do, but still, my foot did not catch in them and result in my untimely death. The pants gave me flashbacks to all the track pants I wore for exercise in my youth, including a pair with buttons that went all the way up the sides. Remember those? Why FPM isn’t making tearaway pants so they can artfully rip them off the models in all sorts of ways is beyond me. I assume that’s coming. (The new Nike Skims line does include a pair of tearaway pants.)

If you are really into both the big pants and willing to be a bit more ”boom boom” aesthetically, my runner-up pair were these from Nike.

They make that noise wind pants do when you walk. So don’t wear them for, like, a midnight heist. But at $80, they were less expensive than many other mid-range options out there. They are double-faced and would be pretty warm for a run unless it was somewhat cold. They have roomy pockets with snap buttons so that your phone won’t go flying out during aerobic activity. If you want something more plain, they also come in black. And if you want to be really hardcore about the eighties vibe, you could get a matching jacket (Nike seems to have jackets available in black).

The world feels like it’s on fire every day, so why not wear a tacky tracksuit??

If you’re still loving your brown leggings (I get it) and this all feels like TOO MUCH, there are lots of performance joggers out there for the big workout pants-curious that are something between leggings and wide pants. The best of these I tried were by On. I had never bought anything from On but know the brand from Zendaya endorsing it. These are perfectly serviceable for sitting around but are really designed for physical activity, as evidenced by the reflectors in the back and helpful web copy that clearly states, “these pants are dedicated to enhancing the joy of running.” The On site has them in olive but the color looked gray in person to me. I like them best in black.

I focused on trying pants that weren’t wildly expensive or too cheap to last. I’m happy to invest a little bit in my workout stuff because I wear it until it falls apart, but I am not spending $1,350 on Miu Miu’s “technical poplin joggers” or $1,920 on the brand’s “mesh-trimmed technical straight pants.”

In conclusion, after tasting the big workout pants life, I’m enjoying adding a couple of pairs to my rotation. If you have big workout pants recommendations, do drop them in the comments!

What Paid Subscribers Are Reading

Late last year, I covered the burgeoning trends of “therapeutic laziness” and “bed rotting,” as laid out by top trend forecasting firm WGSN. Basically, we’re all too exhausted to do anything, much less a skincare routine that has as many steps as making your own croissants. This gives brands an opportunity to capitalize on our state of malaise. Here’s how I described it:

[T]he number one trend in beauty for 2025, per WGSN, will be “therapeutic laziness.” This is an “anti-wellness” trend anchored around skincare and something called “bed rotting.” Though this sounds like your husband lost his sandwich in the duvet, it refers to rejecting productivity in favor of intentionally spending time in bed.

I really started noticing the laziness trend this year in body moisturizers. I’ve been a committed Vanicream lotion user for a while now (recommended to me by multiple dermatologists). I have applied it diligently every day for years. I am so committed to it that I even pump it into smaller bottles when I travel. If Vogue ever asked me what’s in my purse, I might produce a tub of Vanicream.

Then one day recently, my husband was complaining about dry winter skin. I told him to be like me and just put the Vanicream on every day. He told me that was too much work. Lotion: you have to rub it in.

Obviously, he’s not the only one who feels this way as evidenced by the popularity of spray sunscreen and the burgeoning category of non-lotion moisturizers. A brand called Hanni offered to send me some of their products to try and I accepted. The package came with this:

Who in 2025 cannot relate? At the end of most days between work and kids and just a passing glance at the news, who amongst us is not, either literally or figuratively, slipping head-first onto the floor as we metabolize the general decline of, well, everything?

Let’s pause for a moment and acknowledge that something is really wrong with modern life if dispensing lotion from a bottle and then rubbing it into skin feels like TOO MUCH. Let’s also acknowledge that for many people (in the U.S. anyway), this is unfortunately how it is. We have to work tirelessly to earn enough money for a middle-class existence, to say nothing of saving for the kids’ college funds, retirement, etc. Work for many of us involves, thanks to Slack and email and phones, being available basically 24/7 to employers and clients. If you’re a millennial like me, you probably feel pressured to intensely parent your kids on top of all this, which has led to widespread enough burnout that then-surgeon general Dr. Vivek H. Murthy went on a press tour last year to cast the stress of modern parenting as an urgent public health issue.

