Hard pants. Real pants. Whatever you want to call the pants you used to wear to work but have been replaced with sweatpants, they’re coming back. As the country starts to open up again and workers flood back into offices, the days of the Zoom mullet outfit are numbered. But what if you could find a pair of hard pants that were actually, dare I say, more comfortable than your sweats? That’s what the Universal Standard Donna High Rise Curve Straight Leg Jeans are for me.

Donna High Rise Curve Straight Leg Jeans

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Unlike a traditional pair of jeans, these are made with 1.5 percent elastane, making them stretchy and form-fitting at the same time. Most jeans with this amount of stretch tend to get baggy as the day goes on, but these managed to keep their shape, no matter my working position (sprawled on the couch, sitting in my chair, laying in my bed). That durability paired with tailored darts above the back pockets keep the fit structured and the silhouette smooth. They’re also incredibly soft—like jeggings soft, but without the fake pockets and bad whiskering effect. The “curve” in the name also speaks to something I struggle with when finding jeans: my hip-to-waist ratio. I have a smaller waist (25") but large thighs/hips (36"), which leads to gapping. This style was created for those of us with a hip-to-waist ratio of 10 inches or more. I chose the Stonewash Black wash, which is a faded black/gray and it goes with literally everything, but the jeans also come in a classic Stonewash Indigo as well.

Universal Standard prides itself on their inclusivity, making jeans in sizes 00 up to 40. There are plenty of other denim silhouettes to choose from, with styles ranging from cropped to flare to skinny and everything in between.

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