Let's talk about jeans, of the denim variety. On a college campus, they are the most common piece of clothing that you will see. They have gone from being the teenager's staple wardrobe item to everyone's staple wardrobe item. Kids, college students, parents and even grandparents wear them.
So I think it's important that we educate ourselves a little about the history of jeans, and more importantly, how we can best wear them.?
Jeans are made from the fabric we all know as denim. It is made from basic and ubiquitous cotton, or to be more specific, cotton twill (twill signifies the diagonal pattern). The denim fabric originated from none other than the stylish French and textile-superpower Indians, but was first used to make pants in Italy. Keep in mind that denim is dyed blue.?
Now we can get serious. What about jeans make them stylish and how is one pair different from another? I suppose people wear jeans for the one simple cultural reason that we do everything else: because a celebrity did it once.
Sure enough, actor James Dean wore them in the movie Rebel Without a Cause and jeans became the steadfast symbol of youth in revolt in the 1950s. However, over the decades, jeans became accepted by all and were adopted as a piece of casual and informal clothing.
More recently, in the past couple decades, jeans have become the go-to, no questions asked item for almost any occasion short of a wedding or business interview. Why? Because they're easy to wear and easy to shop for. Isn't that what we all want? Something we can buy for cheap and throw on without registering a second thought? Unfortunately, this is indeed the case, but it doesn't have to be.?
Last time I wrote, I talked about my new favorite pair of jeans from Uniqlo, a pair made of raw selvage denim. The difference between these jeans and others is the quality of the fabric. It is heavier and more durable because it's made with a different process (albeit a more arduous one), thus the term "selvage" (from "self-edge") that denotes the natural edge of the fabric roll, which results in less fraying and fading.
I also used the term "raw," meaning unwashed, which give the jeans a dark heavy color. This is a more mature and sophisticated option to the light blue jeans worn by the masses, in my opinion. Denim enthusiasts prefer these types of jeans because it allows them to "break in" the denim, meaning the denim will take the unique shape and form of the wearer's body based on the types of routine activities they perform everyday.
Enthusiasts (like me) also prefer it because the raw denim begins to naturally fade over time, giving the jeans a desirable worn-in effect, compared to the pre-washed, pre-distressed, already worn-in (maybe even ripped) look popular among teens.
My advice: Go pick up a pair of dark raw jeans (doesn't have to be selvage) and feel the difference for yourself. I haven't gone back to my old pair since wearing my new ones.?
I'd also like to touch on fit. There is a myriad of words that specify the structure and fit of jeans, such as skinny, boot cut, baggy, relaxed, flare, wide-leg, slim, etc.
I've tried and failed to make sense of this myself, so I'll give the most general of definitions.
Skinny and slim refer to the width or circumference of the jeans below the knee, meaning they are tighter than normal.
Likewise, baggy, flair, wide-leg and boot cut signify larger than normal width below the knee.
There are specific measurements and regulations that designers follow when it comes to labeling jeans with a category, but I don't feel like anyone other than the designers really cares, so I won't go into it.
What I will say is that I think most adult men should opt for a slim or straight-leg cut, rather than a wide-leg cut. "Baggy" jeans were popular in high school, but we're in college now, and soon we'll be off in the workforce or equivalent professional and graduate schools, places where men (and women) are expected to dress age-appropriately. So to put it simply, dress for success by dressing your age, and that begins with the right pair of jeans.