(I know many Back Row subscribers live outside the U.S. Those in other countries tell me that people do not feel so burnt out everywhere! I asked my friend , who lives in Paris, if people in France feel oppressed by their daily responsibilities, and she said, “No. Because we have free daycare, and free preschool, and six to eight weeks vacation.” Also, she reminded me, France has a “right to disconnect” law — a law! — so that employees won’t be penalized for not working during off hours.)

Anyway, Hanni sent me two products. The first, a stick called The Fatty, is sort of like a deodorant stick that you smooth onto skin, which saves you the effort of dispensing lotion from a bottle. It goes on clear so it’s easier to rub it in.

The second was something called a “splash salve” that you can apply in the shower, which saves you the effort of doing any body care after you get out of your nice hot water. You apply it to clean skin, rinse lightly, and then gently towel dry. I won’t lie, when I got this product and put it in my shower, I didn’t think I would feel compelled to use it. But I have been working on finishing a big project and putting in long hours a lot this year, and there was one day when I was washing my hair and it hit me: I really did feel a specific exhaustion — bone-deep tiredness — and did reach with relief for that jar of splash salve, grateful to be saving myself the trouble of having to get out and then apply lotion.

As far as their moisturizing properties, both of them worked just as well as the lovely but much more expensive ($112) body oil by Augustinus Bader, maker of the infamously expensive face moisturizer The Rich Cream ($305 for 1.7 ounces).

(Quick aside relating to The Rich Cream, which has drawn a ton of attention in recent years for being both shockingly expensive and also good, which is apparently a rare combination: I tried it when I received free samples as an editor and did really like it, but I always go back to this basic $10 lotion by Neutrogena. For a story I wrote a while back, a top makeup artist recommended I try Retrouvé’s face moisturizer and reader, it was amazing, particularly if your skin tends to get very dry. But again, it’s wildly expensive at $380. I found this face oil by U Beauty that’s around half the price delivers a similar result.)

I also ordered from Sephora a product by Kate McLeod that I’ve seen everywhere: a moisturizing body stone. It’s basically the same idea as The Fatty: you rub it on your skin like a bar of soap, it goes on clear, transferring cocoa butter and oils to your skin. It’s packaged in a round box that I find very satisfying to open and close:

And it comes wrapped in sort of a protective cheese cloth.

You can get it in an unscented variety, which is always a plus for those with sensitive skin. (The stones also come in lavender and citrus-y honeysuckle.) The brand also makes a stick in case the cheese cloth/box-opening part feels like too much for you.

Both The Fatty and Kate McLeod’s moisturizing stone/stick have a practical benefit even if the idea of rubbing lotion into your skin doesn’t fill you with dread: you can toss it into a carry-on bag without the horror of having to transfer lotion from a larger bottle to a smaller one. Or you could easily tuck it into your fishing vest, which is apparently how some people are surviving air travel these days.

Because that’s what it’s about, sadly, in 2025. Avoiding the effort of the typical with whatever else we can afford that might be a little bit easier.

What paid Back Row subscribers are reading:

This, as I said in my annual predictions post earlier this year, is the new frontier of dressing. Think about it: jeans have betrayed us. They dig, they pinch, they can make sitting feel like punishment. No wonder athleisure took over. Now, we want to feel like we’re in sweats all the time — but not look it.

When I was testing sweatpants jeans, I ordered a slew of the compromise pants that kept getting advertised to me on social media. I mentioned in my earlier story that the Gap ones were astonishingly not horrid. Ahead, you can look and judge for yourself.

In reviewing these pants I was looking mainly for two things:

• Are they comfortable? There’s no point in a compromise pant if not.

• Can you dress them both up and down? The ideal compromise pant, to me, can maybe even go to the office. That is, if you work in a creative field or tech company or whatever. I’ve never been a corporate lawyer or had to work in an office that was super shift dress-y. If you do, please report back on whether or not your workplace would, in this post-pandemic age, accept a compromise pant.

Here we go.

1. rag & bone “Miramar” Sofie wide-leg pant

Pros:

• It blows my mind how you can dress these up. If your workplace accepts a sandblasted jean, I think your coworkers would have no idea these are not, in fact, jeans, particularly if you wear a dressier shoe.

• They have real pockets, not pocket illustrations, like the other sweatpants jeans.

• The cut, for a wide-leg compromise pant, is great.

Cons:

• Since these are high-wasted and have a zip/button closure, they weren’t quite as comfortable as elastic-waist options.

• Price: $238. Not cheap, but worth it if you wear them a lot.

