The cut-off jeans trend has made strides in the fashion world these past few years. It is a trend everyone is wearing– from Kendall Jenner to Rihanna. The look was popular during the grunge era of the 1990s. However, high fashion designer Marques’Almeida revived the look again after focusing a lot of his pieces on elevated denim. Hemless jeans are now a staple on the runway and in real life.
The cut-off jeans look basically means that the denim does not have a hem. Almost every denim brand has their own style of a cut-off jean nowadays. It is tempting to spend money on a new pair of jeans, but this look can easily be recreated at home. It is one of the easiest DIY’s possible and practically impossible to mess up. One of the best parts about cutting jeans yourself is being able to customize how fringy you want the denim to look. You can also choose the length depending on what type of shoes you’d like to wear them with. Denim cut-off jeans work with almost every type of shoe. Sneakers, booties and strappy heels are all perfect matches when it comes to hemless jeans. Take notes and get ready to take some cute Instagram pictures. All you will need to begin with is an old or long pair of jeans, a sharpie, scissors and a pair of tweezers.
1. Put your jeans on and get a feel for them. Visualize where you want your jeans to cut-off. Depending on whether you want to wear them with sneakers or high booties, you can choose whatever length you desire.
2. Once you know how short you want the jeans, roll them up to your desired length. Make sure both legs are even. Using a black marker, draw a line where you would like to cut the jeans.
3. After drawing the lines, grab a pair of scissors and carefully cut the jeans slowly. Cutting too fast may leave the jeans looking uneven.
4. When both sides are cut, there will be a couple of scraps left over. Tug the scraps off the pant legs and discard. The legs may not be as straight as you would like them to be, so trim wherever you need to.
5. Now that the jeans are all cut, it’s time to begin the distressing process. Carefully grab your scissors and rub them firmly against the hemless pant leg. This will create friction and make those white pieces of cloth begin to fray. Next, to make the white strands come out even more, use tweezers and pull the white strings from out of the jeans. Use the scissors and tweezers as much or as little as you want. It all depends on how much fringe you want around your ankle.
6. Finally, throw the jeans in the dryer for 30 minutes. This will make the bottoms of the jeans fringier. This will complete the look and will have you a new pair of jeans. Cut-off jeans pair perfectly with almost any pair of shoe.
Images 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 and 11 by Jasmine Medrano-Guevara