In our anything-goes fashion moment, there’s little consensus about jeans. Ultra-baggy may be on the way out, and most are still averse to skinny jeans. But today’s denim market is a buffet of silhouettes, all perfectly valid in various micro-climes: slim or loose; mid-rise or slung low; boot cut, straight-leg or even twisted.
Over the last several years, the New York denim brand Still Here has captured shoppers who want to sample them all.
Its Childhood and Everyday silhouettes have a timeless feel, but some of its most popular styles are the trendier ones, like the no-waistband Sport jean; the Buckle jean, which features a seatbelt-like clasp; and the low-rise Cool jean with its drawstring cord. (The brand says it has sold over 80,000 pairs of that style since introducing it in 2023.)
The “SH” embroidered above the back pocket makes the jeans easy to spot on young women in downtown Manhattan and those who want to keep up with them.
Emily Bell, who works in export logistics in Atlanta and writes a fashion newsletter on Substack, said she preferred the classics, like slim-cut jeans, but didn’t want to be totally out of step with trends.
“I’m not super in touch with what super young people are wearing these days,” Bell, 34, said. She suspected that the Cool jeans would not suit her. But after “seeing the brand come up over and over again,” she eventually bought a pair of the brand’s Tate jean, a slim, vintage-inspired style.
These jeans are not cheap. They generally fall between $260 and $395. But that kind of splurge can be satisfying for shoppers who want the feeling of buying something designer without paying even loftier luxury prices.
It’s a mentality that a decade or two ago powered brands like A.P.C. and 7 For All Mankind and that recently led Bell to phase out jeans from her 20s, which she bought at Madewell and Gap, for ones from Agolde and Citizens of Humanity.
Wearing Still Here, Bell says, she feels part of a club of “modern city women,” a cohort that includes Zoë Kravitz, Gracie Abrams and Jennifer Lawrence, celebrities known for their unfussy street style who have been photographed traipsing around New York and London in the brand’s jeans.
Still Here was founded in 2018 by Sonia and Maurice Mosseri, a husband-and-wife duo that started out selling embellished jeans at trade shows before introducing the brand in 2019 at Barneys.
In the last few years, brick-and-mortar storefronts for the brand have swiftly shot up: first in NoLIta in 2022, with a 322-square-feet boutique that often has a line snaking down the sidewalk. Three others followed on Madison Avenue; in Williamsburg, Brooklyn; and on Christopher Street, where the brand helps fill out the “West Village girl” uniform.
In September, it opened its first store outside New York, on Melrose Avenue in Los Angeles.
Sonia Mosseri, the brand’s creative director, was inspired by the minimalism of Calvin Klein and the upscale foundational dressing of Ralph Lauren. Still Here combines pieces that look “more tomboy with elements that feel more feminine,” said Eliza Rolfs, Still Here’s head of brand, creating a studied effortlessness.
Early on, Still Here endeavored to establish itself with a niche New York crowd. When it introduced the Cool jean three years ago, style writers and influencers like Laura Reilly and Kia D. Goosby posed for the campaign.
Moves like that have helped establish its “insider fashion cred,” said Sarah Tam, chief merchant officer at Rent the Runway, a rental platform that offers Still Here denim.
The brand “just has, like, a cool gal vibe to it,” said Allie Ambrey, the store manager of Pipe and Row, a boutique in Seattle that sells Still Here denim. The store has had trouble keeping the Cool jean and the Sport jean in stock: “We have a wait list for colors and styles running at all times.”
Even with Still Here’s plentiful storefronts and dozens of stockists, many of the brand’s converts first brush up against its jeans online, aware that advertising and algorithms may be shaping their desires.
Fans of the brand post content describing the jeans as “viral” and record their pilgrimages to the brand’s stores. (Those deterred by the price find plenty of eyeballs on social media sharing cheaper alternatives.)
Still Here’s own social media presence goes a long way in positioning the brand as a lifestyle. Its lo-fi content, featuring young women on stoops and city sidewalks in bluejeans and layered tees, appeals at a time when many have tired of fashion’s typical polished veneer.
Jameelah Khadar, who works in health care marketing in Potomac, Md., is aware of the effect the brand’s advertising powers have on her, but she still feels drawn to it. She covets the Sport jeans in suede, which retail for $1,095.
“If someone sees someone that they think is cool wearing an item, they will reason with themselves as to why they’re now willing to spend $300 on a jean,” Khadar, 27, said. “I identify with that.”
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