The Most Popular & Stylish Levi's Styles

The three Levi's fits that account for the overwhelming majority of what men actually buy and wear are the 501 Original, the 502 Taper and the 511 Slim. If you want the short version: the 501 is the most stylish and the most photographed, the 502 is the one that suits the most men, and the 511 is the one most men bought in 2015 and are still wearing out of habit. Buy the 502 if you're unsure. Buy the 501 if you want the jean everyone recognises. Move on from the 511 unless it genuinely fits you.

That's the answer. Here's the detail behind it, because Levi's numbering is confusing by design and the differences are smaller than the marketing suggests.

The Levi's fits that actually matter

501 Original — Straight leg, button fly, sits at the natural waist, minimal stretch. The blueprint. It's roomier than people expect through the seat and has a slight taper below the knee on the modern cut. It looks best when it's not skin-tight.
501 '93 — A looser, straighter interpretation based on the nineties cut. More room at the ankle, slightly higher rise. Currently the most quietly fashionable jean Levi's makes.
502 Taper — Relaxed through the thigh, tapered from knee to hem. The most forgiving cut in the range and the one I recommend to about seven out of ten clients.
511 Slim — Slim through the thigh with a straight, narrow leg opening. Great on genuinely slim builds. Punishing on anyone with cyclist's legs.
512 Slim Taper — The compromise. Slim thigh, tapered ankle. Sits between the 502 and 511, and is a sensible pick if you like a narrow leg but hate a tight knee.
514 Straight — Straight from hip to hem, no taper, sits slightly below the waist. Unfashionable and quietly excellent under a work boot.
568 Stay Loose — Wide, straight, high volume. This is where the trend has landed. Hard to wear if you're under 5'9" without careful hemming.
517 Bootcut — Genuinely useful over a boot with a chunky sole. Genuinely awful with a trainer.

Rise, weight and wash — the bits nobody reads

Fit codes get all the attention. The three variables that actually determine whether a pair of jeans looks good on you are rise, fabric weight and wash.

Rise. Higher rise elongates the leg and flatters almost everyone. Low-rise jeans shorten the leg and expose the waistband under a tucked shirt. The 501 and 551Z sit high. The 511 sits low. This is the single biggest difference between the two, far more than leg width.
Fabric weight. Anything with elastane will bag out at the knee and seat within a few wears. Rigid denim (12oz and up) holds its shape, moulds to you and looks better after six months than it did on day one. If you can only own one pair, make it rigid.
Wash. A mid-to-dark rinse with minimal fading is the most versatile thing in a man's wardrobe. Heavy whiskering and factory distressing dates instantly. Rinse washes go with tailoring; light washes don't.

A fail I still think about

Early in my career I bought a pair of 501 Shrink-to-Fit in my usual waist because a shop assistant told me they'd "settle". They shrank two inches and I wore them precisely once, to a wedding, where I could not sit down for the entire reception. Shrink-to-Fit is a specialist product. You size up, you soak them, you accept a learning curve. If you don't want the project, buy the pre-shrunk version and get on with your life.

How I'd style the big three

501 in a rinse wash — With a fine-gauge crewneck, a pair of leather derbies and a navy overshirt. The rigid fabric and the high rise do the work. Cuff once, an inch, no more.
502 in mid-blue — Rolled at the ankle over a suede loafer or a low-profile leather trainer. Add an unstructured blazer and this goes anywhere short of a black-tie dinner.
568 Stay Loose in raw indigo — With a boxy tee, a work jacket and a substantial boot. Get them hemmed properly so they break once on the shoe. Untouched off the rack, they will look like borrowed trousers.

One rule I hold to: never wear a full denim wash top and bottom unless the shades are clearly different. Same-tone double denim is the fastest way to look like you dressed in the dark.

Brands to build the rest of the outfit around

A good pair of Levi's is a foundation, not an outfit. Here's where I'd shop for everything else.

High street

Uniqlo — The best-value fine-gauge merino knitwear on the high street, full stop. Their Supima cotton tees hold a shape under a jacket, which most tees at this price do not.
COS — Overshirts and heavy cotton knits with a clean, slightly architectural cut. Their outerwear proportions sit beautifully over a straight-leg jean.
Arket — Excellent for the boring, essential middle layer: the cardigan, the sweatshirt, the oxford shirt. Fabric quality punches well above the price.

Independent & boutique

Blackhorse Lane Ateliers — East London, selvedge, made in-house, and they'll repair your jeans for life. If you love your Levi's and want to understand why raw denim converts people, start here.
Hiut Denim Co — Cardigan, west Wales. Small runs, obsessive construction, and a genuinely lovely straight-leg cut. Buy once, wear for a decade.
Edwin — Japanese denim heritage with an easy, wearable cut. Their sweatshirts and chore jackets are the quiet backbone of a lot of good wardrobes.

Designer & luxury

A.P.C. — The raw denim reference point, and their knitwear and outerwear are restrained in a way that makes a £90 jean look like a £300 one.
Acne Studios — For the wider, more directional silhouettes. If you're wearing a 568 and want the rest of the outfit to match that volume, this is the reference.
Officine Générale — Unstructured tailoring designed to be worn with denim. A soft-shoulder blazer from here over a 501 is one of the most reliable outfits in menswear.

The sizing problem — and how to solve it in thirty seconds

Here's the thing about Levi's: a 32" waist in a 501 does not fit like a 32" in a 502, and neither fits like a 32" from COS, Arket or A.P.C. Rigid cotton relaxes. Stretch denim shrinks back. Vanity sizing means the number on the tag is closer to a suggestion than a measurement. Most of the returns I see in styling work come down to men buying the number they've always bought.

This is exactly what Tellar was built to fix. It's the UK's leading free sizing tool — you measure once, or simply tell it a size you already own that fits well, and it matches your body to over 1,500 brands instantly. No downloads, no sign-up, works straight in your browser.

Store Size Lookup for men — get your precise size in Levi's, COS, Reiss, Everlane, Arket and hundreds more.
How to measure — men — chest, waist, hip, done properly, in under two minutes.

Alongside the tool, the Tellar Fashion Hub is a growing library of free posts from working stylists. Honest, unbiased, independent, and never sponsored. If you want to go further on denim and casual dressing, start with these:

Never look at a size guide again

Your body, matched exactly to 1,500+ brands, instantly.

Measure once — bust, waist, hip, or just tell us a brand size you already own.
Use the Store Size Lookup to get your precise size in any brand.
Shop with confidence — no guesswork, fewer returns, better-fitting purchases.
Always free, no downloads, works in-browser.

Find your Levi's size now →