The Definitive Guide to Dad Jeans

One Dad's journey to a wider-legged pair of denim.

View in Browser  Friday, June 13, 2025 Deciding which jeans to wear can lead to existential questions. Am I a skinny-jean guy? A 501 dude? A wide-legged man? What do these pants say about me? When you become a father, the sartorial soul searching can grow even more fraught. The writer Matthew Medendorp, a father of three, tackled these questions as he experienced a style evolution. For Esquire, he wrote a story ostensibly about jeans—with plenty of great recommendations—but also about what it means for your body, mind, and soul to become a dad, and how the way in which you dress reflects those changes. It's both thought-provoking and useful. – Michael Sebastian, editor-in-chief   Plus: 21 best thrillers on Netflix right now The 9 best New Balance sneakers we love The OceanGate documentary dives into the Titan Submersible tragedy This Father's Day, Embrace Your Inner Dad Jean One Dad's journey to a wider-legged pair of denim. For much of my adult life, I was fervently devoted to what can generously be called a slim-cut pant. Enough so that my wife's family, in a wedding rehearsal song parodying the Brady Bunch theme, included the lyrical dig "tight tight pants." My brother-in-law sang it in a falsetto. You get the point. I fervently believed this would never change. Then, slowly but surely, my pants got a little bigger. Part of this is due to a large, wide-legged pants style revolution, but I think I just lucked out on timing. My descent (or ascent) into the classic dad jean silhouette coincided with the cultural zeitgeist. READ THE STORY A millennial looks at 40. How long can you stave off adulthood? The novelist Ottessa Moshfegh wrestles with the big questions that comes with the big 4-0. >> Dierks Bentley doesn't give a damn about his legacy. "I found a long time ago, the work-life balance stuff—it's just one thing," the singer says. Alan Light interviews the multi-platinum country music singer. >> Somehow Republicans Are Defending Kristi Noem After the Removal of Senator Padilla So, apparently we're bum-rushing US senators now. This tinhorn governor of a state where nobody lives, this puppy-murdering hack whose political career outside of MAGA World was as dead as Custer, now gets to sic her black-shirted thugs on the senior senator of a state that she and her criminal boss and all their attendant lords have been lying about, and about which she had flown to Los Angeles to lie about some more. By Charles P. Pierce What I've Learned: About Fatherhood I would envision different scenarios in which I would become violent reacting to people's reactions to my children—especially to my severely handicapped child. Eventually, he taught me that was not necessary. Just by himself. By being a gift to us. He showed us how to have faith and belief and inner strength and to never give up. —Neil Young, January 2006 By The Esquire Editors Follow Us Unsubscribe | Privacy Notice | CA Notice at Collection Esquire is a publication of Hearst Magazines. ©2025 Hearst Magazine Media, Inc. All Rights Reserved. This email was sent by Hearst Magazines, 300 West 57th Street, New York, NY 10019-3779