The 9 Best Jeans For Thicker Waists
by The Candidly Team
It’s hard to describe the low-grade suffering that comes with tight denim digging into our waistlines. It’s right up there with stabby underwire and no-show socks the pile into the arches of our feet. Ick.
Those of us with thicker middles have spent a lifetime looking for jeans that smooth over a belly pooch without creating bulges and spillover or making us feel like we’re two sizes bigger than we are because our bellies are being suffocated despite every other inch of us fitting comfortably into our jeans.
You see where we’re going with this. It’s taken a long, long time because we wanted to get it right, but our search has come to a completion. And from it has emerged 9 pairs of jeans that have made the apple shapes among us practically cry. They look good. They feel good. We feel understood by them. We dress better because of them.
And here they are:
1. Best Overall
Everlane The Way-High® Sailor Jean
Ok, just look at the length of that zipper. Do you know what that is? That’s lengthening to our midsections, that’s camel toe avoided, that’s “look how long my legs are because my jeans aren’t riding up into my hipbones.” What’s incredible about these jeans is that they keep their perfect, sliiiightly sailor shape that nips your waist and elongates your legs while still having stretch. There isn’t the slightest feeling of digging into our flesh because they’re high-waisted and settle at the smallest part of the waist. They come in many colors. We’re very close to owning them all. That’s just how good they are.
Price: $128
2. Best Wide-Leg: Cropped
J. Crew Factory '90s Vintage Baggy Jean
It was a big shock to us to discover just how amazing J.Crew Factory denim has become, especially at its price. This style, in particular, feels like it was made to flatter your belly. So many wide-leg jeans either create an inner-tube effect by having too tight a waistband which also leads to the leg looking bumpy and not falling evenly. Or they’re just so baggy that they make our butts look flatter and leave us with an overall frumpy look. But these jeans button with ease high on our waist and have the exact right shape all the way to our ankles. A godsend - truly.
Price: $59
3. Best Wide-Leg: Long
Madewell The Perfect Vintage Wide-Leg Jean
Madewell has been doing some very exciting things with jeans where curves are concerned. Whoever designs their denim seems to have a thorough understanding of a woman’s actual, non-model shape, and therefore, everything feels as good as it looks. These jeans are the long jeans we wear instead of trousers. Everything looks perfect and smooth in front, so we can style them with a tucked button-down or a tee and a blazer for work or going out in the eve. All while wearing flats, of course, because we don’t need the extra lift of a heel to feel elongated. And they come in plus, petite, and tall so we get the exact right proportions.
Price: $138
4. Best Skinny
Good American Good Waist Light Compression Jeans
Don’t let the word “compression” scare you off as it almost did with us, because these jeans have a wild amount of stretch that makes it so you can blissfully breathe in them. The extra high waist makes your legs look longer, which is the ultimate hack for narrowing your waist (as opposed to suctioning it into restrictive styles as we’ve learned through years of trial and error). They also size up to 32 plus!
Price: $149
5. Best Straight Leg
Abercrombie Curve Love High Rise Vintage Straight Jean
Never in our 90s mall-lingering lives did we think Abercrombie would become the brand we turn to time and time again to accommodate our curves. But it has proven itself to be un-effin-believable in terms of fit. These jeans give us gorj overall proportions and are high enough for us to wear things like THIS and THIS without feeling an ounce self-conscious about our tum
Price: $90
6. Best Flare
You probably already know well that a flare at the bottom of a jean is probably the most effective way to balance out a wider waist and make us look smaller up top. And if you’re looking for the finest pair of long flare jeans that make you feel like a model, Paige is the clear winner. They’re worth the investment because you will reach for them more than any other pair in your closet.
Price: $249
7. Best Kick Flare
Madewell Curvy Kick Out Crop Jean
We’ve written a lot about these jeans because the shape is incredible on every body type. It glides over “bumps," sort of ironing them out and yet, they accentuate curves where there aren’t any. How? We don’t really know. But we assume it has something to do with the “bouncy” fabric which stretches but always keeps its shape or the Magic Pockets™ that invisibly manage to make our frontsides look flatter. We don’t honestly care about the mechanics. We’re just wild about these jeans.
Price: $80
8. Best Budget
Quince Stretch High Rise Kick Flare Jeans
These are soft in a way that makes them almost feel like leggings in terms of breathability. But unlike leggings the fact that they don’t go to a point like an upside down triange makes it so they balance your curves so you don’t look top heavy. And then there’s the insanely low price. As you might expect, they sell out constantly, so if they have your size, pounce!
Price: $50
9. Best Plus
Universal Standard Stevie High Rise Cuffed Straight Leg Jeans
No one is making a cuffed jean this good that actually accommodates a rounder belly. Suddenly all those casual-chic, street style looks where jeans are rolled up without looking dumb are accessible to us. Pair these with graceful white sneaks and a black stretchy blazer. Foolproof!
Price: $128
At The Candidly, we try a lot of stuff so you don’t have to. We only recommend things we truly love, and that we think you’ll love, too. All products are chosen independently by our creative team, and all details reflect the price and availability of products at the time of publication. If you buy something we link to, The Candidly may earn a commission.
We have to eat.
