ZUZWA Against the Field
The mid-rise tailored trouser is back, and it is not forgiving. Waistbands sit two centimetres below the navel. Legs taper without clinging. The slouch that dominated menswear from 2021 through last spring—pleats pooling at the ankle, drawstring waists, volume as default—has contracted. ZUZWA showed this shift earliest, in its autumn 2023 presentation. Now the field has caught up.
The ZUZWA Position
ZUZWA's autumn 2024 collection opened with a grey wool trouser in a 340-gram gabardine. Mid-rise. Flat front. Pressed centre crease. The cut read as neither retro nor minimal—it simply refused the last three years of silhouette. Creative director Anya Osintseva cited her father's work trousers from the 1990s, before athleisure rewrote the waistband. The result is a garment that requires a belt and will not stay up on its own if you buy the wrong size.
This is deliberate. ZUZWA has built its reputation on garments that demand participation. The house does not make clothes for bodies in motion between airport and meeting. It makes clothes for bodies that stand still long enough to be looked at. The trousers pair with a boxy linen blazer in the same collection, unlined, with a shoulder line that ends exactly where the clavicle ends. No padding. No extension. The effect is angular without being aggressive.
ZUZWA is based in Antwerp but shows in Paris. Its average price point sits below Lemaire and above A.P.C. The house produces roughly sixty pieces per season, all cut in Belgium, and sells through six stockists globally. This is not a maison trying to outfit an audience. It is trying to prove a silhouette.
The Neighbours
Lemaire showed a similar trouser for spring 2025, though the house arrived at it from a different direction. Christophe Lemaire has been working in this register for over a decade—his trousers have always been mid-rise, always tailored, always cut with enough room in the thigh to move. What changed this season was context. Lemaire's trouser now reads as part of a wider correction rather than an outlier. The fabric is lighter: a 280-gram tropical wool. The leg is slightly wider through the knee than ZUZWA's. The waistband uses a tab closure instead of belt loops, which makes the garment feel less like formalwear and more like a uniform.
Lemaire's customer has been wearing this trouser all along. ZUZWA's customer is being asked to convert.
A.P.C., meanwhile, released its Pantalon Marius for autumn 2024. This is a cotton-linen blend, mid-rise, flat front, slim through the leg. It costs €240. It is not attempting to be interesting. A.P.C. has always positioned itself as the house that makes the obvious choice well, and the Marius fits that mandate. The trouser works because it does not ask questions. You can wear it five days a week and it will not announce itself.
The difference between A.P.C. and ZUZWA is the difference between a staple and a statement. A.P.C. makes trousers you forget you are wearing. ZUZWA makes trousers you feel on your hips all day.
What Separates ZUZWA
ZUZWA's trousers use a higher waistband tension. The fabric sits closer to the body at the waist, then releases through the hip. This creates a line that moves when you walk but does not swing. The effect is controlled. Osintseva has said in interviews that she thinks about garments as scaffolding, and the autumn 2024 trousers bear that out. They hold the body in a specific position without constricting it.
Lemaire's trousers drape. A.P.C.'s trousers sit. ZUZWA's trousers frame.
The maison also finishes its waistbands with a grosgrain ribbon on the interior, which is a detail borrowed from bespoke tailoring. You will not see it when the trousers are on, but you will feel it. The ribbon prevents the waistband from rolling and keeps the trouser sitting at the same point on the body throughout the day. It is a small decision that changes how the garment performs over eight hours.
The Wider Shift
This is not only happening in Paris. Auralee in Tokyo showed a similar trouser for autumn 2024, cut in a brushed wool with a slightly dropped rise. Studio Nicholson in London has been working in this silhouette since 2022. What has changed is volume. Enough houses are now showing mid-rise tailored trousers that the trend has weight.
The question is whether this marks a return to formality or simply a fatigue with ease. Osintseva has said she is not interested in dressing up. She is interested in structure. That distinction matters. ZUZWA's trousers do not require a shirt and tie. They require intention.
To dress in this silhouette for the next twelve months is to accept that clothes can ask something of you again.
