Denim Review: Paige Skyline Ankle Skinny Jeans in Porcelain Leaf Print

This weeks denim review is on the Paige Skyline Ankle Jeans in Porcelain Leaf Print. I originally fell in love with these jeans when I saw them at the AW12 press day in London and they were my favourite from the entire collection. At first glance I thought they were a spiderweb print, but then when I looked at them closer, I saw that they are leaves, which is naturally perfect for Fall!

The fit of these is exactly like Paige’s classic Skyline, however instead of fitting just right like most of her regular blue denim Skyline’s, I found these to be quite tight and very hugging, much like the Verdugo, but with a slightly different fit. I could possibly go as far as to say these feel almost like a cross between the Verdugo and Skyline in the sense that they are almost jegging like with the material, yet not skin tight from the knee down. I actually really like the snug fit these have as I was quite worried. Originally I thought that since this was a fun fashion print, it would look a bit awkward if they fitted slightly loose, so I am glad that the design team made these more elasticated and tighter fitting. That was a good change in designing which works so well. The rise is of a classic height for Paige and even though these are really an ankle jean, with my shorter legs they become full length on me, which is fine too.

I don’t usually wear white jeans very often, in fact I rarely ever do as I find a great pair incredibly hard to come across. Usually the denim is too see through so your underwear is visible or they show off your lumpy bumpy bits, but with these, I didn’t find that at all. The fabric is actually quite thick and it’s definitely thick enough to hide your underwear and keep every part of you hidden. I know these are not quite bright white. They are exactly as their name says, porcelain, because they have that creamy undertone to them, but I still class them as in the white jeans territory.

Now for the leaf print, I didn’t know how flattering these would actually be when worn, but surprisingly they are. My favourite part of them is the big leaf on my right thigh, I like how that stands out against the rest of the print, sort of like the main focal leaf that might have been the starting point of the initial design, however I know that each jean is sort of unique so the prints are not the same on every pair. I know sometimes that printed jeans can make your thighs look larger or give the overall impression that your legs are shorter and wide, but these honestly don’t do that. Granted they are not as slimming as a pair of dark blue or black skinny jeans, nothing usually is, but they don’t give false impressions either.

Since these are black and white, they are not difficult to pair at all, you can pretty much wear them with most colours, however I would recommend wearing them with something plain so that the leaf print is the focal point and the outfit doesn’t become too busy with contrasting patterns. I did take my usual size of a 27 in these and they fit me fine. They are really snug though like I mentioned above so you need to wear them a little bit so that they mould into your body shape, but they are definitely comfortable. These photos were taken during Bristol Fashion Week which I attended over here in England and I wore them all day, traveling, sitting and standing and I wasn’t uncomfortable in them once. I am very intolerant now as time has gone on to uncomfortable denim. I never used to be since I used to wear super tight 12oz rigid jeans, but I don’t have the patience to be so restricted and uncomfortable now when I don’t need to be, so comfort is always a main factor in my jeans, next to fit, and Paige ticks both boxes.

I was trying to think of some negative points that I could list with these jeans, but really the only thing I can find is that I would have liked them to be a bit tighter in the knee area as well as the ankles. This is for the simple reason of not wanting the print to get hidden in the fabric bunching. But this is most likely down to the fact that I have a smaller leg to hip/butt ratio as you know and my legs are shorter. It would be great if they came in the Verdugo, that would solve all of the problems! Another thing I did find with these jeans was that they were not the most flattering Paige jeans on the butt, I think that’s down to the print, I just feel like they made my butt look a little heavier than normal.

These jeans are quite bold, so they are definitely for the braver denim wearers, however I think if you are looking to get into the printed denim trend then these would probably be a good option due to the colour way. The black and white is very classic, but the print is quite heavy and striking so it would depend on your level of confidence in your outfits. I remember when I used to worry about wearing heavily printed denim in the beginning as I thought people would stare at me too much, but now it’s pretty much the normal routine for me, I love my bright colours, prints and textures. Do any of you own these jeans? How do you wear them? Buy these jeans online at Paige Denim for $189.

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Jeans courtesy of Paige Denim/IPR.