The Genes of Your Jeans

Rule #2:

A good pair of jeans can revolutionize your wardrobe.

Alright.  Remember back in the good old days when bleaching your hair was "in"?  Yeah I wish I could forget it too.  Now the same is with faded jeans.  A good dark wash is bringing sexy back, just like Justin Timberlake valiantly attempted.  This time, you for sure will be successful.  Not that you weren't JT, Backstreet just kidnapped your identity past, present and future and refuses to give it back.  Anyway, NO FADE, NO FLEUR DE LIS on the pockets (or elsewhere), NO WHITE STITCHING, AND DEFINITELY NO BEJEWELED ANYTHING (The last was in case if you were on the wrong side of Buckle.  Or even in Buckle.  What are you still doing in there?!?  Get out!!!  Before they get you.)  Simple and sleek will take you a million miles and go with everything.

Now at this point, I should mention of my strategy here.  I am inherently biased against my own fashion tastes, however, my goal is to provide the simplest, classiest advice to get you (or a loved one, or a "friend of a friend", it's alright we all have one of those) to a place where they are fashionably safe and can eventually explore their own identity.

With that out of the way, lets go back to work.

Jeans do not have to be expensive to look good or to last long.  If you have time to wait you can shop around something good that will match fit, taste and price will come along.

Here are some things to seek out in a pair of jeans:

Appropriate Fit

A pair of jeans should look good, they should fit a certain way in certain areas while other areas have room for flexibility to accommodate taste and comfort. 

The first and most important area of fit is the waistband.  The waistband should be snug but not tight.  It should press into the skin just a little bit but not be so tight as to cause pinching.  Remember, jeans upon first wash will "stiffen" or flex back to their original shape and even shrink just a tad, but remember, upon first wear, they will naturally relax again.  On the side of looseness, you should wear your belt as an accessory, not as a necessity.  Remember, the fit of the rest of the pant is dependent up on the waist size, you increase the waist, everything gets bigger, and same vice versa.

Second, working our way down, the crotch should not be bigger than the rest of the fit of the pant.  When you stand, take one point in the leg of the pant, pinch the extra fabric until at that point the fabric has no slack around your leg (preferably somewhere along your thigh), then pinch the excess fabric out of your crotch.  If there is significantly more fabric in your crotch than the rest of the pant, the crotch is too long.

Third, length your jeans should just barely touch the floor when worn without shoes.  Jeans should never drag on the ground when worn with shoes.  You're not a bride, so don't make yourself a train.


Style

This is all up to you.  However, I will provide more ground rules for you.

Darker wash is better for the more dressy you want to be, usually.  I will say in colors other than denim, that could change in a hurry.

Simpler design = better.  Elaborate stitching, jewels, crosses, etc...can date the pant and decrease how long it can match current styles.

When it comes to the actual fit of the pant, I always say as a rule, the slimmer the better, especially in the opening (fancy term for how much the bottom of the leg "flares", bell bottoms would have an enormous opening, while skinnies would have a small one).  I say slimmer the better because you don't want the bagginess of your pants to out do the fit of your shirt.

Skinnies:  not everyone likes them, but they can be done fashionably.  Don't listen to the haters.


How many?

Well, you should have enough jeans to have one to wear and one to wash at the same time plus one just in case if you spill something in your crotch, or make a failed attempt at crotch pot cookin' or something like that.  How often should you wash your jeans?  When there are noticeable spots that are lighter or darker than the rest of the jean, or they smell (pretty common sense guys).  Jeans do not have to be washed upon each wear.  There are even jeans which are raw denim that should never be washed (Nudies).

To maintain their fit and prevent shrinking or warping, wash and then do not machine dry.  Lay them flat to dry.  Do not wring them.  But you can dry them if you'd like, they will shrink a little upon the first wash and then there after they will shrink back to towards their original fit.

As I have said, a man can change his whole fashion state by two things, his shoes and his jeans.  Don't be afraid to try something new!