Just when you thought Y2K fashion couldn’t get any more ludicrously unflattering – sheer dresses! Baby tees! Low-rise jeans! – along came jorts. Not to be confused with jogging shorts, as the portmanteau suggests, I’m talking about awkwardly long denim shorts. You know the ones. Longline, loose-fitting enough to create a breeze, skimming just above or below the knee – usually worn by supermodels (Gigi Hadid, Hailey Bieber), celebrities (Simone Ashley, Emily Ratajkowski), and intimidatingly cool Gen-Zers – jorts are officially summer’s hottest trend.
The trouble is that they’re hideous. OK, admittedly they look cool on tall, long-legged, famous women who’ve been professionally styled, blow-dried, and manicured. But that clientele could turn a bin bag into a viral trend. They aren’t exactly the best metric. Even though we all understand this trickery, jorts have been infiltrating runways, high street shops, and Instagram feeds everywhere in the run-up to sunnier climes, telling us all that these strange, skaterboy shorts will look good on us all.
As with all dubious fashion trends, it can be hard to know where to place the blame. In fashion-speak, this particular one can be traced back to spring/summer 2023, when Givenchy, Louis Vuitton, and Fendi all featured variations in their collections. This was quickly followed by Coperni and Valentino, whose jorts came complete with colourful embroidered hems. But now you can find jorts literally anywhere. For the straightforward, plain pair, you can head to heritage denim brands like Levi’s and Wrangler. For something a little different, there’s Damson Madder and Ganni, whose jorts come with cargo pockets, or you’ll find sophisticated, well-made but simple pairs in Arket, Frame, and Cos. In other words, jorts are completely unavoidable. Oddly, I seem to be in the minority of people who are unhappy about this.
On Pinterest, searches for “jorts outfit womens” are up by 865 per cent since December, while “jorts outfit” has soared by 600 per cent. The hype is similarly high on Depop, where searches for “jorts” are up by 1,700 per cent since January. “The 90s trend that re-emerged last summer continues to thrive in 2025, as fashion enthusiasts embrace long, baggy streetwear styles,” says a spokesperson for Depop. “We’re also seeing a shift from the classic jort styles into more unique forms, with searches for ‘camo jorts’ up 100 per cent, as well as quirky additions like embroidery and charms creating an element of fun.”
I should mention that the trend is unisex. Because the wearing of jorts actually harks back to the 1990s, and specifically to the hip hop scene, when artists like Ol’ Dirty Bastard of the Wu-Tang Clan and Mobb Deep wore baggy, looser cuts of denim shorts we’d seen elsewhere. “This era also saw Madonna sporting embellished, knee-length jorts during her performances, while New York rappers embraced and popularised the baggier silhouette,” says Lynne Hugill, course leader and principal lecturer in fashion at Teesside University. “Despite their widespread presence, the term ‘jorts’ itself wasn’t coined until the 2000s, at which point it became frequently associated with punk rock culture.”
It can also be traced back to traditional skater gear – think American teenagers with sticker-covered skateboards – mostly because of how the loose-fit allowed for greater movement and durability during the sport. But it’s only in recent years that jorts became quite so popular with women.
“Jorts have made a comeback in line with the trend for wide-leg, baggy jeans styles, which has transferred into shorter wide-leg denim styles for the summer season,” says stylist Nicky Hambleton-Jones. There are a few reasons for this cyclical shift. The first is that jorts are part of our ongoing nostalgic obsession with 90s fashion. However you style them – with white tank tops, brogues, or jelly shoes – the aesthetic is one that is almost always fundamentally retro, which taps into the Y2K craze among Gen Z and millennial women that has been percolating since 2021.
The second is about how utility has become increasingly important when it comes to compiling a woman’s wardrobe. “As consumers across the board continue to prioritise versatility and comfort, loose-fitting jorts make for a great summer option that are not restrictive while also offering sartorial intrigue,” says Katie Devlin, fashion trends editor at Stylus. “They also provide interesting dimensions and proportions to an outfit, and are surprisingly flattering on shorter frames, so much of the trend’s popularity has come from consumers rediscovering and recontextualising how different fits can work for them, especially in the post-skinny jean era.”
A third reason is that the rise of jorts is in direct opposition to so much of what has been trending in women’s fashion for recent seasons, which can best be defined as flashing the flesh. The more we showed, whether it was nipples in a sheer top, the curves of our bums in a see-through skirt, or glimpses of our waists in a cutout dress… skin was, for a long time, the standout sartorial power move. It was putting a finger up to the patriarchy and taking ownership of our bodies, sending a signal to the world that we could show as much of ourselves as we wanted to and still be in control. That’s all still true and relevant, of course, but it’s a modus operandi that’s easier said than done.
For those of us with deeply rooted insecurities about our bodies or body dysmorphia, well, it was never quite so simple. Perhaps this is where jorts come in as an antidote to all that, then. “What makes jorts appealing is their longer length compared to the classic denim shorts, which have always been a shorter, snugger fit and hence often worn less by women over 40,” adds Hambleton-Jones. There’s also a uniquely versatile appeal that transcends generations, something that is fleetingly rare in today’s trend scene; take a look at the people wearing jorts online and you’ll realise they range from Gen Z right up to Gen X. “Jorts offer versatility and flatter women at any age. They’re also easy to throw on without having to worry about the colour or shape of your legs.”
Perhaps more astutely, though, it taps into this Billie Eilish-esque trend of embracing baggier, streetwear-inspired clothing. “So-called ‘dad dressing’ has been a key youth trend for a while now, cementing the rising popularity of subversive and ironic Adam Sandler-inspired looks, as well as 80s nostalgia,” says Devlin. “Irony aside, menswear’s renewed and ongoing obsession with Japanese denim is also driving interest in unexpected experimental denim silhouettes.”
Part of this appeal is that by wearing something like jorts, it’s more obvious that women are dressing for themselves rather than for men. “Jorts are exactly the kind of divisive and polarising pieces that play into the ‘man repeller’ and ‘anti male gaze’ dressing trends, whereby women favour creative outfit formulas that are designed to divert unwanted male attention,” explains Devlin. They’re also, in some ways, a particularly sustainable fashion choice, given you can make them yourself. “Jorts align with Gen Z’s movement towards more sustainable fashion because they offer a simple and accessible upcycling project, providing a new lease of life for an old pair of jeans and promoting a more eco-conscious approach to personal style,” says Hugill.
Despite all this, I remain sceptical. Surely jorts can’t be flattering on me; having always held a bit of a grudge against my legs, I’ve only just started to feel confident enough in jeans. For the sake of research, I resentfully try on a pair from Levi’s: the “Baggy Dad” jorts, as they’re called. I tug them on, grimacing at the thought of my reflection, thinking about how much more flattering my vintage denim shorts would be instead. Oh, hang on. They feel comfortably airy and wait, do my waist and calves suddenly look smaller? And they go remarkably well with the white vest I happen to be wearing. If you can’t beat ’em…
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