India, Sept. 10 -- Not sure whether you need straight-leg, baggy, flared or wide-leg jeans? Here is a practical guide to five denim styles worth knowing this season and when each one actually makes sense.

I have a slightly complicated relationship with jeans. I want them to look current, but I also want to be able to wear them without spending half my morning wondering what top goes with them.

And that is where denim trends can get unnecessarily confusing.

Every season brings another silhouette that is suddenly everywhere. One year it is skinny jeans, then baggy denim takes over, then flares return, and suddenly your perfectly good straight-leg pair starts looking outdated on social media.

But you do not need every jeans trend in your...