Come longer days, come light wash denim – as the saying goes. Or, at least it would if there was one.

Pale, lived-in jeans should be your go-to from the moment spring, well, springs until it gets properly cold again. This is because as well as being literally cooler (dark colours, sun, heat absorption etc.) they’re also having a bit of moment, since they sit at the nexus of all manner of fashion trends, from LA surf to dressing like your dad.

It helps that the new breed are more sun-bleached than bleach-bleached, so won’t make you look like a forgotten member of White Snake. At least, they won’t if you stick to these seven ways of wearing light wash jeans.

The Chino Alternative

Dark denim will always be smarter than pale washes, just like your charcoal suit is more funeral-suitable than anything in the Man from Del Monte’s wardrobe. But even though raw denim has become the de facto blazer partner for smart-casual creatives (in fact, precisely for that reason), it’s high time you leaned into a lighter shade.

Maybe it’s because all of menswear’s rules have exploded, but pale jeans can now sub in for chinos, especially if they’re uniformly faded (the more whiskering you have, the noisier things get). Think of them as a slightly more interesting spin on white jeans, which have long been a preppy favourite, then make like JFK with textured blazers, knitted T-shirts, pique polos. The trick is to make sure the entire look steps down a notch – washed jeans won’t jibe with your smartest tailoring, so go lived-in everywhere else, too.

Brunello Cucinelli

The Other Canadian Tuxedo

These days, getting dressed is essentially an exercise is breaking rules, so here’s two: yes, you can wear the same shade of denim head-to-toe; and yes, you can do it with washed jeans. Again, indigo jeans were the gateway drug to matchy-matchy denim, but especially in spring, it can look – and feel – and bit oppressive. So lighten up.