What slim means
Slim describes how the jean is cut through your hip and thigh. It says nothing about what happens below the knee, and that is why three pairs on this page can all be slim and still feel like different jeans on the body. A slim fit follows the line of your leg with enough room to move.
Slim and skinny are often used interchangeably and they are separate cuts: a skinny narrows hard through the calf and holds against it, while a slim keeps a small amount of space there. The full comparison across every AMO fit sits on straight leg jeans, which covers slim, straight, relaxed and wide leg side by side.
143 and Libby are the two patterns most people start with. Both sit inside the wider women's jeans range.
The slim straight
A slim straight fits close through the thigh, then drops straight from the knee with no further narrowing. You get the closeness of a slim through the part of the leg where it matters and a clean vertical line the rest of the way down. For most people looking for a slim jean, this is the shape they actually have in mind.
143 is the example. A 90s-inspired slim at a mid rise with a cropped inseam, cut so it looks like it has been yours for years the first time you put it on. It comes in Crossing and Saltwater. The 90s reference here is structural: that decade's slim was mid-rise, close through the thigh, and finished around the ankle, which this pattern describes literally.
Loverboy takes a similar route with more ease through the seat, a high rise and a frayed hem cropped above the ankle, cut in rigid cotton with a button fly.
The cigarette leg and the tapered leg
Below the knee, a slim jean can do one of two things, and the difference decides how it sits over your shoe.
A tapered leg keeps narrowing all the way to the hem, so the opening is smaller than the knee. Libby is cut that way, slim through the hip at a mid rise, tapering down and cropped just above the ankle, in Mastermind and Smokin. The narrow opening sits close to your ankle bone, which suits a flat or a low boot.
A cigarette leg narrows and holds that width, falling as a straight column from the knee down. Mira is the one here, a high rise cut with a twisted side seam that pulls the leg slightly off the vertical as it falls. It is also the only full length pair on this page.
Rise and length across six pairs
Rise sets where the waistband sits on your torso, and it changes the apparent length of your leg more than anything below the knee.
This grid runs mid rise heavy because 143 and Libby are both cut that way, sitting at the hip bone. Mira and Loverboy both run high. Length is easier: five of the six are cropped and Mira is the full length option. Settle the leg shape first and the rise second. If rise is the decision you want to lead with, mid rise jeans and high rise jeans set out the full range, and cropped jeans carries every cropped fit AMO makes.
