Denim dilemma

You know, I'm usually more than willing to embrace trends. I'd like to think that I do have my own aesthetic, but it's always changing, and while I'm not a fashion whore, I usually stay up to date. Bring on the long shirts and bubble skirts. I may even venture into the world of leggings.

But, open as I am to new things, I've had a problem with jeans lately. Observe:


Those jeans are on a model, people, and they're still making the poor wearer look hippy. It's just simple logic that if you wear jeans that are supertight over your ankles, your hips will look wide in comparison. The only person who I've seen who doesn't look a little bit wide in skinny jeans is, I'm pretty sure, anorexic. One way or another, she's way too frighteningly skinny to look cute in just about anything.

Now, I'm not saying that women shouldn't embrace their curves, and show a little hip when they want to. I mean it's hard to be comfortable with your ass when all the women that we're shown in ads and movies are a size 000, but if you are comfortable enough with your body to wear supertight jeans, more power to you. In fact, I even think that this pair is pretty cute:


The wash gives the legs a nice contour (that sounds really weird), and the color and the length are good, too. I could wear these. I would wear these.

BUT! Skinny jeans are going out! Now that pretty much everyone is used to them, and a lot of people have shelled out hundreds of dollars for them, we're being asked to accept super-baggy slouchy jeans as the next big (literally) shape. I mean, I suppose they're more comfortable than skinny jeans, but they're not exactly the world's most flattering fit, either. I love PaperDenim&Cloth, but even they couldn't come up with anything better than this when working with a baggy fit:


Ugh. Hudson did a slightly better job, but it's still an awfully drastic change from supertight jeans:


Silly as both these trends may be, I've shown examples of both styles that are quite bearable, so it's not like either trend can't be made to work. I just can't see why we needed a new denim trend to begin with. Sometime around 2003 or 2004, I think we really hit upon the perfect jean. Do you remember it? You probably own a pair or two that you take for granted. It's low, but not so low that you can't move without indecently exposing yourself--the waistband bisects the hip bone. It's fitted through the thigh and knee, but it's a little more forgiving around the ankles. Even though it flares out around the calf a little, the flare is neat and relatively small, just big enough to balance out hips--they're not ridiculous 60's (or 90's) bellbottoms. They're long enough to touch the ground, even to get a little scudgy around the hem, but they don't drag on the ground. They're perfect. Sigh. Well, just in case any of you don't remember/own/still constantly wear those jeans, here's what I'm talking about:



Wow, I'm all nostaglic now. Well, rather than continue to moan about the disappointing state of modern denim, I think I'll leave you with that uplifiting image.