Start With the Jeans

STYLING

The leg width is already decided when you pick up the jeans. The top is the only open question.

Most outfit advice starts at the top and works down. With knits and denim it goes the other way, because the jeans are the fixed part. The leg width, the rise and the wash are set the moment you pick the pair up, and each of them narrows what the knit should be. Choose the denim first and the top chooses itself.

Wide Leg Below, Close Knit Above

A wide leg carries all the volume an outfit can take. The knit over it should sit close to the body and end at or just above the waistband: a rib knit worn tucked, a wrap-front top whose hem finishes where the rise begins, a cardigan buttoned and worn as the top. Anything loose on top of a wide leg reads as two large shapes stacked, and the waist disappears between them.

Straight Leg Takes Almost Anything

A straight leg is the pair that forgives. A henley half-tucked at the front, a cardigan open over a rib knit, the woven shirt untucked: each works, because the leg is neither fighting the top for space nor so narrow that it asks the top to be long. If you own one pair of jeans, this is the pair, and if you are deciding what to wear in the dark, this is also the pair.

Longline Shorts Want the Longest Top

A short that stops near the knee shortens the lower half, so the upper half has to carry some length. The cardigan buttoned to the hem, or the woven shirt with its cinched waist worn untucked, puts the long line on top where the short has taken it away. A cropped knit over a longline short cuts the body into two short pieces, which is the one combination here to avoid.

Pale Denim Sets the Color Rule

White and beige denim make the top the only place color can live. Chocolate brown, sage and black knits all sit well on them, and a striped knit on white reads crisp rather than busy. Keep the shoes quiet too, because pale denim already draws the eye down.

Black Denim and the Striped Knit

Black denim is the opposite case: it absorbs attention, so the knit can afford a pattern. A striped rib or a striped cardigan over black is the one time two things are happening in the outfit, and because the denim is plain the stripe stays the only pattern. A plain knit on black works as well, it just works more quietly.

The Shirt That Decides Itself

One top on the site breaks the rule because it has already been decided for you. The pinstripe shirt is drawn in at the middle, so it gives the outfit a waist whichever pair it sits on. Wide leg, straight leg or short, the shirt stays untucked and the cinch does the work.

If the Pairing Is Wrong at Home

The combination you planned does not always look the same in your own mirror as it did in your head. That is what the tags-on try at home is for, and if a piece turns out to be the wrong half of the pair, sending it back is free under our Return & Refund Policy. For how each knit and each pair is cut, the range is described on our About Us page.

Thank you for shopping with us, and for leaving the house in a knit and a pair of jeans you did not have to think about twice.