Credit: iStock @miniseries
Every September, the same question comes back: what do you wear on the bottom half when jeans feel too weekend and leggings feel too much like giving up? This year, fashion has an unusually clear answer, and it walked into Arthur Ashe Stadium on the last day of the US Open. Katie Holmes, who has spent two decades quietly becoming the most reliable style reference in New York, turned up to the men’s final in an ivory crewneck sweater, a pair of cropped black trousers that stopped just above the ankle, and black Gucci horsebit loafers. Nothing about it was loud. All of it was correct. And it happens to be the exact uniform that fashion editors had been wearing to every show of New York Fashion Week the same week.
The look, piece by piece
The date was September 13, the occasion the championship match between Ben Shelton and Alexander Zverev, and Holmes arrived in black and white from head to toe. The sweater was a simple ivory crewneck, worn loose rather than tucked. The trousers were black, straight through the leg and cut to end a couple of inches above the ankle, which is the whole point: a cropped hem is what turns a pair of pants into a frame for the shoe. The shoes were Gucci’s Jordaan loafers, the slim horsebit style the house has made since the 1950s and that Holmes has owned, in several colors, for years.
As Marie Claire pointed out, this is not a new formula for her so much as a refined one. Holmes has been pairing trousers with loafers, khaki or black, square-toe or horsebit, for the better part of a decade. What changed this year is that everyone else caught up.
Why trousers, and why now
Denim has had a long run at the top of the fall wardrobe: wide-leg, then barrel, then the ’70s flare that is everywhere again this season. But a trouser does something a jean cannot. It reads as dressed without reading as formal, it takes a sweater from casual to considered, and it gives a flat shoe somewhere to go. That last part matters more than usual in 2026, because the season’s footwear conversation is entirely about flats and low heels: loafers, jazz shoes, ballet flats, kitten heels. Who What Wear’s editors list loafers among the fall 2026 shoes they are actually wearing, alongside low-heel pumps and knee-high boots, and none of those shoes looks its best under a hem that pools on the floor.
The street style outside the New York shows told the same story. Editors were pairing almost identical cropped trousers with everything from a tomato-red graphic tee and an oversized blazer to a taupe double-breasted suit, always finished with a loafer. Holmes simply did the cleanest version, in two colors, on a Sunday afternoon at a tennis match.
The three details that make it work
First, the hem. A cropped trouser should end where the ankle bone is visible, not at the top of the shoe. Too long and the proportion collapses into an ordinary pair of black pants; too short and it tips into capri territory. Holmes’s sit an inch or two above the loafer, which lets the shoe read as a deliberate choice.
Second, the top. An ivory crewneck against black trousers is the highest-contrast version of the look and the easiest to copy, but the rule underneath is about weight, not color: the knit should be substantial enough to hold its shape, and worn loose so the outfit does not become a uniform in the literal sense. Holmes has been making this case for years, as her fall wardrobe on repeat shows.
Third, the shoe. A loafer with a bit of hardware, a horsebit or a penny strap, gives a monochrome outfit its only ornament, which is why it should not compete with anything else. No statement bag, no stacked jewelry. The shoe is the accessory.
How to get the look without the Gucci price tag
The Jordaan loafer sits at the luxury end of the scale, which is the one part of this outfit that is not for everyone. It is also the easiest part to replace. G.H. Bass’s Weejuns, the original American penny loafer, cost a fraction of that and were name-checked by the same Who What Wear editors as a timeless fall pick; a slim horsebit style from the high street does the same job if you keep the leather smooth and the sole thin. For the trousers, look for a straight or slightly tapered leg in a fabric with a little body, wool-blend or a heavy crepe, and if the length is wrong, have them taken up. A tailor’s hem is the cheapest luxury in fashion and the one that makes this look land.
If you already own the wide-leg jeans Holmes made a case for this summer, keep them. This is not a replacement so much as an alternative for the days when you want to look like you tried, without anyone being able to say exactly how.
The takeaway
The trouser shape taking over this fall is not a trend in the usual sense. It does not have a name, a viral moment or a designer attached. It is a pair of black trousers that stop above the ankle, worn with a sweater and a loafer by a 47-year-old woman who has never once looked like she was following anything. That, in the end, is the appeal: it is the rare fall look that works on a Sunday at the tennis, a Tuesday at the office and a Friday dinner, and Katie Holmes just demonstrated all three without changing her shoes.
