BY SYEDA JAFRI
IN 1980 when a strikingly beautiful 15-year-old girl named Brooke Shields purred, "Nothing comes between me and my Calvins," America fell in love with the "designer jeans generation" and the idea that those "true blues" liberated a woman's inner sex appeal.
The casual-comfort denim love affair has been going strong for decades.
Worldwide fashion editors each year bombard readers with that million- dollar question: What's the perfect jean for you? The answer? The one that fits, not what someone else is wearing.
Jeans have gone through fashion metamorphoses.
There were the iconic bell-bottom flares of the 1960s and 1970s, then came boot-cut, relaxed, straight-legged, low-rise, high fit, baggy, skinny and wide-angle grungy to name a few.
Today, we have the return of that tight fit of the Glam Rock, the '80s "skinnies look." What's the big deal about jeans? Jeans are a status symbol, as silly as your hiney says a lot about your style and social status.
Of course, if you spend anything more than a $100 for a pair of jeans, then you definitely want to get the wear, too.
Buy a Pinto, pay for a Pinto; buy a Benz, you get a Benz.
If you spend the money, look at the quality, workmanship, fit, fabric, feel, style, decoration, buttons and the name.
Retailing from $85 to $310, you can find your perfect high-end denim in most department stores and chic local boutiques. (The latest one I frequented was Peyton Grey in Claremont where I found great choices.)
And speaking of price, let's take a side trip into the world of "ridiculous." Escada's couture line has jeans starting a $7,500, according to Forbes Magazine. Thus far, the most expensive pair of Escada jeans at $10,000 are studded from top to bottom with Swarovski crystals.
In the category of beyond ridiculous, the same magazine boasted that in May 2001, Levi Strauss & Co. paid $46,532 to buy a pair of its own jeans on eBay.
Well, at least they are investing in their own.
The jeans were found in a Nevada mining town and date back to the 1880s. The company has no plans to resell them.
They are a one of kind denim.
Onto our own reality, my top seven designer jean choices:
- Citizens of Humanity
- Lucky Brand,
- 7 for All Mankind
- True Religion
- J Brand
- Rock & Republic
- Victoria Beckham.
Retailing from $55 to $335, these jeans have the texture, tone, fit, visual flare and the strength of names that can stand the test of time.
That once pubescent model, now a proud mother of two, has made way for new provocative faces. But just like she never let anything come between her and her Calvins, let no name come between you and your perfect fit.
Precious in hot pink
J Brand boot cut dark denim jeans, $165
long sleeve soft linen pink top, $130
Linea Pelle black Italian leather handbag, $440
Peyton Grey silver hoops, $15
For an evening out
"European N" by Nina Soft Jersey, drop dead back dress, $185
Marcia Moran jewelry: polished gold necklace, $75; supporting back polished gold necklace, $65; earrings, $60
All items exclusively available at Peyton Grey Boutique, Claremont Village West
