What does "relaxed fit" mean today?

[LA Guy]

For me, if you can get on a bike, squat, and kick in your jeans without any fear that they will split, then they are relaxed.

 

[Sprezzatura2010]

Originally Posted by LA Guy

"Fit" is all relative. I have tons of jeans archived, and what would have been considered "lowrise" in 2003 would be considered "regular rise" in 2009, and what would be called "slim fit" in 2003 would probably be considered "regular" or even "relaxed" in 2009. This is not limited to jeans and casualwear. I have a suit that was considered slim back in 2001, that I just can't wear now because I feel that it fits like a sack (though really, Helmut Lang never cut any sack suits,) because of the current trend for very slim suits with very short skirts. I remember in the 80s and 90s looking at old pictures of singers from the 70s and late 60's and thinking that they must be ridiculously uncomfortable.
Interesting. I don't follow trends so much, and had no idea that the mean had gotten so much slimmer! So something like an RRDS is now considered "baggy?" Your suit comment surprises me. My cotton HL suit, maybe a 1999, is slimmer than anything I've bought recently. (Since then, most of the suits I've bought have been "work" rather than "fashion": Isaia, RLPL, Paul Stuart, Zegna, BB Golden Fleece, and so on.) The only things that date the HL's cut to me are the shoulders (almost like a fusion between J. Press and Brioni) and the length of the jacket skirt.

Originally Posted by andyliu52

on wiki it says helmut use to be known for jeans. is this true?
Jeans and t-shirts were what HL did best. Outerwear was nice too. His sneakers (rebadged ReiterSports in HL-exclusive colorways) were really great. There was also a lot of odd fetish-inspired stuff.

Originally Posted by Rye GB

Hip and thigh measurements are relative to the size that you buy but 21"+ hip and 12+" thigh on a 32" waist I would consider relaxed.
That goes along with what I was thinking. The size-32 (bigger than 32" waist) Chimala buckle-backs are 11" thigh and there's no hip measurement, according to the Farinelli's page. I was surprised at their cut when they came in. Again, I don't want to single out Chimala and I am not complaining, and had I done due diligence I would have known better how they fit by comparing the measurements Farinelli's provides with jeans I already own. They fit me well. But that's because they're cut a lot like most of the jeans I already own!

 

[rjacobs]

I think it's about context. Macys's relaxed fit is much different than farinellis's. Farinelliseses.