From Cool Britannia to blue eyeshadow to super-low-rise jeans, many millennials and Gen Xers have watched in horror as Gen Z has brought back dozens of the most jarring and unsightly ’90s noughties and trends.
But the runway’s newest offering has brought back shocking memories of the skirt-over-pants trend that plagued the early aughts.
Louis Vuitton and Bottega Veneta sent models to the red carpet in a very impractical way. single leg pants in recent fashion weeks.
While Louis Vuitton sent a bright red version down the runway at its spring/summer 2025 Paris show earlier this month, Bottega Veneta paired its black one-leg pants with an oversized belted jacket.
Meanwhile, avant-garde French brand Coperni debuted three styles in a variety of luxurious fabrics at its Paris show.
The looks were also paired with tops or long dresses, giving many millennials flashbacks to the uncomfortable pants-over-skirt trend.
Louis Vuitton, whose women’s artistic director is Nicolas Ghesquière, was one of the brands to send models down the runway in single-leg pants earlier this month.
Lr: Italian brand Bottega Veneta also showed off one-leg pants at its spring/summer 2025 womenswear show in Milan; Avant-garde French brand Coperni presented three different styles of single-leg pants at its spring/summer 2025 show in Paris.
A Louis Vuitton model sported bright red one-leg pants while walking the runway at Paris Fashion Week earlier this month.
Lr: Scandinavian brand GANNI’s current collection includes an updated culotte, a piece that many millennials will remember from the late ’90s and early ’90s; Parisian brand Alaïa has also joined the trouser-skirt trend with this sweater version priced at £1,560
Having one leg exposed to the elements while the other is bundled up may not appeal to the average shopper but, according to a leading trend forecaster, the new pant is simply another version of asymmetry, which has long been a feature of the dresses, blouses and blouses. and other clothes.
talking to stunnedAgus Panzoni said that asymmetry has “gained importance” since 2021, when “consumers began to experiment with silhouettes, going beyond traditional symmetries and predefined categories.”
But Agus also links the single-leg pants trend to fashion fans’ continued interest in customization.
Whether it’s the current trend of putting stuffed animals in designer bags or an older trend in which denim lovers cut their jeans to the point where skin rather than fabric dominated, personalization is both a way to stand out and a way to show that you belong. the fashion package.
Another creation from Parisian brand Coperni channeled the single-leg pants trend.
For Agus, single-leg pants offer the opportunity to “experiment with the leg that remains exposed”: they give fans a blank canvas ready for self-expression.
Others, however, saw the one-leg pants that appeared on several catwalks in Milan and Paris earlier this month as “a step too far.”
“They looked like pants that had gotten caught on a hook on the way out the door and, in the rush to get going, half of them had been ripped off,” wrote Vanessa Friedman, fashion director of the New York Times.
While October’s spring/summer 2025 shows certainly put single-leg pants on the map, neither Louis Vuitton nor Bottega Veneta can be credited with inventing this eccentric garment.
Ashley Tisdale was a big fan of the skirt over jeans trend. Photographed at the premiere of The Ice Princess in 2005.
Anne Hathaway attends the premiere of the film ‘Ella Enchanted’ in 2004 wearing a dress over jeans
Miley Cyrus (left) and Brandy (right) were also followers of the trend.
In fact, the bold and bizarre style first appeared in 2018 thanks to American brand Sarah Aphrodite, according to Harper’s Bazaar.
A year later, Korean brand Pushbutton launched its single-leg jeans, which appeared to have been inspired by the half-skinny, half-wide jeans of Ukrainian designer Ksenia Schnaider, whose early fans included global superstar Céline Dion.
However, even if a version of the one-legged style has previously received the celebrity seal of approval, there’s no telling whether it will take off when the latest designer collections hit stores early next spring.
As NSS magazine said: “This type of trousers does not seem destined to have great commercial success, mainly due to the complete impracticality of the style.”
Its success will no doubt depend on whether high street stores like Zara and H&M, both masters of designer trickery, decide to support the absurd new pants trend.