I’m in trouble.  I’ve crossed into the dark side when it comes to denim.  A side I didn’t really know much about until this past week.

See, I had been a Levi girl for years.  They were tried and true and I loved the 515 boot cut.  They were lean and trim, slightly flared at the bottom, good fit, lots of different washes, I wore that style for years.  I even had women stop me and ask me where I bought my jeans!  That is like the ultimate compliment! 

(No, that’s not me.  These are stock photos I found online.)

One day, a few years ago, Costco had women’s Lucky Brand Jeans.  I had heard of Lucky jeans before, I knew they were normally expensive, so when I saw the $30 price tag I knew this was my opportunity to get into some “name-brand” jeans.  I grabbed a pair, they were a darker wash than I was used to, but that was the coming trend and I was OK with that.  I bought them, brought them home, tried them on (you can’t try clothes on at Costco), and I just LOVED the way they fit, I was so excited!  They quickly became my favorite pair of jeans.  They were Jim’s favorite jeans, too!

As my Levi’s wore out, I ventured into other brands, but was never really overly happy with any of them.  Probably my second favorite pair is a Mossimo brand from Target for $24.99.  But I still really love my Lucky jeans.  Over time, they have faded tremendously, they are getting worn and tattered, I can feel a hole developing in the knee.  And although worn and tattered jeans are the trend right now, these won’t fit that bill.   They don’t look “cool”, they look “old”.  It’s time for them to go.  I’ve been watching Costco closely for the past year, and they haven’t brought the jeans back.  They did have Lucky jeans at one point, but they were a relaxed boyfriend wash and not the same fit as my Lucky Zoe bootcut jeans. 

About two months ago I caved.  I went to the Lucky Brand Dungarees store at Washington Square and dropped a pretty penny on a brand new pair of the same jeans I’d bought at Costco years before. That moment, the very moment I bought my most expensive pair of jeans ever, marks the point in time when I crossed into the dark side.  I spent $90 on that pair. I LOVE them.  Love Love Love them.  They are worth every penny I spent.  It was hard for me to not take them camping a couple weeks ago.  Really hard.  I can’t explain enough how much I love my Lucky jeans. 

I decided it’s time to upgrade my wardrobe, freshen it up, buy another pair of “cool” jeans. I finally weeded through my closet and pulled out all my old jeans, the one’s I don’t like anymore for one reason or another.  Pockets look funny, too heavy, too faded, too wide, no longer in style, whatever.    I probably have 9 pairs of jeans in my closet, but I only wear 3 of them.  Well, really only 2 of them. It’s time to upgrade my denim wardrobe.  I’ve noticed the trend is old faded ripped up jeans.  I can wear a pair of those at my age, can’t I?  Not the extreme holey skinny jeans, not those, I know that.  But a pair of straight-legged faded couple-small-holes jeans would be OK, right? 

We used to get pizza every Monday night.  And every Monday night the same girl was workign the counter.  And every Monday night I noticed she wore some really cool looking jeans.  Actually, everyone at the restaurant was wearing the same brand of jeans.  I finally got the nerve to comment that I liked her jeans and wondered what brand they were.  (It was an embarassing moment for the both of us it seemed, not sure why exactly, but it just seemed awkward).  Anyway- they were American Eagle jeans.  I decided that would be my next purchase.   I knew there was an American Eagle Outfitters store at Washington Square, so when the girls were invited to a Build-a-Bear party at the mall, I was super excited. 

These are the American Eagle jeans I was on a mission for:

My jean shopping moment arrived!  I was prepared to spend $70 on a pair, so was ultra-pleased when I found out they were under $40!  Unfortunately, all their jeans are really skinny and really low.  Not made for real women.  I didn’t like the way they fit at all.  American Eagle jeans are not for me. 

On my way back to Build-A-Bear (BAB) I saw the Lucky Store and thought, “well, if I was prepared to spend $70 on a pair of AE jeans, why not spend the $20 more and get another pair of Lucky jeans?  Maybe they will have a faded wash?” So I popped into the store and grabbed several pairs to try on.  Really NOT wanting to spend $90 on a pair of jeans.  I was excited to see they had a section of 1/2 price jeans… and was happy that I found a pair I liked in that section.  It took me a little coaxing, because they are skinny jeans, but they aren’t super skinny.  They are faded, but not as faded as I would have liked, but for $45 I’m not complaining- I really like them! 

But here’s where my problem lay.  They had THE cutest, most awesome fitting, coolest looking faded ratty capris.  They were perfect.  PERFECT.  Ummm…..and $90.  I live in Oregon.  Capris are worn for maybe 3 months out of the year.  Sorry, I’m not dropping $90 on a pair of pants that I can only wear for a couple months, and that might possibly not be in style next summer.  It hurt.  Oh the pain I would have to endure from not buying those soooo cool pants.  But I set my mind to find a “cheap” pair of the same type of style.  I WANTED some cool ratty tatty faded capris.  Click here for a picture of them.

I left the store happy with my new skinny jeans, and continued on my way to BAB.  A couple stores down the hall, I saw True Religion Jeans.  Hmmm.  Never seen or heard of them before, I’ll step in and check them out.  I immediately recognized the pockets on the jeans.  I had seen them before, only a handful of times, but enough to know they looked good on the people who were wearing them.  So I walked up to the gal and asked her to help me find some jeans. She asked if I was familiar with them at all, etc. etc. and she got me all set up with a pair of True Religion Billy jeans.  Perfectly faded and worn looking, slightly tattered, cool looking pockets, straight yet skinny fit, I was pretty excited about them. 

I figured they would be $70-$90 like the Lucky Jeans and was debating if I wanted to spend that much….then I grabbed the price tag to see how much they were.

Are you ready for this?

Are you?

ONE

HUNDRED

AND

NINETY

SIX

DOLLARS

Yes, $196.  Holy crap!  Those words literally came out of my mouth!  The sales gal came back and asked me what I thought, I admitted I had no idea how much the jeans would be, and that I would definitely be passing them up.  Yikes. 

Remember back in the 80’s when the most expensive jeans were Guess jeans and they were $55 a pair?  Ummm….we’re definitely living in different times now.  I thought $100 was an expensive pair, but no….that’s just the tip of the dark side.  In the dark dark side, jeans are $200.   Some of the True Religion jeans are closer to $300!  I won’t be venturing in that deep.  (Wonder if Nordstrom Rack gets them for cheap?)  For me it’s not the name brand that I’m after- I know there are knockoff True Religion jeans (like how Palmetto jeans started putting a triangle logo on their pocket so people would think they were Guess jeans from afar?  I know there are other denim makers putting horseshoes on their butt pockets to confuse people at a distance.  I’m not after the horseshoe.  I’m after the style and fit of the pants!)

I left that store empty handed obviously, and figured I had just enough time to go to JC Penney.  I stopped my jean shopping mission and was now on a mission to find some cool capris.  Sadly, I never found the perfect pair.  Everything was too saggy or loose, or too tight, or too long.  Whatever.   I ran out of time and had to hurry back to BAB to pick up the girls.  I really could have used another couple hours at the mall.  Of course I probably would have ended up going back to Lucky and dropping $90 on their capris!  ha!  Maybe it’s a good thing that I ran out of time.  Those pants have been haunting me.