Denim Expert Jane Herman on the 5 Jean Styles to Keep in Your Closet Year-Round, and Her Favorite Silhouette for 2026

0:10Hillary Kerr:Welcome to the Who What Wear podcast, your direct line to the designers, stylists, beauty experts, editors, and tastemakers who are shaping the ever evolving world of fashion. I'm Who What Wear's co-founder and chief content officer, Hillary Kerr. And today I'm chatting with denim designer and expert Jane Herman. You may know Jane from her LA-based denim brand, The Only Jane, which she founded in 2020 with a single jumpsuit style that has since become a wardrobe essential. She's also the author of a sub-stack newsletter, Jane on Jeans, where she writes about all of her favorite denim pieces and where to find them.

0:52Hillary Kerr:Plus, She's one of Who What Wears new editors in residence. Jane joins us to give us her predictions on which denim styles are going to be big in 2026 and also shares her expert styling advice and the five essential jean styles you should have in your wardrobe no matter the season. It's all coming up on Who What Wear.

1:22Hillary Kerr:Jane Herman, welcome to the pod. I am so excited to have you today. Thank you for joining. I'm so happy to be here, Hilary. Thank you. Yay. This is particularly meaningful for me because just full transparency, Jane and I are very old friends. We have known each other since we were baby assistants at Elle Magazine. I have now known you longer than I have not. More than half our lives, yeah. And I am always so excited to speak with you in an official and work capacity because you are, without a doubt, the most formidable denim expert I know from writing about it to making it to wearing it and everything in between.

2:03Hillary Kerr:But let's go back and talk a little bit about your background and how you became such an esteemed expert on many things, denim being one of them. You've often said that denim is in your blood. Can you explain that a little bit for our audience? Yes. It starts for me with my family. I grew up in jeans. That's the best way to put it. My dad is Ron Herman. He owned for decades some of LA's most influential retail stores. And denim and jeans were a really big part of the stores. There was the famous jean bar, which was in the men's department downstairs that sold all the latest and the greatest from Europe and the US.

2:46My dad loved jeans and really instilled in me a deep appreciation for not just the way they look and the way they feel and the fit, but also what they mean and their role in culture and style and pop culture. And in high school, I would work in the stores in the summertime. I started in back stock over the years and over the summers. I slowly graduated to working in that very jean bar where I learned so much. It was the early 2000s. Premium denim was just starting. I became really familiar with all the brands that were the big players then like Earl and paper denim and cloth. Everyone was wearing diesel.

3:26And it was a really important part of my fashion education was just working behind the bar and helping people find jeans that made them feel good.

3:36Hillary Kerr:I appreciate you setting the stage because I think that sometimes, much like we forget that sneakers were not go everywhere attire until relatively recently, denim has also really undergone such a transition. And to your point, really this premium market exploded. And yes, there's always been those heritage and important foundational brands, the Levi's, the Gaps, et cetera. But you had such an interesting seat as this category expanded into what it is today. I mean, no one thinks about a world without denim today. And it's so cool that you actually got to see all of that happening and changing in real time.

4:16Hillary Kerr:So talk to me a little bit about your experience with denim when you worked for The Gap. By the time I got to Gap, I had worked at Vogue. And at Vogue, I had an editor who was my boss and who is still a friend, Sally Singer, sort of recognize in me what I could bring to a certain category in fashion, which was jeans. There were these big trends that came about during this time when I was at that magazine. Kern Elliott started when I was at Vogue. Jay Brand started when I was at Vogue. The boyfriend Jean, the skinny Jean. And Sally was just like, you're from LA. You should write the story. And that gave me not only really great experience talking to other designers, but a language to use when writing about them.

5:04And I was like, oh yeah, I am. I'm the girl who grew up in jeans. I should lean into this. So I knew jeans were really this category that I deeply identified with. When I went to Gap, and I was so lucky to be there under Patrick Robinson, and I had this incredible job called director of concept where my job was to just go into the world and find cool things and find inspiration and bring it back and share it with the design team. It was just this like dream job. And there I got to work directly with designers in a way that I hadn't before. and on a scale that I just didn't even really know existed until you actually see it and feel it.

5:45There's a Europe team and a Japan team and all these global offices. And it was really exciting and inspiring. I learned so much. Oh my God, I learned so much. I had no idea what a merchant was before I went to work at Gap. I didn't know really how clothes ended up in the stores. And Gap is a company that's so rooted in denim with a history of the most amazing campaigns. It was really fun.

