These days skinny jeans are a staple in many closets across the country. A go-to item like the little black dress, they’ve gone from trend to mainstay in just 15 years.

No matter the size, no matter the price tag, no matter the gender, everyone seems to be pouring themselves into skinny jeans.

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And for some, getting into them isn’t just form-fitting, it’s form-improving. Certain brands are known to lift the bum and give a little nip here, a little tuck there. As a second skin, you don’t want extra bagging and crinkling that gives your skinny jeans cankles. Which explain why stores throughout the country urge clients to go down a full size. They claim it will make you look thinner, not to mention guard against premature sagging to ensure the sleek armor of your favorite skinny jeans stay snug around the curves of the body.

An Australian woman was rushed to the hospital when her suffering from muscle damage when her skinny jeans caused such severe swelling that they had to be cut off her.

However, in the case of an Australian woman, hugging those curves too tightly proved dangerous to her health. A British Medical Journal article explained how a woman came to suffer from actual muscle damage just by crouching in skinny jeans so constricting they acted as a vise-like straitjacket. All the oppositional movement pushing and pulling caused such severe swelling, the pants had to be cut off when she arrived at the hospital. She could no longer stand and remove them herself.

“Back in the day women wore girdles and corsets and they didn’t kill you,” said one Hollywood fashion editor. “Women have been safely wearing Spanx and skinny jeans for years, but you can’t go down three sizes.”

Even before the story broke, there were rumblings that skinny jeans were on the way out and that much looser boyfriend jeans and flared legs were on their way in. After all, when fashion icon Kate Moss brought back skinny jeans 15 years ago, no one in the industry ever dreamed the trend would have such long legs.

In and out over the decades, they’ve never been as in demand as they are today. Not to mention, the market continues to evolve as new technology keeps changing and enhancing denim with NASA-like modifications.

And yet changing the fabric hasn’t necessarily changed the fabric of America. After all, women have always suffered in the name of fashion. Let’s face it, a rare case probably won’t crash the market of Skinny Jeans 2.0, but if you need a break it’s easy opt out for a pair of flared denim.

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