If you’re torn between trousers and shorts on a regular basis and find yourself questioning why you can’t just wear both at the same damn time(!), then emerging Ukrainian designer Ksenia Schnaider has the answer you’ve been waiting for: demi-jeans.
Described by Schnaider as a ‘skirt, shorts and jeans, combo”, these unique denims are created using not one, but three pairs of vintage jeans, and have been slowly creeping into our Instagram feeds over the course of the last few months – as worn by the likes of Dua Lipa and Bella and Gigi Hadid. And, of course, when Bella and Gigi Hadid post themselves wearing something on Instagram, you can be pretty sure you have a soon-to-be-fully-blown trend on your hands (see also: tiny sunglasses).
Schnaider first let her demi-jeans loose on the world back in 2016, but, according to the designer, they didn’t quite find the fanbase that they have now: fashion, it seems, just wasn’t ready for such a unique new silhouette. Fast-forward to 2018 and the unlikely style is flying off the internet’s digital shelves – last year, when they hit online store Lyst, they sold out within 72 hours, and demand for them remains unprecedented. “When Bella wore them, our social media went nuts,” says Schnaider.
Aside from having fashion’s favourite (for now) supermodel sisters assert their status as fans of the brand, what is it about the demi-denims that’s so appealing? Like all good trends in the year that is 2018, one of the reasons they’ve become a huge hit is likely down to the fact they tap into our burgeoning obsession with all things 90s, and, more recently, 00s. Remember those skirt/trouser combos loved by Paris Hilton, Britney, and Gwen Stefani? Take those, crank them up to 11, and you have the demi-jean.
The style combines the much-loved 90s mom-jean with a cut-off version of the wide pants adopted by any sk8r kid worth their salt circa 2002. And the best part? Unlike said wide-legged sk8r pants, these won’t soak up 6-8 inches of puddle water and slap around your legs disgustingly on any day there’s been even a hint of rain. Praise be.
There’s also the fact that they fit neatly into the cool-but-kind-of-ugly ironic fashion category – alongside platform Crocs, bumbags, Oakley-style sunglasses, and chunky sneakers – that everyone is #livingfor right now. As Schnaider explains, the style has proven itself to be pretty polarising when it comes to opinion. “The response to the demi-denims has been totally overwhelming. We had thousands of comments across social media and not one of them was neutral” she says. “On one hand we had people who were dying to get their hands on a pair when they’d sold out, and on the other, people who told us in no uncertain terms that they were abhorrent.”
