Once upon a time, our pants fell roughly into three basic categories: work slacks, jeans, and sweatpants. Then came leggings and, briefly and regrettably, jeggings. But in recent years, as many of us have grown allergic to buttons and zippers, a new category of daily wear pants has emerged: “fancy soft pants.” Fancy soft pants are, of course, soft and usually satiny, loose-legged elastic trousers that feel like pajamas, remind you of track pants, but are sophisticated enough for date night or even a work meeting if you style them right.
Sometimes fancy soft pants have a drawstring; sometimes they don’t. Sometimes they are smooth; sometimes they’re textured. Sometimes they’re cotton; often they’re a silk or polyester crêpe. Usually they’re black, but they’re also bright red or mustard yellow or a floral print. They look great with sneakers and ballet flats and even boots. And now, everyone from The Row to the Gap is selling them.
“Almost every designer has their own spin on it,” says David Thielebeule, the fashion director at Bloomingdale’s. He traces the trend back to Phoebe Philo’s era at Celine in the early 2010s, when the designer wore wool trousers with Stan Smith sneakers, and her models wore striped track pants with heels. Another trailblazer is The Row, which released its bias-cut elastic Gala pants in 2022, and soon Kendall Jenner and Zoë Kravitz were photographed in these comfy but crisp pants. Fancy soft pants aren’t a new invention, of course, but they’ve become a mandatory merchandising category at all sorts of brands. “It has gone from a bit niche to rather ubiquitous pretty quickly,” says Thielebeule.
Fashion writer and personal shopper Becky Malinsky says fancy soft pants are popular because they can take you from Pilates to the office, are easy to pair with all sorts of shoes, and can dress down button-down shirts and sweaters. Malinksy first clocked the rise of these pants two years ago, when she discovered L.A. designer Brooke Callahan’s black wool style with ties on the sides of the waist. “People have more preconceived notions about a jean or a sweatpant and what sort of occasion you’re dressing for, while soft pants can be more malleable for different occasions in a day,” she says. And in a soft, loose style, the once-staid black office-friendly trouser “has moved out of the sad work wardrobe category.”
When Lili Chemla started Leset in 2019, she said department stores didn’t know what to do with her soft matching pajama-adjacent sets. “I’m excited that it’s become the norm at this point,” she says. Leset is best known for its T-shirts, but its Kyoto carpenter pants and Barb wide-leg pants are among its top best sellers, and Chemla is thinking of new ways to play with soft pants — more colors, more fabrics and textures beyond her core cottons and satins, with different widths and rises. “Creating flattering pants that don’t have buttons or zippers isn’t always the easiest thing to do, but we really feel as though we’ve been able to really find that lane,” she says.
Chemla is right, not all fancy soft pants are particularly flattering by a traditional definition. “A wide leg in the wrong fabric can just collapse; in the right fabric, it can elongate,” she says.
Cheap versions of fancy soft pants can look wrinkled and sloppy and, worst of all, collapse in the butt area. I learned that the hard way last year when I went searching for my own fancy soft pants and had to return a pair at J.Crew that looked too much like pajamas on me. After years of regretting fast-fashion purchases, I’ve realized it’s better to spend more on fewer pieces and wear them longer, which is how I ended up with a hammered-silk version from Attersee that looks perfect with a long button-down or oversize blazer and kitten heels. After writing about Jennifer Lawrence’s postpartum style, I also copied her favorite La Ligne pants in olive green and have worn them with cropped T-shirts, chunky knits, and sneakers. But perhaps my most-worn pair of fancy soft pants are a silky-smooth, $30 pleated pair from Uniqlo that got me through most of my pregnancy and, almost a year later, still makes me feel dressed up without having to button a single button. What’s fancier than that?
Under $200
Slouch Experts
IYKYK Labels
Prints and Patterns
New! You can now save this product for later.
New! You can now save this product for later.