2. rag & bone “Miramar” terry wide-leg pant

Pros:

• These are harder to dress up than the Sofie, but you could force it.

• Comfort. They’re more sweatpants than jeans and they feel like it.

• My kids were fascinated by the pocket images.

Cons:

• People are more likely to know you’re wearing sweats, which make these less of a great party trick.

• Price. Still up there, at $188.

3. Marine Layer drawstring denim pant

Pros:

• If I hadn’t been researching compromise pants, I never would have bought these — but I found them charming.

• This is a great summer denim option if you don’t live somewhere hot.

Cons:

• Not cheap, at $128.

• Fit wasn’t great for me.

4. Gap Mid Rise UltraSoft Pleated Easy Baggy Jeans

Pros:

• I thought these looked really bad on the Gap website. But once I tried them on, they were extremely soft and comfortable — not sweatpants technically, but interchangeable. Zac Posen should maybe put aside that Studio line that no one asked for and put some work into the website assets.

• Price: $59.

• Functional back pockets that aren’t just a mirage.

Cons:

• If your coworkers wear sweats to the office, sure, you can probably pull these off, but it’s a lot harder to dress these up.

5. COS denim-wash jersey joggers

Pros:

• If you’re looking for an editorial sweatpant (admittedly, a very specific need) these are great. (I was not looking for an editorial sweatpant.)

• They come with a matching sweatshirt that I did not order, but I recognize this is a cute look for someone who is not me.

Cons:

• These give sweats more than jeans. Cos has seldom steered me wrong (you might say I “stan” Cos), but I liked these the least of all the pants I tried for this story. They are very wide — think Gumby wide.

• Price. If i’m spending $99 on sweatpants I need to love them.

6. Enza Costa Baggy Straight Leg in Standard Wash

Pros:

• These elastic-waist Enza Costa jeans were advertised to me on Instagram and I was prepared to absolutely hate them. Again, I was pleasantly surprised.

• They were loose and more comfortable than many jeans I own, and could be dressed up or down. If you wore a long shirt, no one would know about your secret elastic waistband. So you can really stick it to your office dress code.

Cons:

• A bit pricey (but they’re currently on sale for $207).

• The fit seems rather specific so they might not work for everyone.

7. Cos Barrel-Leg Denim Drawstring Pants

Pros

• I never felt tempted to get into culottes when they had their renaissance circa what, 2016? Of all the pants I tried, these drawstring jeans from Cos both confused my husband the most and were my favorite of this bunch.

• They dress up or down, and they’re ridiculously comfortable because legs are basically big enough to fit a Christmas tree.

• You could probably wear them to work at TikTok, but not at MicKinsey. They seem ideal for a weekend or date night (you’re welcome, husband). I loved them!

Cons

• Kind of pricey at $120.

In Conclusion…

What this experiment taught me is that we should all try things we wouldn’t normally buy. Now I know that I might actually like barrel-leg pants and drawstring denim.

If compromise pants are not for you and you just want regular jeans. I also love these and these wide-leg styles by American Eagle (a great buy at $45 and $25 right now, respectively), these by Ayr, and these by rag & bone.

Loose Threads

• Radhika Jones will step down as editor-in-chief of Vanity Fair this spring. Anna Wintour reportedly cried at the meeting where Jones told her staff. Jones’s salary was, the New York Post claims, seven figures — but the next person to have the job won’t earn that. So, who should replace her? Wrong answers only. (Graydon Carter.)

• Trump’s tariffs will impact the fashion industry badly, as previously predicted in Back Row. Axios has a good overview of what this means for the clothes you buy: 97 percent of the apparel and shoes the U.S. buys are made in other countries, while China and Vietnam make 28.7 percent and 25.4 percent, respectively. Imports from Vietnam will face a 46 percent tariff, and those from China, 34 percent. Yahoo! Finance has the reaction from financial analysts, concluding the tariffs “make apparel stocks like Nike uninvestable.” (Way harsh, Tai.) The thinking behind tariffs is that companies will make goods in the U.S. rather than outsourcing that labor — the only problem is, there’s no appetite to bring clothing manufacturing here, so American consumers will be left to pay higher prices.

• Are Swedish beauty brands becoming more of A Thing in the U.S.? They keep landing in my inbox. For instance, Under Your Skin, which promises to be “hormone-safe.” One of their most popular products is “density drops.”

