Trends rarely disappear entirely—they wait. And then, just when the collective memory has softened enough, they return with new conviction.
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This time, it’s the high-waisted, frayed denim short.
Spotted in New York during an early-season heatwave, Simone Ashley stepped out in an airbrushed tee by Maccapani tucked into a pair of thigh-grazing cut-offs that feel distinctly late-2000s in spirit. Not the slouchy, low-rise styles currently dominating the conversation, but something sharper. Higher. More deliberate in its proportions.
It’s a choice that tracks. Ashley has been remarkably consistent in her approach to dressing—drawn, by her own admission, to silhouettes that leave little to the imagination below the waist. Whether it’s a trench coat worn without trousers, a micro-mini, or a dress engineered to shift hemlines mid-stride, the through-line is clear: legs, always.
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And yet, the specific cut of these shorts feels newly pointed. Once beloved by millennials for their ability to elongate the frame—think Alexa Chung at Glastonbury, styled with Breton stripes and an air of studied nonchalance—they fell out of favour as fashion pivoted toward something more undone. Lower rises. Looser attitudes. A kind of deliberate dishevelment.
Ashley’s version resists that entirely.
There is something almost polished about the silhouette, even in its fraying. Where low-slung shorts suggest spontaneity, these feel considered—less “after hours,” more afternoon. If the former evokes smoky bars and impulsive decisions, the latter leans toward something quieter: long lunches, sunlit terraces, a sense of control beneath the ease.
This isn’t an isolated moment, but part of a broader visual language Ashley has been refining while promoting The Devil Wears Prada 2. With the guidance of stylist Rebecca Corbin-Murray, she’s leaned fully into abbreviated hemlines—cycling through leather micro-skirts from Dior, sculptural dresses by Lovebirds, and asymmetrical pieces from Fidan Novruzova.
The philosophy underpinning it all is disarmingly straightforward: wear what feels like you. Or, as Ashley has put it in various forms over the years, let skin function as an accessory in its own right.
The denim shorts, then, are less a revival than a continuation. A familiar silhouette recontextualised through confidence rather than nostalgia.
Because if fashion has taught us anything, it’s that no trend is ever truly divisive—only waiting for the right person to make it feel inevitable again.
