Ditch your skinnies – the bootcut is back . . .
HOW TO DRESS LIKE A GROWN UP
THErE are some clothes that, after years of service, suddenly fall out of favour and become the opposite of fashion.
Shirtwaisters, for example. Twinsets. Stretch pant suits. And the trouser cut all of us once relied on: the bootcut.
We all remember bootcuts, the narrow flares we wore through the late Nineties and into the Noughties.
When skinny jeans arrived on the scene, we couldn’t believe they would catch on — who wants jeans that grip your knees and calves? But they did and we got used to them.
In between, we’ve done our best with ‘ boyfriends’ (the ones that make you look fat), flares (the ones that make you look fab worn over four-inch wedges), wide-ish and straight, and cropped.
Still, when you look back, nothing has come close to the everywoman ease of bootcuts. Or the glamour. Think of Liz Hurley in her white bootcuts and espadrille wedges. Or Elle Macpherson on the school run (always bootcuts and a furry gilet). Or any French fashion editor you care to mention with a navy pea coat and skinny silk shirt. Sigh!
WHILE
bootcuts have vanished from the fashion scene in recent years, don’t we wish there was something out there a lot like a bootcut?
Most of us don’t want to, or can’t, wear skinnies any more. The wide-legged look relies on narrow hips and a pert bum; flares are too everyday. We want something in between, something thigh- flattering and leg-lengthening. A bootcut by anothera name.
And guess what? There is a new bootcut. It’s not the same as the Nineties style — it’s leaner in the flared part, higher in the waist and it’s not called a bootcut.
Some brands are calling them kick flares or mini flares or mini boots. We’ve christened them the skinny bootcut. This is the streamlined version of its predecessor with added support in the middle section — in other words, made for grown-ups.
Meghan Markle made her first public appearance with Prince Harry at the Invictus Games wearing skinny blue ripped jeans and flat pumps.
Fast-forward to after the wedding, and now the Duchess of Sussex, a global fashion icon, has upgraded to inky black skinny bootcuts and heels. Far more elegant.
Mango has a pair in dark blue that could do a similar job (£35.99, mango.com); & Other Stories does a high-rise kick flare pair of jeans (£59
stories.com) in a paler wash that are a bit more casual.
If you don’t wear jeans, the slimmer flare comes in suiting (green trousers, £39.99, zara.
com) with a matching jacket. The big difference with bootcuts is you really have to wear a heel with them, which is daunting for those of us who now prefer flats.
Happily the new bootcut has arrived at the moment when practical cropped cowboy boots and Cuban-heeled ankle boots are having a moment.
There are two ways you can wear your skinny bootcuts. Either with a chunky heel, a funnel-neck sweater and a teddy bear coat. Or dress them up with a sharp blazer, a silk shirt (lemon yellow, tucked in), baroque faux pearl earrings (our new obsession) and light, slim-heeled sandals.
Cropped bootcuts are on course to be big news for summer (wear with mules) — fashion girls are already wearing Frame’s Le Crop mini boot trousers (£110, farfetch.com).
We’ll never say: ‘ So long skinnies, you’ve had your day’. But now there’s a new shape we can do business with.