• Meghan Markle’s foodstuffs sold out in under an hour. (It’s unclear how many of each product she made, but the As Ever Instagram noted “limited quantities for each seasonal drop.”) I so wanted to try something — a crepe mix, a flower sprinkle, a cookie — even the tea! Now I’ll have to continue eating my avocado toast in its sad, flower sprinkle-less state. That Jenni Kayne sweater is still available, though!

• Business of Fashion reports that designer sneaker sales are flagging. An expert “attributed the decline to stretched consumers and shoppers choosing functional sneakers by sportswear brands rather than designer styles.” This seems completely unsurprising. Designer sneakers can easily cost $1,200, which is hard to justify as it is — plus, they had been an entry-point for aspirational shoppers, but luxury brands don’t seem to care much about them anymore.

Today’s guest piece is by Derek Guy, whose commentary on menswear I’ve been addicted to for years. Over the last eight months or so, men I know have been asking me about what jeans they’re supposed to buy now that skinnies are over. To which I usually say: I’m not a stylist! But here’s something from Nordstrom that worked for my husband! I knew that Derek would be the perfect person to ask to create a comprehensive guide to moving on from skinny clothes. Ahead, his suggestions for how to loosen up everyday menswear, whether you wear it or find yourself tasked with picking it out for someone else.

—Amy

Skinny Fits Are Over. Here's How to Loosen Up.

By Derek Guy

A few months ago, a friend who runs a small business told me his younger Gen Z employees staged an intervention — like that Christopher Moltisanti scene in The Sopranos — to inform him that he needed to stop wearing slim-fit pants. Much like how Millennials rejected baggy trousers because they associated the look with Boomers, Zoomers are now distancing themselves from their Milennial coworkers’ slim cuts.

Over the last 25 years, slim fits have gone from cutting-edge to passé. The trend took off in the early 2000s when Hedi Slimane and Thom Browne shrank menswear as a reaction to oversized ’90s silhouettes. The Strokes made skin-tight jeans and tourniquet tops aspirational, and fashion writers framed slim tailoring as settled science. Decades later, everyone from President Barack Obama to Elon Musk wears trim clothes.

The shift toward looser silhouettes began in early 2016 when Raf Simons sent models down the runway in oversized bubble parkas, topcoats, and moth-eaten tennis sweaters with hand-engulfing sleeves. I think the death knell happened in 2022 when J. Crew reintroduced their Giant-fit chinos. Or maybe it was when that photo of a little French bulldog went viral on social media.

Rather than letting designers, fashion writers, or Gen Z employees dictate your wardrobe, it’s better to think of dress as a social language shaped by cultural history. Skinny black jeans will always work with black leather jackets and black boots because of the legacy of seventies and eighties punk. Similarly, trim suits with cigarette trousers can still evoke sixties Mod cool. However, the ubiquity of slim-fit clothes and clear indicators from the fashion industry that trends are changing have left many men wondering how to loosen up. Here are some ideas.

Workwear Pants

If you’re “loose-fit curious” but haunted by memories of nineties business casual, start with workwear. Utilitarian styles — double-knee carpenter pants, OG-107 military fatigues, army chinos — look great in a roomier cut because they were originally designed for movement. Carhartt and Dickies offer solid double-knee options, while Ralph Lauren, Imogene + Willie, Standard & Strange, and Kapital carry canvas and denim versions that break in beautifully. For military fatigues, try Stan Ray, Orslow, or the vintage originals (call up Wooden Sleepers). Bryceland’s also offers a more wearable take on military-issued P-44s, charmingly known as “monkey pants” to inveterate thrifters. Theirs features the spacious side pockets that were originally designed to hold military food ration packs, but they don’t have the gas-mask-holding butt pocket that will confuse your coworkers. Just note that these have a very high rise, so they work best with untucked shirts and outerwear.

These pants pair well with plaid flannels, denim Western shirts, or chamois button-ups with the soft, napped texture of a well-loved billiards table. Layer on some utilitarian outerwear — a chore coat, denim trucker jacket (new here), black double rider, or fishing jacket. The Parisian second-hand shop Brut has an in-house line of brand new vintage-inspired clothes. Their outerwear is great for this sort of thing.

