The proportions are petite-specific: This is not just a pair of regular-sized denim that’s been lopped off at the bottom to make a 27-inch inseam. The knee actually hits where my knee is, the rise climbs to my waist and the denim hangs nearly straight to the ground from the hips, creating a long, slim silhouette (hence the jeans’ name, “longline”). The rise is a smidge over 10 inches, which flatters my long waist and makes my legs look longer than they are.
One shocker was how much I appreciate the button-fly, a denim affectation I usually loathe because the buttons can dig into my mid-section and I typically find they take forever to button and unbutton. (I’m a lazy jeans wearer, sue me.) I find that the Madewell Longline Straight Jeans’ button fly is actually more comfortable than some of my jeans with a zip fly, since the buttons “give” a bit when I sit down. This comes in handy because the denim is non-stretch, so there’s none of that familiar one or two percent of elastane I’ve grown used to (such as in the Madewell ‘90s straight jeans, which feels tighter in the waist). And since these come pre-washed and are made of a lightweight all-cotton denim, they’re not too stiff or restrictive, even on first wear.
Any quibbles I have are minimal. The introductory Longline collection includes only two washes, light and dark, while I’d enjoy more many more colors to choose from. And since the lightweight denim is so comfy, after three successive wears, I did notice the rear had stretched out a bit, so I had to wash and dry the pants to get them back to their original form.
I’ve got them on right now, as I write this, and I’m looking forward to wearing them with sneakers to walk the dog, low heels for a lunch date and perhaps even going nuts, style-wise, and rolling the hem a couple tiny upturns, popping on a pair of mesh flats and going for an afternoon passeggiata, Italian sardine girl summer style. I can do all this because that 27-inch inseam makes it possible for my short figure. That's in the petite size—there are also regular and tall sizes available.
