Wear This: Corduroy (2024)

FAQs

What kind of person wears corduroy? ›

It may have been around for thousands of years, but it's also been reinvented in several different ways. Just a few hundred years ago, it was seen as a working class fabric because of its hard-wearing qualities. Now, just about anyone can wear corduroy and feel proud about it.

How to Wear Corduroy. Corduroy pants are generally considered to be casual wear. Since the fabric is heavier and has a ribbed appearance, it's associated with cozy fall and winter fashion. However, this material has trended in more dressy looks over the years, especially in business casual settings.

In 2024, corduroy has lost much of its value as a material for work uniforms due to the arrival of denim, cotton twills and technical modern materials. Luckily for us, this means that corduroy has found its way into many contemporary autumn/winter collections.

Corduroy pants go great with T-shirts, denim jackets, button-down shirts, and more, making them a versatile article of clothing for casual looks and work outfits alike.

Loved by musicians, artists and directors - it has been famously worn by Woody Allen, Bob Dylan, Pablo Picasso and Wes Anderson.

Frustrating is corduroy's bad reputation as a teacher or professor's fabric. Worn in a slovenly manner, wide-waled, pants pooling at the ankles, jackets blousing out at the waist, not in an attractive manner like today's intentional oversized silhouettes appear.

At first glance, corduroy pants might seem old-fashioned, but they have been on trend among fashionistas in recent years. The soft and thick ridged fabric is not only comfortable but also versatile, making it a popular choice among fashion enthusiasts.

Various style authorities have hailed corduroy's return every autumn for the last few years. It was a staple of the Fall 2022 collections, featured by labels like 6397, Khaite and Rachel Comey, and continues to appear in the Fall 2023 collections including Kenzo and Lovechild 1979.

In the realm of classic menswear, corduroy trousers and their intricate wale variation stand as a beacon of timeless elegance. From their utilitarian beginnings to their position as versatile wardrobe essentials, these trousers have woven themselves into the fabric of men's fashion history.

To avoid the dated, baggy wide-leg look of the 90s era, choose corduroy pants with a slimmer, straighter cut. The pants should have little to no “break”; the bottom of the leg should hit the top of your shoes without the fabric folding/creasing over them.

Can you wear double corduroy? ›

You can even pair two cord halves in different colours, if inspiration strikes. Or pair one piece in skinny needle cord with another in jumbo cord. This is a genius idea. Corduroy is for clever people, after all.

Corduroy is generally more expensive than fabrics made with similar materials due to its relatively complicated production process.

Soft, warm, and durable, corduroy is the fabric of fall, and we can't get enough of it. We plan on wearing it through fall and beyond, so we've made a guide on how to style it so you can cozy up to corduroy with us.

Even though corduroy is appropriate for work, it's still a more casual fabric which means I wouldn't choose corduroy for anything above business-casual. This outfit is an example of that type of look. I styled this corduroy skirt from FRAME with a cashmere sweater from Vince.

Corduroy trousers lend themselves to layering, working well up top with chunky knits, overshirts and larger winter style coats. Most on this list come in safer earthy shades - think copper, browns, olive, tan, black, grey and navy - and we wouldn't recommend anything in too bright a colour (see reds, yellows).

"Having something warm was also important." So while velvet has had a "regal luxury status" from early on, corduroy became a more functional fabric. Corduroy became fashionable again as a symbol of the anti-establishment ideals of the 1960s counterculture movement and peaked the following decade.

Corduroy is traditionally used in making British country clothing, even though its origin lies in items worn by townspeople in industrial areas.

This textile has been a staple for centuries, and it remains a beloved material in fashion today. A lot of people like to wear clothes made from corduroy fabric because of the unique vertical ribbing design. But what really makes corduroy special is its captivating history, which traces back to ancient Egypt.