If you’re worried about coming off like Bob the Builder, consider getting a slightly fuller pair of jeans. Levi’s Vintage Clothing 1947 501s, Orslow 105s, Rubato Lot Nr1, 3sixteen CS-100x, Buck Mason Full Saddle, and Blackhorse Lane NW1 all have a mid-rise, relaxed fit — comfortable but not veering into JNCO territory. Gustin, a pre-order, direct-to-consumer denim brand, offers made-in-America raw jeans for under $100. Their 1968 vintage straight fit channels a mid-20th-century James Dean vibe — grown-up jeans for guys transitioning away from slim denim but not ready to go fully baggy. Vintage Levi’s 501s from the eighties and nineties also have a slightly higher rise and more room in the thigh with a gentle taper (again, call Wooden Sleepers). If you have a hard time finding off-the-shelf jeans that fit, Todd Shelton and Williamsburg Garment Company can make a custom pair.

For something more contemporary, try Lemaire’s twisted leg pants. Pair with chunky knits and an oversized topcoat or one of Auralee’s tops.

Big Outerwear

Outerwear is an easy entry point into roomier silhouettes without a complete wardrobe overhaul.

Take overcoats. You can wear an oversized one with slim jeans and chinos you already own, as well as the fuller fatigues and wool-flannel trousers you might add. The key is to go big — something that falls to your knees or longer adds a sense of drama and verve (think eighties Richard Gere). A long overcoat swishes around your knees when you walk, looks great with a tailored jacket, and adds a bit of sophistication to casual clothes.

Beyond length, consider sleeve construction. A set-in sleeve, with its shoulder seam positioned on the bone, creates a structured, T-shaped silhouette that feels more formal and commanding.

A raglan sleeve, on the other hand, features a diagonal seam extending from the collarbone to the armpit, offering a slightly more casual, rounded shape that layers well over bulkier garments.

Several brands deliver on proportion and quality. Kaptain Sunshine’s Traveler (ed. note: this coat is so gorgeous it is sold out but it should be restocked in the fall), De Bonne Facture’s Grandad, Wythe, Berg & Berg, The Anthology, and Drake’s raglans are among my top picks. Traditional clothiers like O’Connell’s and Ben Silver offer classic overcoats reminiscent of those found in your grandfather’s closet. For more budget-friendly options, check out Spier & Mackay or Cavour. And don’t overlook vintage — classic overcoats were built to last, meaning even decades-old pieces are often in excellent, wearable condition.

If you live somewhere hot, update your bomber jacket with a blouson inspired by mid-century originals. These feature slightly dropped shoulders, a rounder body, and a cropped length. Some of my favorite brands for this style include Monitaly, Document, and Brut. For a more affordable option, Alpha Industries’ heritage-fit MA-1 and CWU 45/P are excellent choices. If you prefer something in denim, trucker jackets from StandardTypes and Lee offer a similar silhouette.

Knitwear

While men’s knitwear tends to be more restrained than women’s (e.g. the sculptural, curved lines of Lauren Manoogian’s pullovers), meaningful variation exists within its narrow confines. Billy Crystal’s legendary cable knit in the 1980s film When Harry Met Sally has voluminous sleeves, dropped shoulder seams, a high neck, and banded hem. Contrast that with former Congressman Matt Gaetz’s hoodie, which is long, slim, and slinky. It simply doesn’t have the same verve.

For a classic Aran sweater, consider O’Connell’s, Aran Sweater Market, or Inis Meáin if you’re willing to splurge. Broadway & Sons offers Royal Navy submariner sweaters with a wide body and tightly knitted hem, allowing you to adjust how they sit on your torso. For a similar silhouette in a hoodie, check out Brut and Bare Knuckles, which make boxier, mid-century-inspired shapes.

When you’re just starting to loosen up, it can take time to appreciate the difference between fit and silhouette. Fit should be narrowly defined — your suit jacket’s collar should sit cleanly against your neck, trousers should drape smoothly, and buttons should fasten without strain. Silhouette, on the other hand, is about the overall shape of your outfit when stripped of details. Not everything has to look like it was put on with a vacuum sealer for it to technically “fit.” By gradually incorporating roomier pieces into your wardrobe, you’ll find a balance that feels right to you.

Follow Derek on X/Twitter and Instagram for more menswear tips and analysis.

