Gigi Hadid’s pleated chinos are the new coastal summer staple

Gigi Hadid is making the strongest case for chinos as summer’s anti-jean, and the appeal is all in the restraint. Spotted in New York City in a cool, casual monochromatic look, she wore pleated chinos with a drawstring, a combination that feels easy without sliding into sloppy. In a year when the sharpest women are dressing against the churn of trend cycles, that quieter pant lands with more authority than any distressed denim ever could.

Why pleated chinos feel fresher than denim

The pant at the center of the look is not a novelty, which is exactly why it works. Chinos have the clean, slightly polished surface of tailored cotton, and the pleats give the leg room through the hip so the whole silhouette moves with air instead of clinging to it. Add a drawstring and the result is relaxed at the waist, but still composed enough to wear with a proper shirt, a leather sandal or a pared-back blazer.

That balance matters in 2026, when anti-trend dressing is doing the heavy lifting. Stylish women are opting out of constant trend-chasing and leaning into pieces that can be worn on repeat, and Hadid’s trousers fit that mood perfectly. Drawstring jeans have already been moving through the system since 2024, and after appearing on spring/summer 2025 runways at Rachel Comey and Gabriela Hearst, the shape proved it had real staying power. Chinos are the softer, more grown-up sibling to that denim story, especially if you want the ease of loungewear without the literalness of sweats.

How to wear them the coastal-grandmother way

The easiest way to make pleated chinos feel expensive is to keep everything else quiet. Think monochrome, not busy color-blocking. Think ivory with bone, stone with sand, navy with white. The look should feel like it belongs on a breezy terrace or a shaded dock, not like it is trying to win a street-style contest.

That is where the coastal-grandmother vocabulary still matters. InStyle named the aesthetic in 2022 and made room for its adjacent “Fancy Grandma” mood, which is really just the polished end of the same spectrum: soft tailoring, natural fabrics, and an ease that reads as confidence rather than effort. Hadid’s chinos fit that lineage cleanly when you pair them with a crisp button-down, sleeves rolled with intention, and flat leather sandals that keep the silhouette grounded.

A good formula looks like this:

• Pleated chinos in a neutral shade, cut loose but not baggy.
• A crisp white or pale-blue shirt, half tucked if you want the line to feel less rigid.
• Flat leather sandals, not towering heels or chunky fashion sneakers.
• Minimal jewelry, the kind that catches light but never competes with the trouser.
• A palette that stays close to the coast, sand, shell, linen, navy, chalk.

The goal is not to look beachy in a literal sense. It is to borrow the calm of coastal dressing and translate it into something you can wear in the city, at lunch, or on a summer evening when denim suddenly feels too hard-edged.

Why the look feels right now

Hadid’s chinos also sit inside a larger shift in what feels current on the runway. Harper’s Bazaar’s January 7, 2026 spring/summer roundup pointed to vivid colours, countless skirts, slouchy suits and a healthy dose of Marie Antoinette’s style, which tells you how broad the season really is. Against that backdrop, her trousers offer a quieter counterpoint: less spectacle, more repeat wear. They are the kind of piece that works precisely because they do not compete for attention.

That same quieter confidence is showing up in the coastal stories fashion keeps returning to. Marie Claire’s Nantucket packing list, shaped by Larissa Mills, leaned into beach outfits, boat days and lobster dinners with a distinctly “coastal heiress” vibe. It is a more polished cousin to coastal grandmother dressing, and it helps explain why chinos now feel so useful. They sit neatly between denim and tailoring, with enough polish for dinner and enough ease for the beach-adjacent life fashion keeps romanticizing.

The Gigi effect, without the celebrity gloss

Hadid has also been spotted in breezy yellow pants on a sunny Los Angeles date, which tells you this is not a one-off styling trick. Across New York and Los Angeles, the through line is the same: trousers with movement, color and a little softness at the waist. That makes pleated drawstring chinos less like a celebrity-only moment and more like a practical summer uniform for anyone who wants a gentler alternative to jeans.

What makes the look distinctive is its discipline. The chino is doing a lot of work here, but it never looks overdesigned. It gives you the shape of tailoring, the comfort of something elasticated, and the polish of a wardrobe that knows exactly when to stop. That is the coastal summer idea at its best: clean, easy, and just dressed enough to feel finished.