Fashion Theory: The Skinny Jeans Effect

I was reading an article about Urban Outfitters' fourth quarter's earnings in WWD a few issues back. The company keeps showing a nice growth, but are looking for profits to slow down in the next year. (Don't worry, I'll get to the interesting part right about now.) Some corporate someone-or-another in the article said something fascinating as the reasoning behind this, being that women are slow to embrace the change in silhouette that has been emerging in fashion lately: the skinny jeans and voluminous top, essentially, as opposed to the bootleg pant with form-fitting top. While the company's Urban Outfitters customer may be quicker to adjust, the older Anthropologie customer probably won't. (But then again, I have to wonder who buys pants at Anthropologie? No one I know--everyone seems to be into their tops, lingerie and dresses.) I'm sure there is a clever cultural historian who can align the disappearing waistline with some sociological trend or another. (I'm going out on a limb and guessing that the girls attracted to such a silhouette are rejecting the midriff-exposing, nymphet, Paris Hilton-type stereotype, which practically advertises an appealing hip-to-waist ratio that is supposed to attract the attention of the opposite sex. But I'm just making stuff up.) I'm just fascinated by how a company's whole corporate strategy can shift to accommodate a trend. What do you all think? Do you think skinny jeans are here to stay for awhile? There is always a push-pull between what a company senses its customers want and what those customers really want, but it seems like this company is forecasting that skinny jeans and the like are here for awhile.

Posted by Kat in Fashion Theory
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