Today’s issue is sponsored by Brooklinen, which combines core tenets of therapeutic laziness — indulgence, comfort, literally being one with your blankets — with affordability. If you are bed-rotting-inclined, Brooklinen obviously has you ~covered~ (I can’t help myself). I am a hot sleeper and haven’t had a duvet on my bed in years. But over the last couple of weeks, I’ve been sleeping with Brooklinen’s Luxe Sateen Duvet Cover in “Solid White”; Luxe Sateen Sheet Set in “Oyster in Blue”; and Dreamweave Waffle Bed Blanket in “Storm.” I haven’t slept with this many layers on my bed in years, and this 100-percent-cotton bedding doesn’t make me hot at night. I am rediscovering the joy of ending and beginning each day in a fluffy, well-styled bed. There’s snow on the ground outside my bedroom window, but this bedding gives ocean, it gives happiness, it gives “lie in me all day.”

This is the problem with an untold number of pants — so few non-athleisure styles are conducive to therapeutic laziness. Work pants are nearly always unsatisfying and uncomfortable, an inevitable compromise for a dress code. If we’re being really honest, jeans are frequently uncomfortable and hard-to-fit, too. I work from home and can generally dress however I like, and, on a typical day, where I take my kids to school then sit at my desk for most of the next nine hours, I wear sweats.

However, if you wear sweatpants and follow fashion and are remotely familiar with Karl Lagerfeld’s canon of quotes, you might recall him saying that sweatpants “are a sign of defeat.” You might also think of Tom Ford, who, when interviewed by Taffy Brodesser-Akner for GQ in 2018, said he only owned “one pair of white sweatpants,” which were required by his tennis club. In other words, it’s hard to forget that capital F fashion has a history of regarding sweatpants with searing disdain. (Ford exited his namesake brand in 2023; it now makes women’s cashmere track pants for $2,600.)

This is where rag & bone arrives with one of the most genuinely innovative items of apparel in the last few years: sweatpants jeans. These are sweatpants that have photorealistic pictures of jeans on them, so that they look just like jeans, but are, in fact, not jeans. It’s a mind-fuck to run your finger over the “pockets,” which are not pockets at all, but just pictures of pockets (trompe-l'œil, if we want to use the technical term).

Prior to my awareness of sweatpants denim, I hadn’t thought about rag & bone this much since the late 2000s, when we all wore skinny jeans and eyeliner, everything trendy in New York took place in industrial warehouses, and we drank vodka sodas instead of martinis. In this period, rag & bone’s show was one of the hottest at New York Fashion Week, up there, “cool”-wise, with Alexander Wang. I have a vague memory of trying to get invited in my capacity as a writer for The Cut — and getting denied. Kate Bosworth was one of their front-row “It” girls. The brand, founded by Marcus Wainwright and David Neville, may have made you at one point covet a leather biker vest or cigarette pants with diagonal zippers.

Anyway, that was then. rag & bone is different now. Guess?, Inc. and WHP Global (a “global brand management firm”) acquired it in 2024 (Guess?, Inc. invested $56.5 million in the transaction). But I believe the brand’s core pretension laid the groundwork for sweatpants jeans, the whole premise of which is fooling people into thinking you’re wearing something that’s much more elevated than what you’re actually wearing. The jeans have gone so mass that Good Morning America did a whole segment on them — which just shows you how unsatisfied people are with regular jeans.

After I became sweatpants jeans-curious, I started noticing jeans that weren’t quite jeans everywhere — jeans that had drawstrings and elastic waists instead of zippers and buttons. Jeans that took the notion of jeans and said, “FU, I’m going to be softer than that.” You can buy these styles of jeans at the Gap or FWRD. Margiela even makes an avant garde pair that, reader, I don’t mind!

I tried rag & bone’s viral sweatpants jeans, along with several other pairs of not-jeans jeans. I am from Austin, Texas, and have spent my life in jeans and jorts. Prior to this exercise, I considered myself a jeans purist. I was stunned by how much I liked the sweatpants jeans. My friend and stylist Diana Tsui who writes , said this is okay:

rag & bone calls the sweatpants jeans collection “Miramar,” which could refer to the Miramar in Florida, California, or Spain, or the Spanish word that translates to “sea view.” (The the “Oyster in Blue” Brooklinen sheets have the same connotation.)

When I tried on the Miramar terry wide-leg pant, which cost $188, I subversively asked my husband what he thought of my “new pants.”

“They look nice,” he said.

“They’re not jeans!” I replied.

He walked over and took a closer look. “You look so pleased with yourself,” he said.

