Recently, Gigi Hadid, Bella Hadid and Selena Gomez (great minds think alike) have us seriously contemplating a cropped denim jacket. Their preference is not the rigid, stiff, uncomfortable-looking kind, but rather a slouchy, tomboy-luxe topper that’s been strategically hacked in half to reveal the narrowest part of one’s waist (while its very on-trend frayed hems dance in the summer breeze).
Lil baby
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Of course, even in the teeny jacket world, there’s sartorial wiggle room. Fashion’s interest in navel-gazing has reached an all-time high and the Fall 2017 runways and showrooms saw many a designer riffing on the skin-baring topper.
Alexis Mabille Fall 2017, Off-White Fall 2017, Unravel Fall 2017; Images: Imaxtree, Courtesy
Off-White’s Virgil Abloh paired a shrunken denim jacket with a similarly cropped long-sleeve button-down, high-waisted tartan trousers and tan heels. (Anyone else feeling those not-quite-back-to-school vibes?) Alexis Mabille, known for his dressed-up daywear, teamed a boxy, shearling-lined, brooch-adorned jacket with an updated denim skirt, knee-high patent boots and a simple striped shirt. At Los Angeles girl favorite Unravel, a cropped denim-leather Frankenjacket complemented graphic leggings and a coordinating red turtleneck.
Other styling possibilities? Cropped denim jackets look especially great with contrasting layers: pants and skirts of the (pleated) high-waisted variety, miniskirts, short dresses, short dresses over pants. Or there’s the tried-and-true tube top/Canadian tux route.
In the interest of keeping things (i.e., your shopping experience) short and sweet, we’ve gone ahead and culled our favorite cropped denim jackets in the slideshow below.