The Hunt for the Perfect Jeans
Update 2/2024: I purchased the Apiece Apart Meridian jeans and love them, though I had to hem them 6” because they are very very long!
Jeans and or Trousers…
At some point in college, I decided that I wanted to collect 100 dresses. I thought that would make me seem so cool. “Wow, have you seen the girl with 100 dresses? She is always wearing something new! She’s so fashionable. I love her.” In high school, I had what you might call a “capsule wardrobe.” You know, a few pieces you wear over and over and over again? This is of course more sustainable/ environmentally friendly, but back then I fretted over being seen wearing the same clothes weekly*. I recently read fourteen year olds are applying retinol creams to prevent aging. At 14! The things kids worry about.
{*That idea has lasted most of my life. An obsession with needing to prove myself but to whom? Who is looking! A lot of us are all guilty of this in the social media age. Look at me! Look how special I am! Well, heck. You are special. Do your thing.}
So, I collected those 100 dresses. I primarily wore dresses until 2017 when I took a part-time retail job at a hipster boutique and wanted to freshen my look. I distinctly remember going into Gap and leaving with a shiny new pair of cropped dark denim skinny jeans. Sometime between 2017-2020 I ditched the skinnies and have been on the hunt for the perfect pair of jeans ever since.
My body and confidence have changed a lot since these photos were uploaded to Facebook years ago. I feel like I’m constantly relearning how to be my authentic self but that’s a different story.
I look at this tiny little thing I once was and wish I had appreciated her more. Like the 14-year-olds of today fretting over aging, I was convinced I was fat! Hardly. At 30, I was diagnosed with Premature Ovarian Insufficiency. In the last 8 years, hormones have definitely changed my body and how I see myself. During the pandemic, I lost quite a bit of weight and I loved feeling small. I’ve since gained it all back so there’s the struggle of not having your clothes fit. I know a lot of women struggle with these very same issues of hormonal changes, weight fluctuation, etc. I do love the journey! It’s so fun to look back and I know in 10 years I’ll think the concerns I have today weren’t anything to worry about.
Me at 23 in tights and an UO dress I loved in my first apartment.
Me today at 38 with the one pair of jeans I have that fit! J Crew, Point Sur, Slouchy, DIY tailored to fit tighter at the waist but not tight on the thighs.
I’m 5’2 and the hormonal belly really stresses me out. Jeans are always incredibly long on my short legs. I also hate my thighs. Oh, to be a woman! It’s ridiculous. Who taught us to hate our thighs?
I’m looking for
high-waisted jeans to hide my hormonal belly
jeans that work well with sandals or heels and pair with both casual and dressy tops
cropped or “short” length because every pair I own I have cut! Tired of the raw edge
preferably not in the price range of the above . Is $300 denim really that different from $50? I don’t know the answer.
