Fashion Lab: Jeans Tucked Into Boots

Throwback Thursday. The pictures in this old fashion lab illustrate a good way for a woman with my body type and proportions (hourglass with short, curvy thighs) to combine color values when wearing jeans tucked into knee-high boots. The picture in the middle is, in my current opinion, the best: the sweater (too bad I don’t still have it) maintains the arc through the waist perfectly, among other things that are working.

In comments, my late friend Wendy mentions mid-calf scrunch boots for shorter women; since boot heights are currently in transition, I would like to mention something else I have been thinking about:

Boots which stop short of reaching the knee can be used to fool the eye into adding some of the lower leg to the upper leg, thereby optically lengthening the thigh.


When I first noticed the practice of tucking jeans into knee-high boots being revived, I thought to myself, “I’ll just sit this one out”. Until one day last week November 2006. Walking at noon with my husband, I happened to notice a lady on the other side of the street. Her boots were very like mine, and she looked quite normal wearing them with jeans tucked in. With the color value similarity of the dark jeans and brown boots, her legs looked like legs (not hams on pedestals, which was my fear).

The other thing I noticed was that her top was a light color, in contrast to the pant/boot combination.

“Ah ha!” Maybe that’s the trick.

So here you have it:

  • What I actually wore today. Since I was the greeting mentor at our MOPS group, I wore my Eddie Bauer Seattle Suede jean jacket over my sweater.
  • The look I am testing: dark jeans, tucked into knee-high boots, topped by a light colored top. I think it works!
  • For the sake of comparison, the same look only with a dark brown top.

What do you think of jeans tucked into boots? What techniques have you successfully used?

8 thoughts on “Fashion Lab: Jeans Tucked Into Boots”

  1. I love wearing my jeans like that, but I’ve never really thought about it like this, I don’t even remember how I used to wear my jeans before I started tucking them in! 🙂 It looks great on you by the way!

  2. You go Rebecca! It looks great!

    I love tucked in jeans, especially skinny jeans. If you are shorter, I think this trend works well with mid calf slouchy boots, too, as they elongate the leg (not that I’ve found the right boots yet).

    For those of us in true winter climes, it also eliminates the annoying snowy/wet/salt stained pant leg problem, too!

  3. Rebecca,

    I am a jean-tucked-in-the-boot wearer as well and it makes me look taller! Besides, most of my pants are long on me because I’m pretty short, so it works because I don’t have pants that drag on the pavement 😉

  4. That’s some keen observation on your part! I’ve always thought my legs looked like hams in skinny jeans+boots purely because of my body type.

  5. I love this look and was happy when I discovered a great new product called Jean Straps (www.jeanstraps.com). They are removable stirrups that attach to the bottom of your jeans via a garter clip. They are super easy to use and they only cost $9.99. The garter clips lay flat so unlike the metal clips that I have seen other products use, they don’t add extra bulk in your boot. Love them! Just bought a bunch for stocking stuffers.

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