Eugénie Trochu is a Who What Wear editor in residence known for her transformative work at Vogue France and her Substack newsletter, where she documents and shares new trends, her no-nonsense approach to fashion and style, plus other musings. She’s also working on her upcoming first book that explores fashion as a space of memory, projection, and reinvention.

Lately, I’ve been obsessed with a very specific pair of jeans. Not just any flare, and definitely not the overly nostalgic bootcut revival we’ve seen come and go. The one I keep thinking about is much more precise, the kind of flare that instantly gives you an attitude. I keep going back to one image: a look from the Celine Spring/Summer 2020 runway designed by Hedi Slimane.

There was this girl on the runway who perfectly captured that effortless confidence we tend to associate with the myth of the Parisienne. Her look felt like a curious mix of neo-bourgeois elegance and slightly bohemian influences, as if she had just walked out of a lecture at the Sorbonne sometime in the 1970s. The jeans are the key to the entire silhouette. They’re slightly flared, high-waisted, and long enough to skim over the shoe. The denim looks semi-rigid, with a faded wash that makes them feel like they’ve lived a life already – as if they’d once belonged to someone’s mother. But there’s one important detail: the jeans are perfectly pressed. That small detail keeps the look from drifting into overly grunge or costume-like vintage territory.

The result is very Jane Birkin. It’s the kind of silhouette that feels incredibly simple but somehow exactly right: a pair of flared jeans, a men’s shirt, maybe a structured jacket, and either ballet flats or slim boots. For the past few months, I’ve been trying to find that exact kind of jean again. Not a dramatic flare, not a Y2K interpretation—but that subtle, elegant flare that almost feels academic.

The kind of denim that lengthens the leg, structures the silhouette, and gives you that slightly nonchalant allure that Parisian women often chase without quite explaining. The good news is that in 2026, this exact shape seems to be quietly returning. After years dominated by straight-leg or oversized denim, slightly flared silhouettes are slowly making their way back—often with that high waist and rigid fabric that recall the 1970s.