Leather Shorts Are Back For Summer — Here’s How To Wear Them

Leather has become as essential to our wardrobes as a perfectly fitted pair of jeans or a white T-shirt. We wear it in the form of high-rise trousers, button-down collared shirts, and oversized blazers, and in colors ranging from classic blacks and browns to electric shades of blue and purple. There’s only one issue: Leather isn’t designed to be worn in warm weather. Ross trying (and failing) to pull up his sweaty leather pants on Friends is proof enough of that. What the eldest Geller didn’t know, though, was that, when the temperature increases, there is another way to wear leather: shorts. 

Thanks to fall ‘20 Fashion Month street style, where fashion’s finest brought attention to the cropped alternative to leather pants, we’ve started seeing the fabric as a more seasonless trend, rather than something we can only break out when temperatures start to go down. Across fashion’s capitals, we saw leather variations ranging from brightly colored paper bag shorts to extra-long Bermudas, all styled alongside summery footwear like ‘90s strappy sandals courtesy of By Far, braided mules by Bottega Veneta, and animal print boots from Khaite. By opting for loose styles and pairing them with breathable tops like cotton tank tops, linen button-downs, heck, even bra tops, taking leather shorts into the warmer months will be a breeze.

Ahead, see how street style stars in Paris, Milan, London, and New York introduced leather into our warm-weather wardrobes. And while you’re at it, shop the summer silhouette for yourself.