While fashion’s recent obsession with vintage denim means that classic blue jeans are everywhere right now, we’ll always have a soft spot for darker, inkier washes.
I, for one, bought my first pair of black jeans in senior year of high school and never looked back. They were Levi’s—skinny, but not super-tight; low-rise, but not precipitously so—and even though they had an annoying tendency to stretch out after a few wears, I wore them till the belt loops snapped off, the crotch ripped (for the second or third time), and the wash faded to something closer to a smoky gray.
MORE: Your Comprehensive Guide to Fall’s Best Denim
Since then, I’ve owned what must be a dozen similar pairs, and am forever on a quest for the ones that’ll hold their color and shape the longest. The leg-lengthening, thigh-slimming power of black denim is not to be underestimated, and needless to say, it goes with just about anything.
MORE: These Are the Jeans Ciara, Gigi, and Kate Can’t Stop Wearing
Still, if you’re looking for a little inspiration for what to wear with your black jeans this season, look no further than the gallery below, where we’ve compiled 27 fall-friendly outfits ripe for the copying.