Jean therapy

I have had a couple of great pairs of jeans in my life – the best being a fabulous pair of Levi’s 501’s in the early 90s. I wore them everyday – I really did. I wore them til they literally fell apart and then bought another pair…

There are three things in life that I dread. Not dread in the sense of ‘life threatening’ or ‘excruciatingly painful’ – more in the sense of ‘I would rather be cleaning the floor with a toothbrush right now’.

The three things are (in no particular order), shopping for swimwear, looking for new glasses and trying to find new jeans. I have managed to do all three this summer, so I am feeling particularly pleased with myself.

I am not discussing the swimwear issue, as seriously, I would rather cut out my own eyeballs with a spoon than shop for swimwear. I found some that looked great in a changing room and in front of a mirror, but as soon as you add water they somehow cease to support me in any way, and in an anti-miracle, appear to make me look two sizes larger. Big fat fail. BUT I have managed to have success with the next two.

I will save the whole glasses issue for another article to follow this one, but I do have to say that it is just such an incredibly difficult thing to find glasses. Why is that exactly? Article on said issue to follow soon.

Jeans. Such a simple word, but a real complicated ball of wax! They seem to come in such a never-ending range of fabrics – acid wash, stone wash, and even enzyme wash. They can be dyed, over dyed or even double dyed. They can be raw or coloured denim. They have studs or top stitching, zips or buttons. They can have a bootleg, straight leg, or be a boyfriend cut. They can be cuffed, or Capri. They can be low slung or high waisted. I get confused just thinking about it.

I have had a couple of great pairs of jeans in my life – the best being a fabulous pair of Levi’s 501’s in the early 90s. I wore them everyday – I really did. I wore them til they literally fell apart and then bought another pair but they were never the same. When that pair was nicked from the line of my flat in Wellington, my love affair with jeans was over, at least for another decade.

Tsubi jeans came into my life nearly 10 years ago, and again I fell in love with denim, and wore them nearly every day. Eventually they fell apart and aside from a nice pair of Helmut Lang jeans I still own – there have been no other jeans in my life.

I think I dislike the whole process of looking for jeans because there just never seems to be any that fit my particular shape.

I either like a boyfriend type jean, or a cuffed slim leg that can be worn with a little flat/vans (ballet flats for me – I am a creature of habit).

That Audrey Hepburn-type casual works well – and helps carry denim from just a weekend slob around to something a bit smarter.

ANYWAY… I think I may have found some jeans. Yes, really, I have. Levi’s have re-thought their whole way of looking at sizing with their brand designers studying 60,000 body scans of women. They decide to focus on shape and proportion instead of just size. So they developed custom fits in a Slight Curve for straight figures, Demi Curve designed to fit even proportions and Bold Curve designed to honour genuine curves.

The Levi’s Curve ID jeans also come in both a Modern (low rise) and a Classic (mid rise). I ended up with a pair of Levi’s Curve ID Demi skinnies in a dark denim. They fit. And they look good. They don’t cut across my stomach, or gape at the back. The pocket detailing on the back is simple and well designed and doesn’t accentuate the size of my butt (why do they have to put pockets on the back that just make my butt look even more like a moving target?) They haven’t stretched out too much – but I did get them firm. I like them so much I might be going back for the ankle skinnies – to wear with a pair of brogues. And as they start at just $100 a pair – that won’t break the bank.

Available from all Levi’s stockists – try Just Jeans. You may never take them off…

By Anya Brighouse 25 February 2012.