As if charm jewelry, Ed Hardy garments and popcorn fabric weren’t enough, Y2K fashion strikes again with another unlikely fashion revival from the early aughts: Jorts.
A cousin of the once again trendy capri pants, baggy, Bermuda-length jean shorts — or “jorts” — have been successfully resuscitated and revamped for the modern, chic woman. Except this time, they’re often paired with blazers and heels, or sneakers and tees.
“We’ve seen a large rise in consumers cutting and splicing full-length jeans to get the perfect pair of shorts,” Francesca Sieler, the marketing director at Beyond Retro, told The Guardian last year.
“What would have been an unwanted piece has now got a new life and look that is personalized for the consumer.”
While jorts launched their meteoric rise of style stardom in 2023, they’re primed to reign once more this year, per Grazia.
Billie Eilish, a proponent of knee-grazing Bermuda shorts, wore a pair of jorts when appearing on “The Tonight Show” in December. Meanwhile, Mindy Kaling posted a photo of her jorts and blazer combo on Instagram this spring and both Emily Ratajkowski and Bella Hadid have sported a pair on multiple occasions over the past year or so.
“Dad jorts are in whether you like it or not,” boldly declared content creator Savannah Demers in a TikTok clip.
According Instagram account Data But Make It Fashion, the brand ASOS reported a 29% spike in searches for the “controversial” jorts in April. And, on X, searches for “long denim shorts” soared while 77,000 TikTok videos use the hashtag #jorts, which show fashionistas styling and sporting the divisive denim.
Love it or hate it, the jorts trend, once the hallmark style of hip-hop artists and skating circles, seems like it’s here to stay, in part due to their versatility for inclement weather and their comfortability.
“I wear them with a blazer and a dainty shoe to the office, which has a smart/casual dress code, but I like that I can also wear them with a T-shirt to the pub at the weekend,” Olivia Buxton Smith, a fashion editor at the fashion gaming company Drest, told The Guardian.
“They’re so versatile, whereas shorter shorts are for holidays only.”
The jorts trend — a stark contrast to the microshorts craze earlier this year — follows the popularity of early 2000s style pillars like UGG boots, gauchos, pencil-thin eyebrows and, to millennials’ horror, wearing dresses over denim.
And, in an era of subversive style where ugly is synonymous with vogue, jorts also fall in line with the rise of “ugly” shoes, as Birkenstocks, Crocs and chunky “dad” sneakers have reigned supreme.
