In words I didn't think I'd be able to write, it's quite a good time for the high street at present. We've just had news that Topshop is returning, fulfilling millennial dreams everywhere, and M&S has been enjoying incredibly strong sales of its spring/summer 2025 collection, which only started dropping this week. Another brand has quietly been enjoying a comeback, too, and it's another name to inspire nostalgia among millennial shoppers: Gap.
After closing all of its stores in the UK and Ireland in 2021, Gap looked as though it was going to be the latest high street casualty. Its high-profile collaboration with Kanye West – Yeezy Gap – was swiftly terminated the following year, after he made antisemitic comments on social media, making for a fairly unstable time for the brand. Since 2023, however, when Richard Dickson – formerly at Mattel, where he was instrumental in Barbie's renaissance – was appointed as CEO, things have been changing for the better. Like Uniqlo hired former Givenchy designer Clare Waight Keller, Gap recruited Zac Posen as its new creative director, and he quickly set to work creating red carpet pieces for the likes of Anne Hathaway, Demi Moore, Timothée Chalamet and Cynthia Erivo.
It's not just a starry new designer and celebrity endorsement which is contributing to the Gap-aissance, however. The new product is resonating with shoppers, too, who are currently buying huge numbers of one particular style of jeans: the barrel leg. Available in a number of different washes, from dark blue to beige, the brand says that this style has been its key performer of its spring collection so far. At £45-£55, they're an affordable take on denim this season – the patchwork style has already sold out, while I personally love the dark indigo wash, which has '90s Calvin Klein vibes.
Naturally, we didn't want to just take the internet's word for it (there's been a lot of talk about these jeans on social media) so our own Julia Harvey, Grazia's shopping editor, tried them on for size. 'I've been slightly nervous about the increasingly popular barrel leg jeans that have been everywhere but have to say I was pleasantly surprised by the fit of Gap's version. The denim is so soft on the blue style and I really loved the high waist, which I think balances out the exaggerated leg to make it more flattering. I will say that the beige pair came up a little small, so size up for a slightly slouchier fit.'
As mentioned, these jeans are selling particularly quickly, so I'd rush to add to basket if you're keen. Given that re-sale sites like Vinted and Depop are seeing sales of Gap denim up by over 100%, you can consider this a sound – and inexpensive – investment.
Shop: Gap's Best-Selling Barrel Leg Jeans
www.gap.co.uk
My personal favourite, the dark wash and seam detail feel very '90s Calvin Klein.
www.gap.co.uk
The favourite jeans of Julia Harvey, shopping editor, who says that the denim is super soft and the fit is fantastic.
www.gap.co.uk
The beige jeans come up a little small, so definitely size up for a slouchier fit.
Hannah Banks-Walker is Grazia's head of fashion commerce. She has previously written for the likes of Harper's Bazaar, The Financial Times, Glamour, Stylist, The Telegraph, Red, i-D and The Pool on everything from fashion to curly hair (hi!) to the patriarchy. Not necessarily in that order. Find her on Instagram and Twitter. But please don't look for her MySpace profile, which until now was the last time she wrote about herself in the third person.