These days, plenty of designers have dispensed with hard-line categories in favour of a more fluid approach, featuring womenswear in men’s shows and vice versa. Meaning menswear presentations, once relatively quiet affairs, are as closely scrutinised by fashion insiders for evidence of emerging trends as their blockbuster counterparts.

Prada men’s AW25.

Take Prada’s autumn/winter 2025 menswear show, which made a convincing case for the return of the slim-fit trouser – worn with ankle boots and all. A few months later, the same silhouette popped up in a number of autumn/winter 2025 womenswear collections – including at Victoria Beckham, Bally and Prada – and then again for spring/summer 2026. But it wasn’t until the autumn/winter 2026 collections that the skinny trouser comeback felt truly undeniable.

Let’s be clear: baggy ain’t bad (as Louise Trotter’s Bottega Veneta demonstrates), but after seasons on end of roomy tailoring and pooling hemlines, there’s something rather refreshing about witnessing the sharp lines of a cigarette trouser that cuts off abruptly at the ankle bone. And while the roots of women’s skinny trousers can be traced back to the cute capri pants worn by silver screen starlets – most famously Audrey Hepburn – in the 1950s and ’60s, this season creative directors steered clear of anything too “Pink Ladies” in favour of Noughties-inflected styling.

Miu Miu AW26.

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Isabel Marant AW26.

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Before any millennials slam their laptops shut, know that this silhouette is far removed from the jeggings that populated pumpkin-spiced latte-themed Pinterest boards in the 2010s. Take Miu Miu’s autumn/winter 2026 runway, which married slim (but not skinny), low-slung leather trousers with a matching zip-up cropped jacket and big sunnies. Similarly, Isabel Marant peppered slim-fit styles into her fall collection, styling them with animal-print ankle boots and boxy denim jackets.

Victoria Beckham AW26.

Victoria Beckham AW26.

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Victoria Beckham, meanwhile, presented what we consider to be the gold standard of skinny trouser styling for 2026: shrunken crew-neck knits paired with high-waisted pinstripe trousers, NHS prescription glasses and polished leather boots, for a “1960s schoolboy wearing dad’s work trousers” mood.

When it comes to styling the trend for autumn, keep things simple with a classic crew- or V-neck knit and polished flats, or you can’t go wrong with a more Burberry- and Celine-inspired equestrian spin: jodhpurs tucked into riding boots and finished with shirting layered over knitwear. So very . If you still have space in your heart for pictures of the Primrose Hill set in 2013, feel free to go full Kate Moss with ankle boots, biker jackets and band tees. Chaotic indie sleaze boyfriend not required.

Leather Patch Merino Wool Funnel-Neck Jumper