When we took our children to buy snow boots and I wore the sweatpants jeans, they went unremarked upon. When we got home and I asked my husband if he knew what I was wearing, he asked me if I was wearing my “jean whatevers.” My 6-year-old son, however, was fascinated by them. As someone who wears sweats every day, he couldn’t understand why someone would want to hide that they were doing this. He would come over to me and touch the “pockets” and giggle. If rag & bone hasn’t made these for kids, well, that seems like a goldmine.

If you want jazzed up sweats, the standard wide-leg pair of Miramars are just that. They’re warm enough with long socks for 30-degree weather, and could get you from a work-from-home day to happy hour. But the thing that really gives these pants away as Not Jeans is the pockets, which have a side opening, but the image of a typical jeans pocked on the front. There is no fly on the pants, but rag & bone put a seam there to create the illusion of a one. Some Miramar styles, like these jorts, which I did not try, come with fake rips that look very real.

If you want to really stick it to the Hard Pants Establishment — and maybe your office — rag & bone makes a higher wasted pair of Miramars called “Sofie” with a button and zip closure and typical jeans-style pockets, but in the same non-denim material as the other pair. These really come off as jeans and I think would much more easily be mistaken for denim than the elastic-waist ones. But they’re more expensive, at $238.

When I wore these, I found myself reaching to put my phone in my back pocket, which I often do, only to realize there wasn’t one, just a photo of a pocket. But even I forgot I wasn’t wearing jeans. They are softer and cozier than regular denim, but since they’re more tailored, they’re not as comfortable as the true sweatpants style.

I searched around for a less expensive version of rag & bone’s “jean whatevers.” I’ll send another post about those soon, but the closest I could find were these Gap elastic-waist jeans which looked horrid to me on the website but actually weren’t in person (h/t Zac Posen). The closest, less expensive true dupe attempt I could find were the “denim-wash” joggers from Cos. Cos has seldom steered me wrong, but these pants wouldn’t even pass for jean whatevers — they’re just sweats. I was reminded of what Emilia Petrarca wrote here in Back Row when I asked her to investigate Amazon dupes: “This year, the ultimate luxury will be the un-dupable.” Maybe the Miramars are just that — for now anyway.

To feel more comfortable than you look is a new kind of luxury. I wouldn’t SLEEP in sweatpants jeans, but I have my Brooklinen sheets for that.

Thank you again to Brooklinen for sponsoring this issue and supporting independent journalism. Shop before the President’s Day sale ends on February 19 and get 25 percent off.

Loose Threads

• Gucci’s fourth-quarter sales were down 24 percent. Parent company Kering’s sales were down 12 percent in that period from a year earlier, thanks to Gucci. "Gucci will come back. I have absolutely no doubts about this," Kering CEO Francois-Henri Pinault said. A replacement for designer Sabato de Sarno, who resigned last week, is yet to be named. I know Hedi Slimane has been rumored to take over but guys, hear me out: what’s Lady Gaga up to these days?

  

• In a note to clients, Bernstein analyst Luca Solca called this “an ‘annus horribilis’ for Kering.”

• Loved this take on the Gucci situation in : “[It] seems to me, a person who is never going to drop a ton of cash on new luxury goods due to not having the kind of discretionary income that would make that sensible, that maybe the rich people who do — or even the not-so-rich people who are simply spendy! – are also likely BORED of the same old people just rotating through the same old labels. It’s always the same five designers up for the same five jobs and they’re all just playing musical chairs. I cannot imagine anyone finds this exciting or inspiring. Slimane for Gucci feels like someone at Kering just spun a wheel and went with whatever white guy it landed on.”

• People were not happy about Kensington Palace’s recent revelation, first reported in the UK Times, that it would stop sharing Kate Middleton’s clothing credits because they were overshadowing “the really important issues, the people and the causes she is spotlighting.” In a new statement to People, a Palace spokesperson said, "The comments that were reported should not be directly attributed to The Princess of Wales. To be clear, there has been no change in our approach to sharing information about Her Royal Highness’s clothing.” Confusing!

• Sabrina Carpenter is on the cover of March Vogue and lots of people are pointing out that it seems inspired by Madonna’s 1991 Italian Vogue cover, which was also shot by Steven Meisel. After her Grammys win, this cover was well-timed.

  

• Vogue says the “Olsen tuck,” as TikTok calls it, is all over NYFW. This refers to tucking your hair into your collar, and Vogue notes that Phoebe Philo probably did it first so it’s really been misnomered.

• Are people still hot for Tory Burch runway? Marie Claire noticed she’s leaning into pierced bags.