Andy Burnham, centre, at Manchester Piccadilly station, with Pharrell Williams, left, and a fashion show attendee in Paris this week as temperatures soared. Composite: Getty and Reuters View image in fullscreen Andy Burnham, centre, at Manchester Piccadilly station, with Pharrell Williams, left, and a fashion show attendee in Paris this week as temperatures soared. Composite: Getty and Reuters Men's fashion Too cool for school? Why some men keep wearing jeans – even in a heatwave As Andy Burnham stuck to his ‘cool dad’ look while the UK sweltered, many in the Paris fashion pack did the same
Chloe Mac Donnell Fri 26 Jun 2026 18.00 CEST Last modified on Fri 26 Jun 2026 20.06 CEST Share Prefer the Guardian on Google F or many, dressing for an extreme heatwave means wearing as little as possible. But for some men, not even record-breaking temperatures can dissuade them from pulling on their favourite pair of jeans.
This week as temperatures in the UK rose sharply on the back of the climate crisis , Andy Burnham stuck to his tried and tested “cool dad” combination of dark jeans with a dark blue (not black as he pointed out to Kemi Badenoch) T-shirt as he made his way to London to be sworn in as MP for Makerfield.
View image in fullscreen Jonathan Anderson takes his post-show bow in Paris on Wednesday wearing vintage Levi’s jeans and Salomon trainers. Photograph: Peter White/Getty Images Despite brands at Paris men’s fashion week handing out umbrellas and iced towels to guests in an attempt to keep them cool, the front rows have been peppered with attendees wearing jeans. Meanwhile, although Dior moved its show from an afternoon slot to early morning to avoid the heat, the label’s designer, Jonathan Anderson, still wore his uniform of vintage Levi’s jeans and Salomon trainers as he took his post-show bow on France’s hottest day on record.
It isn’t just the fashion crowd holding fast to denim: John Lewis reported sales of Burnham-esque indigo jeans from Nudie were up 3% this week, searches for Carhartt jeans were up 100% week on week while straight fit Edwin jeans were up 200% compared to last week when temperatures were at a much cooler level.
“Men in shorts is the reason why men are wearing jeans,” says Henrik Lischke, the fashion news and features director at Grazia. “Shorts have become such a sticky topic fashion-wise that a lot of men haven’t quite figured them out. Jeans with a T-shirt or shirt is just an easier way to crack summer dressing.”
For Andrew Groves, a professor of menswear systems at Westminster University, the trend can be read as a comment on masculinity. “Wearing jeans in a heatwave is not really about comfort,” he says. “It is about how menswear trains men to dress within systems of utility, restraint and masculine control, even when those systems stop making practical sense.”
View image in fullscreen Zoë Bleu Sidel and Yung Lean – in blue jeans – attend the Dior Homme show. Photograph: Edward Berthelot/Getty Images However, many jeans wearers argue that as they are made from cotton they are naturally breathable so don’t cause them to overheat. This is one of the reasons Zak Maoui, the style director at UK Esquire, has been wearing a pair of Levi’s 501s at Paris fashion week regardless of a heatwave gripping the city. “Wearing jeans also means your legs are covered, which stops them getting burned,” he says. On the high street, jeans with an untucked shirt to allow more ventilation, or an undone shirt over a T…