Taylor Russell and NYC Fashion Girls Are Ditching Vintage Jeans for This Fall Denim Trend

Taylor Russell is seen at the 81st Venice International Film Festival on September 05, 2024 in Venice, Italy.

(Image credit: Alessandro Levati/Getty Images)

I'm the first person who'll tell you that a wardrobe without vintage denim, specifically 501s, is hardly complete or satisfactory. They've been beloved for over a century, and aren't going away anytime soon. However, for once, I'm eyeing another denim style with the same adoration and honestly obsession that I have for my classic, perfectly faded Levi's 501 jeans. And I'm not the only one.

Taylor Russell, the star of Luca Guadagnino's Bones and All and a jury member of the 2024 Venice Film Festival, was spotted in the Italian city a few days ago wearing the exact jeans trend I'm referring to: raw, dark-wash denim. Hers appeared to be of the barrel-leg variety, with a high waist and rust-colored stitching, similar to styles by Tibi and Jamie Haller. With them, she wore a white, crew-neck tee and a cropped, cream-colored V-neck sweater, along with black loafers, a CDG bucket hat, a tote bag, and sunglasses.

Taylor Russell is seen at the 81st Venice International Film Festival on September 05, 2024 in Venice, Italy.

(Image credit: Alessandro Levati/Getty Images)

On Taylor Russell: Comme des Garçons hat

But Russell isn't the only certified fashion girl choosing the more formal, sophisticated denim style. All over New York City this week—aka New York Fashion Week—show attendees have been opting for darker, raw denim, be they straight-leg, barrel-leg, or flared silhouettes. Specifically, I've spotted them outside of Tibi, Nanushka, and Tommy Hilfiger. And those are just the ones I saw with my own two eyes. When I started looking through street-style imagery, countless more appeared. Instagram's Eva Chen was among the chic dressers I saw in raw denim, styling a wide-leg pair with what appears to be a black Dior Bar Jacket. Stylist Savannah White chose Tibi's Sid jeans, also going the blazer route, though hers was cropped and embellished with multiple brooches.

A guest wears black sunglasses, gold earrings, light purple flowy oversized shirt, shiny black leather bag with black tassels, dark blue denim jean baggy pants, shiny red pointed toe heels, outside Tibi, during the New York Fashion week Spring/Summer 2025 on September 07, 2024 in New York, New York.

(Image credit: Edward Berthelot/Getty Images)

Savannah White wears silver rimmed sunglasses, silver earrings, black long sleeve shirt, black criss cross blazer tailored vest with sun and moon brooches, black leather belt, dark blue denim jean baggy pants, shiny boots leather shoes, outside Who Decides War, during the New York Fashion week Spring/Summer 2025 on September 07, 2024 in New York, New York.

(Image credit: Edward Berthelot/Getty Images)

Eva Chen wears a dark gray oversize blazer jacket, blue flared wide-leg denim jeans pants, ballerina shoes, outside Grace Ling, during New York Fashion Week on September 06, 2024 in New York City.

(Image credit: Edward Berthelot/Getty Images)

Convinced? Same. Scroll down to shop some of 2024's best raw denim, from Levi's to Tibi. Trust me, after seeing how many ways this style can be worn, you won't regret packing away your vintage jeans for a season or two.

Shop raw, dark-wash denim:

Senior Fashion Editor

Eliza Huber is a New York City–based fashion editor who specializes in trend reporting, brand discovery, and celebrity style. She joined Who What Wear in 2021 after almost four years on the fashion editorial team at Refinery29, the job she took after graduating with a marketing degree from the University of Iowa. She has since launched two monthly columns, Let's Get a Room and Ways to Wear; profiled the likes of Dakota Fanning, Diane Kruger, Katie Holmes, and Sabrina Carpenter for WWW's monthly cover features; and reported on everything from the relationship between Formula One and fashion to the top trends from fashion month, season after season. Eliza now lives on the Upper West Side and spends her free time researching F1 fashion imagery for her side Instagram accounts @thepinnacleoffashion and @f1paddockfits, running in Central Park, and scouring eBay for '90s Prada and '80s Yves Saint Laurent.