6:13Hillary Kerr:I remember when you had the exclusive, you got the scoop on Current Elliott because I was talking to Allie Taichman and I wanted to write about Current Elliott for Who, What, Where. And she's like, well, Vogue's going first. Jane Herman has the exclusive. I was like, oh, of course Jane has it. I was like, yeah, that makes sense. I too would give her the exclusive on it, but I'm going to be number two. What was so cool about that was that it was a boyfriend jean. It was slouchy. It was big in the waist. It was slightly tapered and you'd cuff it. And the stylist put it with a pair of heels for the shoot for Vogue.

6:50And it was like, what? Like, we're going to wear slouchy jeans with high heels. And it just twisted things just enough that it It really felt like we were looking at something so fresh. I wore those jeans for years. I still have a pair.

7:04Hillary Kerr:Same. Yeah, I'm going to keep them forever. All of my original first generation current Elliot, those aren't going anywhere. I haven't even put some of them on in a long time, but they're still in my closet. Like hugely prized, hugely. So in addition to having this incredible editorial foundation and working for brands as well, you then also have started your own brand, which is called The Only Jane. I am wearing one of your pieces right now, which I absolutely love. You started it during the pandemic with a single jumpsuit style and then later expanded to include jeans and jackets and other pieces.

7:40Hillary Kerr:I gave one of your bandanas to my sister-in-law for the holidays. It's amazing. But talk to me about what the impetus was for starting your own brand, how you think about design in general, and who you're designing for. Okay. When I had my daughter in 2018, I'd written about clothes. I'd sold clothes. I knew how to set up e-commerce for clothes. I'd done all these things, but I'd never actually made any clothes. And I felt like it was time for a new challenge. I just thought, okay, if I make them, I'm pretty sure I'll be able to sell them. And I have nice relationships with press and PR, and I have people that I can call to ask for support and help and guidance.

8:25And I was living in Los Angeles and New York, kind of going back and forth. And LA has some really great factories. LA has a history of making some of the world's best jeans. So I was not going to start with jeans because I knew how hard that was. I was going to start with something else that I felt was a little bit more achievable. And I started with one jumpsuit because I wanted to offer one thing, but a whole look. And I also just felt like if I can get the fit right on a jumpsuit, I think I can figure out the rest if I decide to go into other categories. And so that's why I started. Who do I design for?

9:06I design for women like myself and women like you who are like we've lived a little. We know ourselves and we have so many different aspects of our life, right? Like we have our family life, we have work life, we have our friends. So when I'm thinking about making clothes that help us get dressed in a way that is easy and confident and comfortable and also not too driven by trend, I have these two different sides of my mood board. And on one side are these very intimate photographs of women with their children and old eternity ads. They have nothing to do with genes. They're just life people connecting.

9:56And then on the other side of my mood board are pictures of women, mostly my favorite supermodels throughout the 90s, alone and looking incredible in New York City. Both of those things are so much a part of who I am personally. And when I'm making jeans, I'm trying to keep those two people in mind. I remember so well the years I spent in New York working, living alone, just being really all about myself and my career and my ambitions. And then this other part of myself that's very much present right now, especially, which is really being about and for other people. When I'm trying to conjure an emotion before I start to think about what drives us to buy clothes, it's to satisfy those two things.

10:45Hillary Kerr:And it's also because while we're not in that solo New York moment currently, that woman still resides within us. So I love the duality of that because I agree with you. I think that your clientele, from my understanding, she has that duality. She's multifaceted. She's been lots of different people. She probably even recognizes herself in other people in that Didion-esque way. So I think that there's something really lovely about that. What I love about jeans, the thing I always come back to about jeans, is that they're just an emotional category. We all have a pair of jeans that we keep forever.

11:24You mentioned your current Elliot. Actually, what are the jeans that you've kept forever?

11:28Hillary Kerr:The elephant bell, like the bell bottom from the very first current Elliott collection that I, growing up, really loved psychedelia and the protest music of the 60s and always loved the bell bottom. And so those are my comfort jeans still. So it's like I don't wear it necessarily. There's been literally a decade when I've not worn a bell, but those jeans went everywhere with me. I mean, they were very much part of the fabric of my life. whenever I do a closet clean out, they don't even go into storage. They stay. I love them. I will never part with them. Yeah. They're like timestamps for your life.

12:03You can pull them out and remember all the places you were when you wore them and all the people you were with. So that to me is what makes jeans different than a lot of other things in our closet.

