It’s the biggest debate on the internet right now: Skinny Jeans vs. Mom Jeans and middle parts vs. side parts. Seriously, it’s everywhere, every Tik Tok, Insta-story, and Facebook article I come across seems to be a “Gen Zer” coming for us millennials, or it’s a millennial defending our beloved trends. I can't get into hair trends, because it takes too much time, but I can talk about some jeans.

As a millennial, who lived through low-rise, boot cut jeans in her most formative years; I cannot part with my flattering high waisted skinny jeans. I am traumatized by the thought of walking on my jeans, the bottoms getting SOAKED in the rain, and I cannot even begin to discuss the “low rise” trend. Let’s just sayit was bad. We can all remember Paris Hilton, Britney Spears, and Lindsay Lohan rocking the dangerously low jean trend and wishing we had those bodies and could pull off those looks. Our moms knew that wasn’t the look andthank God, they didn’t allow us to dress so scandalous. But they couldn’t protect us from the bad jeans trends entirely. I’m both happy and sad that I don’t have access to photos of me in an Aeropostale polo and jeans that still sat too low and covered my feet entirely, and some old navy flip flops. Let’s take a quick stroll down memory lane, shall we?

Yikes.

Horrific.

So imagine my (and millions of other teenage girls) joy when in high school and college, skinny jeans came into style. These clung to our legs, butts, and ankles in figure flattering ways, didn’t drag the ground, and even better they came up to cover our hips and bellies. A win if I ever said so...and THEN they came out in fun colors; bright blues, yellow, hot pink, and my personal favoriteblack.We rejoiced! So many options. We rocked these bad boys to work, to school, out on a Friday night, to games and movies, and everywhere. Finally, we thought, good jeans in plenty of styles that we can wear forever. This also helped usher in the body positivity movement. You can read more about "dressing for your body type" in this blog post.

Now, as any good fashionista knows fashion is cyclical and trends come and go. 20 years from now we’ll be pulling up our Instagram feeds to show those teens how cool we were in our “day”. So this day was coming, where skinny jeans are "out" and a new style is reigning supreme. We could work with that, but with social media, it hit us hard and quick. One day we were stylin' and profilin' and the next these young kids were laughing at us, calling us "old" and telling us our beloved jeans that we went through hell for were no longer "in".

We all know that millennials are nostalgic as heck. Myself included. Millennials thrive on the memories of our childhood and what we deem as good times. Same goes for our clothes and trends, once we find what works, we aren’t getting rid of it. We know we look good in skinny jeans, we’ve perfected the front tuck, they fit easily into rain/snow boots in the winter, we can fold them just perfectly to hang over our booties or sneakers or sandals, and we have even figured out how to wear them to work. Gen Z wants us to give up all that hard work for jeans ourmomswere wearing while we were growing up? No, No, No. Even I, a girl who loves fashion and trends, was apprehensive. As a short girl, I love my skinny jeans, but as a fashion-lover...I’m into the new trend. Disclaimer: you’ll never everever see me in low rise or flare jeans again. However, the loose fitting boyfriend jeans and the straight-not-skinny jeans have grabbed my attention.

Here’s the thing, boyfriend jeans have been around for years. It's just recently that they’re becoming the “it” jean. And if I’m real, something the looser fit does look better than skin tight jeans. They're also called "mom" jeans and they're just as we expected, the jeans our moms wore in the '90s. They have a high waist, a loose fit through the thigh, a slightly wider leg hole, and a fit on the tush that can either be described as a "diaper" or "holy heck, baby got BACK." As with any style, finding the right fit for you and style you can rock anything. They may not come in fun colors like our skinny jeans, but these mom jeans are everywhere and come in many different styles, they've got distressed, classic, dark wash, black, cuffed hems, raw hems, etc... You can't wear them to the office though, so 1 point for skinny jeans.

Polished. Classy. Professional. *In the tune of Savage by Meg the Stallion & Queen Bey*

To put it simply, it’s easy for us millennials to get stuck in our ways and if we think about it...we’re the “moms” now. Yes, we all still feel like teenagers, but we’re not the young, cool, gals we once were. I mean we’re still cool and we’re younger than some, but it’s really time for the Gen Z girls to shine. A high waisted straight legged jean with a graphic tee and booties gives a more effortlessly cool vibe, whereas your skinny jeans give a more polished look. Neither is better than the other, it’s all about how you want to express yourself and your style in that moment. So, I say rock both. 

XO,

Jodeci