Denim Review: J Brand Houlihan cargo pants in Vintage Tigers Eye

As promised in this post, here is the second review of the week and it’s on the J Brand Houlihan skinny cargo pants in Vintage Tigers Eye which Trilogy sent to me. This wash, along with 3 others, is brand new for Spring/Summer 2012. You can find out more about J Brand’s Houlihan re-release in my guest post for Trilogy here.

When J Brand first released their Houlihan cargo pants, back in 2010, I reviewed them then in the Vintage Olive wash. You can see that review here. I still stand by what I said back then, about them being a wonderful cargo pant and very comfortable, but I will elaborate more. I’m sure most of you DenimBlog readers actually own a pair of the Houlihan cargos by now, but for those of you who don’t, I think you should definitely consider it!

The fit of these is still one of my favourite skinny cargo pants to date, they are in my top two along with the Rich & Skinny cargos. It’s a very close call between those two, but I would say the Houlihan wins for the colder weather because the fabric is thicker. They are made from Japanese Twill which makes them very soft and gentle on the skin, it also means they are really stretchy and very comfortable. When you usually think of cargo pants, you think of rigid material and masculine fits. The Houlihan pants are none of those, they really changed everyone’s opinion on the trend in my mind.

They are cut very skinny, just like a jegging or super skinny jean, they hit at the ankle, they have a lower rise (not super low, more between medium to low), they have angled trouser style front pockets, long ankle zips, stitching around the knees (similar to a moto jean), the cargo pockets on the sides of the legs are in the perfect place to look good and also be flattering at the same time and the back pockets just have flaps instead of actual pockets. All of these details make these pants perfect! There isn’t one thing that I don’t like about them. I usually always insist on having back pockets, but these are flattering without. The flaps actually look really nice on the butt.

The Houlihan has literally been released in almost every wash possible, bar a few, and it’s been one of J Brand’s most famous selling pants and I can honestly understand why. I’m glad they have released them in a few more washes. Especially this Vintage Tigers Eye! Orange is the colour of Spring 2012, so you can expect lots of orange jeans to be popping up all over the place, but J Brand really made this orange perfect for the cargo trend. They made it dusty, almost rusty, vintage and aged looking, just like they have been worn and washed a lot of times so the wash looks really worn in and exactly how you would expect a cargo pant wash to look. You wouldn’t really think that colours like these would work on cargos, you usually think browns, greens and khakis, however J Brand know exactly what they are doing.

Everything about these pants, I love. The material is thick enough to be worn in Autumn and Winter, which is a plus point for me as living in England it’s often cold, the fit is wonderful, so flattering and as feminine as possible for a cargo pant and the wash is pretty! I love colour and wear it at any opportunity, so these definitely make me smile! I also took my usual J Brand size of 27 in these and they fit well. You can size up one size if you want them to be a bit looser. I know a lot of people like cargos to fit slouchier, but I stayed with my usual size so they can be fitted, which is how I prefer my pants to look. I actually hope that the brand releases more vintage colours too, that would be great! Buy these J Brand Houlihan pants in Vintage Tigers Eye online at Trilogy.

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