My search for premium denim continues, but has to be confined to my infrequent shopping outings in the big city, since premium denim does not exist in my town. In the meantime I need some jeans; I wear them most days of the week. At the moment, I have one AT Modern fit Skinny and one Gap Long and Lean, but no others.

I went to the Gap in search of leans. As modgrl discovered late last week, the stores and online store are ominously low on these right now. The leans that were available in my (potential) sizes all had small holes in them...and didn't fit properly anyway. They SAID low waist on the tag, but on me these were anything but low. They were also made of a sort of knit material. I decided I would wait and hope for a new and better fabric in these.

Having read the reviews of the other Gap jeans, I decided to try again with the Always Skinny, which I had tried without success a few months ago. http://youlookfab.com/welookfa.....-pic-heavy

For some reason, this time, the Always Skinny seemed to work much better than they did a few months ago. Either that or I am fooling myself; not sure which! Last time, they were too big in the waist and too short in the rise. This time, they seemed to fit much better in both places. Given the Gap's inconsistent sizing I figured, if I found a pair that is comfortable I should snatch it up, especially since I had a 60% off coupon.

Based on a tip of Angie's to gfBrenda, I also decided to try straight legs and I ended up buying a pair of the Real Straights. On me (with my muscular thighs and calves) I think they actually look a heck of a lot like a skinny, but to my eye, on my legs, they work a bit better with booties, minimizing the "cartoon character" leg look that I think I get in skin-tight skinnies, and reducing the wiggle dance and leg smoothing that I have to do every time I stand after sitting.

Explanation: On me, all tight jeans ride up on the calf and cling to my knees and thighs when I sit and have to be smoothed back down manually because the fabric sticks to my legs. It can be really inconvenient and embarrassing. You meet somebody, sit down for a talk, and then, as you get up to leave, have to bend down to physically push your pants down your leg so that they will maintain PPL. That's life for me in skinnies (unless they are tucked into tall boots.)

I still have to do some smoothing with the Real Straights, but not as much. And by the way, am I the only woman in the world who has this problem? What the heck? It's very annoying.

Are these PPL with the booties? No worries if they are not: I'll wear them with one inch heels. I can also tuck them into tall boots.

BTW, I didn't style them. I'm just wearing them tucked with a T shirt just so you can see the fit a bit better.