The Black Trousers You Wore With A Nice Top In The Early ‘00s Are Back

Low-rise jeans are trending, so are multi-pocket cargos, but if there’s one pair of trousers making a comeback that no one saw coming, it’s stretchy black trousers. Remember them? Probably from Kookai, possibly from Morgan, they somewhat were difficult to define.

As one user put it on Twitter, ‘Remember how we all used to have ‘black pants’ in the 00s? Not jeans, not black office pants. Just black pants to wear with your going out top?’ Cue the nostalgia because people, at least on Twitter, certainly do remember. One user commented, ‘Yes, mine were from Express, stretchy as hell with a slight bootcut. Pictured here with a 00s wide belt worn across the hips (and over my long tank).’ Another said, ‘I got bleach on my good black pants in the late 90s. I am still angry about it.’

Because of the colour and fit, a whole generation of teenagers wearing black trousers basically looked like they worked as waiters on the weekend. If you did, in fact, work as a waiter on the weekend, all you had to do after shutting up shop was to swap your shirt - which would have been fitted and ruched at the buttons - for a nice top. (This could be anything from a halter neck to the aforementioned tank top. I had one with ‘Babe’ emblazoned across the front in diamanté - because why not? - from Tammy Girl.)

Are they really back, I hear you asking because they sound less than chic? Yes and no. The OG stretchy black pant - 100% polyester, 100% flammable - probably wouldn’t pass muster now. But its cousins - the flared legging worn by Kendall Jenner; the low-slung pants belonging to Bella Hadid and the classic straight leg trousers spotted on Emily Ratajkowski above - definitely would.

Whether or not you wear them with a nice top, however, is entirely up to you.

SHOP: The Best Stretchy Black Trousers

Natalie Hammond is the Senior Fashion News Editor of Grazia.