Spending a couple of hours digging through celeb photos from 2009? It's just another workday as a Who What Wear editor. I was recently sifting through H&M's new arrivals for a different story
when I came across an item that instantly took me back to the late '00s: the H&M Slim Fit Cargo Pants ($40). They reminded me of the iconic J Brand Houlihan Cargo Pants that so many celebrities owned circa 2009-2012, including Ciara, Charlize Theron, Kim Kardashian, and Cindy Crawford. Not that anyone asked, but sadly I couldn't afford the jeans at the time and instead bought the knockoffs at Anthropologie. Luckily, the H&M versions are far more accessible.
Rihanna, Jessica Alba, Sienna Miller, Gwen Stefani, Rachel Bilson, and Kate Bosworth are just some of the other celebs who also owned the J Brand pants, but I wasn't able to track down and license the photos in time for this story (trust me, I tried). So you're going to have to take my word for it and know that these pants were truly a cult-favorite. Scroll down to revisit the pants in their heyday. I, for one, vote for Ciara's outfit as the most 2020-ready.