How to dress like a grown up with Shane Watson: Even Kate Moss has ditched the skinnies! 

Don’t know if you saw the picture of Kate Moss outside the Ritz in Paris a few days ago?

She was wearing rock star shades, a furry jacket, jeans and boots — signature Mossy but for one crucial detail. The jeans weren’t skinny, they were straight.

The very same time last year (her birthday), same spot on the pavement of the Place Vendôme, Kate was photographed wearing almost the same outfit — only then the jeans were black, tight to the leg and tucked into the boots.

If you needed any more proof that skinnies have had their day, this is it: probably the world’s most famous skinny jeans wearer is now wearing blue jeans straight from the hip.

Shane Watson shared her advice for embracing the straight leg jeans trendy, as seen on Kate Moss (pictured)

This is one of those critical moments when you need to stop, look, and reconsider your jeans style. Put away those skinnies. Take a deep breath. You’re going to need a bigger pair, and by bigger I just mean looser than skinny.

They might be fitted on the hips and voluminous as a skirt; they might be wide-leg, flared, or straight, like the ones Kate Moss is wearing. What they aren’t, for the foreseeable future, is tight on the leg. As for where the waist falls, the message is mid rise or higher, all the better to wear a belt.

What’s happening here is a return to the way jeans looked before they got clingy, although, crucially, we don’t need to give up the elastane in the mix. This is about embracing a different look, not sacrificing any of the comfort we expect from our jeans.

The choice is broadly between a Seventies feel (flared or wide-leg) or Eighties style (a straight, high-waisted Princess Di shape). Thankfully, pale stonewash is not getting a revival yet.

I know what you’re thinking. Do not ask me to swap my old faithfuls for something unfamiliar, and it’s true there are skinny styles around.

But jeans are the bedrock of any stylish woman’s look: get them right and you’re cooking on gas; get them wrong and they have the capacity to make you look left behind.

Besides, you may already have a pair of 2021-ready jeans (Levis?) lurking in the back of your wardrobe. These new jeans, from wide to straight, are all classics, nothing to scare the horses. At the chicest end of the scale — the new-look smart jean — is a clean-cut flare with a crisp ironed front seam. The ones to take your cue from are by Victoria Beckham or Gucci. For something similar, try Mango (£50, mango.com).

Otherwise, a gentle flare, nothing too bell bottom, is the way to go, so long as you’re dressing up. That’s because they look so much better with a heel and a crisp tucked-in shirt. Try & Other Stories for flares that don’t grip your thighs (£65, stories.com). On to wide-leg jeans: these are great for women with longish legs. Worn with trainers or flats in the day, with a skinny sweater or a boyfriend shirt, they have a fresh Gallic swagger about them.

For nights, later in the year, they’ll look good with a silk, puff-sleeve top and block-heeled sandal. The fashion influencer’s favourite is Aligne’s (£69, aligne.co) with raw hems.

The straight, high-waisted jeans from & Other Stories are wideish in the leg (£65, stories.com) and Massimo Dutti does a relaxed wide-leg jean (£19.95). Just remember, with wide jeans you need to keep your top half neat, otherwise you’ll end up looking blowsy.

Most of us will make a beeline for a classic straight leg style, slimmish not starchy, because they’re the easiest to wear. With jeans, one woman’s bullseye is another woman’s ‘my bum looks big in this’, so you’ll need to experiment.

The styles that hit the spot right now are Uniqlo’s slim fit jeans (£34.90, uniqlo.com) and & Other Stories’s keeper cut jeans (£65 stories.com), which also come in a cropped style.

On the matter of cropped or not, it’s up to you. If you want to hedge your bets wear them longer now and rolled up with loafers or sneakers and bare legs later. Don’t look back.