Elizabeth Olsen makes eyelet pants the chic summer alternative to silk

In Los Angeles, Elizabeth Olsen wore an oversized white button-down, a knit draped over her shoulders, a baseball cap, black The Row Canal Loafers, and elastic-waist poplin pants with eyelet details at the hems. The mix hit the exact balance fashion people chase when they want polish without the performance.

Why eyelet beats silk when the office gets warm

Silk pants have attitude, but they can also feel precious in the wrong setting. They shine, they skim, they wrinkle in a way that makes you think about your outfit all day, and they lean dressy even when you want ease. Eyelet pants, especially in a crisp poplin like Olsen’s, cut that energy down fast: the fabric looks lighter, the perforated detail adds breathability, and the result feels more relaxed without collapsing into beachwear.

Eyelet gives you texture and air, while silk gives you sheen and ceremony. If silk trousers are the pair you save for a dinner reservation, eyelet is the version you can wear through a warm office day, a late lunch, and a commute home without feeling overdressed or fussy.

The detail at the hem matters too. Olsen’s pants are not a full lace moment, which keeps them from drifting into fragile or overly pretty territory. The eyelet sits at the edge, where it softens the silhouette instead of taking it over, so the pant still reads like something you could pair with tailoring and call it deliberate.

The Olsen formula is what keeps it in workwear territory

The oversized white button-down is doing heavy lifting. It sharpens the pants, pulls the look back from boho, and gives the eyelet room to breathe as a fabric choice rather than a costume choice. The knit thrown over her shoulders adds a little structure and a little polish, the kind that feels borrowed from office dressing even when the rest of the outfit is loose.

The shoes seal the deal. The Row’s black Canal Loafer is a deconstructed minimal leather loafer, and that kind of shoe instantly makes a relaxed pant feel work-ready. Sandals would have pushed this toward vacation; sneakers would have made it too casual. The black leather keeps the outfit rooted in the kind of wardrobe that can handle a meeting.

Eyelet pants can flirt with romance, but a crisp button-down and loafers pull them back into the language of tailoring. The cap and blue-lens sunglasses make Olsen look completely off-duty, but the bones of the outfit are still office smart.

The Row’s version of luxury makes the swap feel believable

The price on the Canal Loafer is $990, so this is not some throwaway flat. The Canal Loafer is vegetable-tanned calfskin with a notched tongue, raised stitch detail, and a rubber sole, which is exactly the kind of quietly expensive construction that makes the shoe feel like a foundation piece rather than a trend shoe. It is minimal, but not plain.

At Mytheresa, the Canal loafer is positioned as a timeless wardrobe investment, and that is the right read for a shoe like this: it is meant to repeat, not to shout. At NET-A-PORTER, The Row’s pants collection spans cotton, wool, and silk, while The Row’s own women’s pants assortment also spans linen, cashmere, cotton, and cotton blends.

The poplin-and-eyelet version feels like the softer lane, the one that lets you keep the elegance without the preciousness. It is still refined, just less precious than silk and less rigid than a trouser that wants to be starched into submission.

How to wear eyelet pants like a grown-up, not a getaway look

The trick is to keep the rest of the outfit blunt and polished. An oversize white shirt works because it adds structure without heaviness, and a loafer gives the hemline somewhere grounded to land. You want the eyelet to read as texture, not theme.

A few rules make the formula work:

• Keep the top crisp, white, and oversized enough to contrast the pants’ detail.
• Choose loafers or similarly disciplined flats, not sandals that push the look too soft.
• Treat eyelet as a summer replacement for silk when you want air, opacity control, and less fuss.
• Let accessories stay practical, like Olsen’s baseball cap and sunglasses, so the outfit feels lived-in instead of styled to death.