There weren’t enough white jeans in Succession - but there should be loads in your wardrobe
It’s creamy denim season, people! (Not that the HBO show’s costume department would know). Here’s how to wear your own pair of white jeans properly whether you’re a fictional media scion or otherwise
Jesse Armstrong’s excellently aberrant televisual baby meets its end today. I already miss Logan Roy’s magnificent, awful force (to coin a Kendall quote) - and I’m prepared to ache for the sweary poetic machinations of the Roy siblings - but what I absolutely won’t miss are the endless reams of style analysis which follow costume designer Michelle Matland’s work on each episode: writing which breathlessly attempts to glean where Kendall’s quietly luxurious clothes are from (yes we know the coat in episode nine was made by Loro Piana), and why Shiv looks just so thrown together all the time.
Don’t worry, the rest of this piece has little-to-nought to do with Succession. Maybe.
Here’s a bit of post-show style analysis for you, though, while we’re at it: there haven’t been nearly enough white jeans in Succession. In fact, I don’t think there has been a single pair of white jeans in the HBO smash - save Mattson’s trousers in the 8th episode of season four, which he wears on Lake Como with some Adidas pool slides. Though I’m pretty sure even those are chinos.
I must say I’m surprised, not least because white jeans have long been the preserve of summering plutocrats - the Roys love to summer! - and to be honest, few other garments signify the lackadaisical embracing of status so emblematic of America’s favourite fictional familarchy. White jeans are even more potent when worn in winter, as nothing says “I’m rich and I don’t care” more loudly than sporting a pair of imminently stainable trousers in a season defined by puddles.
The good news is that you don’t need to have the income of a Roy sibling (or Hugo, for that matter) in order to wear white jeans all year round.
Personally speaking, I live in white jeans. I can’t get enough of them. I have a high-waisted, drainpipe fit, cropped pair from British brand LEJ. They’re thick enough to wear in winter with a pair of flat form boots, as they are ankle-area-aerated to sport with slippers in the summer.
I love my slightly lighter wide legged cream jeans from Dries Van Noten, which look ace worn baggy with sandals or rolled up with sneakers, and my carrot-cut heavyweight zinc white jeans from Brunello Cucinelli are the best for winter wear, teamed with everything from black Chelsea boots to running trainers (very Roman Roy).
But it’s not all smooth sailing like a young Paul Newman summering on Solandge, the Roy family yacht. White jeans have pitfalls too, and if you’re not careful they can be all too easy to drop into. Wear your white jeans too tight, for instance, and you’ll look like Cousin Greg on a night out in Downtown Dubai. Wear them with too many other white garments and a bank holiday tan, on the other hand, and you’ll look like a weisswurst dipped in bbq sauce (aka, Connor Roy).
So here, to help you on your own journey into white denim supremacy, I’ve picked a few of this season’s finest white jeans (in ascending order of price, from high street to Roy-worthy lux) and demonstrated in fine detail how best to wear them.
Oh, and Matland, if by some miracle season 5 gets commissioned, give me a call. I’ve got a perrrrfeeect pair for Tom Wambsgans to wear when he goes into hiding in Venezuela to escape prosecution for rigging the US election.
1 | The pair Mattson should have worn on Lake Como
Loose, breezy, chic. A wide leg pair of white jeans such as these from Arket is the ultimate two fingers up to the ravages of winter. Whether you wear yours with some leather sandals from Hermes or, *shudders* a pair of pool slides like Mattson, a loose pair of white jeans will speak of lazy summer days spent living free from fear of being splashed by a vindictive bus driver at any given moment. Team with a vintage tee in an ochre hue and a cropped pastel biker jacket for peak seventies vibes, and avoid heavy duty footwear like the Swede avoids the Egg.
2 | The pair which would make even Kendall Roy look taller
A well considered pair of tapered white jeans will elongate the leg - particularly if said jeans are worn with high top sneakers or boots, any hammy ankle on show will truncate the effect - and create the illusion of height. This pair from Levi’s aren’t cut too tight either, so provided you pick the right size you’ll avoid any sausage skinness.
3 | The pair which would suit every Roy character (and beyond)
Perfectly cropped, cut loose in the leg, and incredibly easy to wear, whether you team these Le 17 Septembre jeans with a pair of Adidas Sambas and an exposed ankle, or some Birkenstock sandals and a sweater, it’s difficult to go wrong.
4 | The pair Tom Wambsgans will wear post-break down at an Ashram in Goa
No one does the wide leg cropped thing better than Studio Nicholson. Best worn sockless with low-slung mules or sandals, these jeans are the ultimate holiday trouser. Think Don Draper meditating in the last episode of Mad Men, or Tom Wambsgans following his imminent psychotic break.
5 | The pair which even Roman could pull off
Simple, straight-cut, flattering on most shapes. Consider this pair by Brunello Cucinelli the daddy of all white jeans, the easy breezy sea from where you should begin your pale leg odyssey if, like Roman Roy, you’ve never dipped your toe in before.
Ok fine, this piece was entirely about Succession. Soz about it!