12:14Hillary Kerr:Yeah. They carry memory in a really amazing way. So one of the things that I also love about this phase of your career is that you still write about denim and do it in such a beautiful way, not only for publications like Who Aware, but also for your own sub stack, Jane on Jeans, which is phenomenal. It's a must read. So in addition to your own brand, what are some of the other denim pieces that you're like obsessed with right now that feel very current? What do you love right now in the wonderful world of denim? Like what is most meaningful to you. I love bootcut jeans right now. I really love wearing boots.

12:51They just make me sit differently. They make me walk differently. My stride gets longer. So the bootcuts that I love, and this is one of the better sellers that I've seen, like so many people buying this jean is the Buck Mason Roper, which is, yeah, it's a really good interpretation of the Levi's 517. and it's got a high waist and a gorgeous wash that's a little bit on the sort of dirty dark side, which is really good for like a Western theme jean. It's a really good jean. I see that jean sell through my sub stack and I personally really like it. I would say size down. It definitely runs a little big.

13:30It has a very long inseam. Most people have to shorten it. And then the other jean that I really love right now is from a new brand called Osu, which is based out of New York and they have a jean called the noon and it's just like a really classic high rise straight slightly tapered leg jean looks a little bit like the Valentino jean that came down the runway from spring 26 it has that kind of taper you wear it a little longer it's a very clean wash they've put a lot of thought into their hardware and that jean I think is really special I see a lot of people buying Levi's and Levi's makes a really great 90s 501 in selvedge denim that is a little pricier than the non-selvedge, but it's a great jean.

14:20Hillary Kerr:Are you over barrel now at this point or are you still liking it? I try. Yes. I mean, I can't ignore it. And I actually have a jean. It's called the bob that has a little bit of a curved leg and a twisted seam that is barrel adjacent. But the barrels with the darts at the knees and the big sort of exaggerated curved legs are just not for me personally. But I've definitely tried different versions. I like that one that has the panel on the side that give the leg the volume. It's called the Hattie and it's from AG. And then on the weekends, I reach for that jean all the time because it's so easy and very comfortable.

14:58And I can wash it a lot without being too precious about the dent. I don't like to wash my vintage jeans that much because it takes the fade down too quickly. And I want that fade to last as long as possible. But my more contemporary jeans, I'm less concerned about washing on the regular. And like after a weekend with my kids, I need to wash my jeans.

15:18Hillary Kerr:You've alluded to some of the brands or some of the styles that you're seeing your readership from your Substack buy. But has that changed at all recently? Like what's starting to pick up for people? What are some of those like greatest hits for recommendations that you're seeing through your sub stack? Hmm. I mean, I see jeans getting slimmer and skinnier. It takes an adjustment after all the baggy jeans that we've been in for a while, which I think maybe is why boot cuts. Like I got a really good response to a post I did on boot cut jeans because a boot cut is kind of a nice transition. It's a bit of a movement away from the barrels and the baggies and the slouchies that we've been seeing for the last couple of years towards a little bit more fit around the body and showing a little bit more of the shape of the body.

16:10And jeans have been like very anti-shape for a long time. Levi's has a wedgie bootcut style that's really good. They give you like a really sexy perky butt and the bootcut version of that butt together, the combination of that is really cute. I did a story with Old Navy and they have this vintage high rise slim that is a skinny jean in a stretch fabric. And I absolutely love it. It is not easy to make a jean that fits this well. I know from experience and it just fits phenomenally. I wore it out to a birthday party with some friends and my friends were all like, Jane, oh my God, who is this girl?

16:54I felt really cute. It was a really fun experiment. And I really do think that it's going to take time. Look, there are people who never stopped wearing skinnies, right? And all those women are back in the conversation now, and I'm so happy about it. And it's really nice that there's literally a fit for everyone right now.

17:17Hillary Kerr:Speaking of which, is it because we're older and we care less, or is it because the industry has changed? Because it felt like when we were in our 20s and even in our 30s, there was very much hive mind. Everyone's wearing this, everyone's wearing this. And now it feels so open. There's any style, any way. That kind of feels a little bit anything goes. Is that your perception as well? I think as you said, anything goes. And I think part of that is due to the fact that jeans are now an acceptable thing to wear for all occasions of our lives, right? So you can have a very dressed up, tailored, trouser-pocketed, wide leg jean.

17:54And then you can also have a really comfortable, relaxed barrel jean for the weekend, right? It's not just a casual category. So it outfits like all aspects, all points of our lives because we wear jeans also when we go to work.

18:10Hillary Kerr:Speaking of work, thinking of like a wardrobe and work jeans, et cetera, et cetera, how many pairs of jeans do you think the average person should own? If you were building a capsule jean wardrobe for someone, what styles do you think that they should own? I'm not going to speak to quantity because you can have multiple versions of the styles, I think, but there are five. I've thought about this. You need a high rise straight leg jean of some kind, something that is like the archetype of a pair of jeans, right? When you close your eyes, you think of a five pocket jean in its most like classic form, not too complicated wash, but that's just clean and like a very good foundation for almost anything.

18:56Then you need a really relaxed fit that you can do errands in. That's maybe a barrel for a lot of people. It could be a slouchier wide leg style, could be something that just is loose and that you could actually sit and read a book in. A sitting jean. Yes, a sitting jean or like a run after your kids in the playground jean. A travel jean. Travel jean. Yes, something that you feel super comfortable in and that doesn't get in the way of how you need to move. And then I think it's very good to have a black jean in your closet. And I personally like my black jeans to have some stretch.

19:34Hillary Kerr:You call these night jeans, right? I call them night jeans. Whatever you're going to wear at night with your people out. So I do like these to have stretch. It should fit the body somewhere. If it's a wide leg style, then I would like to see a really clean top block, meaning it's fitted in the waist. It's nice in the butt. It's not hanging off of you in any kind of way. Okay. So that's number three. Then I think it's a good idea to have a summery jean in your wardrobe, which is something that's like very light washed, maybe has a frayed edge. I don't like my jeans to have unfinished hems except for in the summer.

20:18I feel like a frayed hem on a somewhat cropped, very light washed jean. A beach jean? It's a beach jean. Thank you. Yes. It's a jean that you wear in the summer that's like really lightweight and that you wear with sandals and that has holes in it and who cares? And you don't have to worry about being cold with holes in your jean. And then the last pair of jean I think you can have is something that's like a little bit more playful that has some kind of embellishment or quirk to it. Like I have a pair of Stella McCartney jeans. I'm actually wearing them right now. They have these corduroy inserts and so they're slightly belled.

20:55They're very like hippie-ish. The corduroy is navy and super luscious and soft and the denim is really soft and they're just fun. They're different. You know, something with studs down the out seam or something with a embellished or embroidered cuff around the hem. Like I think it's nice to have a jean in your closet that isn't just denim.

21:17Hillary Kerr:So a classic jean, a sitting slash travel play jean, a night jean, a beach jean, and a personality jean. I like that. Yeah. And also like that's a really thoughtful way of framing all of it. It's like what you do in the jean, not what the style of the jean is necessarily. Talk to me about shoes because there is nothing worse than bringing home a pair of jeans and then you're doing the thing where you're like, oh my gosh, I don't know what shoes I'm going to wear with these jeans. I don't have anything that work with them. So I'm always interested in shoes that you think work really well, like what you would recommend for the style.

21:54Hillary Kerr:So I feel like I know the answer to boot cut, but let's start with boot cut. What shoe do you think is great with a boot cut? Yes, let's get specific because it's not just a boot. It's anything with a heel. And also it has to be a hard-soled shoe, meaning no sneakers, no flip-flops, nothing that has like a rubbery bottom. You mean like a fry, like a classic? A fry is a great example. When I think of a hard sole, I think of a sole that's made also of leather, not rubber. I think a lug sole is not really great with a boot cut jean. And like the big sort of, you know, Steve Jobs, New Balance sneaker, like not good with a boot cut jean.

22:33There are always exceptions to the rules, right? You don't only have to wear it with boots. They look really good with heels too. And that could be a high heel or a block heel, but it needs to be a shoe that's not for sport, like athletic sport, I think personally.

22:50Hillary Kerr:Let's go wide leg next. Wide leg depends a little bit on the inseam. So if you're wearing a really long wide leg, for example, one that hits the floor and goes all the way down, or that's even longer and that you want to wear with heels, then I think it's nice with a pointy toe. So I'm kind of shoe with a pointy toe. Because otherwise you look like you're on stilts. right if the toe is too round then you lose the foot inside the leg of the jean if it's a shorter wide leg like jesse cam sailor pant i wear in them and it's a little bit shorter in the leg there's also a favorite daughter jean that i wear that's a little bit shorter in the leg i think you can change the rules a little bit like you could wear that with a chelsea boot if it has a pointy your toe.