YouLookFab Forum » Topic: The Jeans Dude

YouLookFab Forum » Topic: The Jeans Dude https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/the-jeans-dude Style Advice for Fashion Lovers en-US Fri, 10 Apr 2026 19:30:14 +0000 http://bbpress.org/?v=1.0.2 <![CDATA[Search]]> q https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/search.php Janet on "The Jeans Dude" https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/the-jeans-dude#post-1060547 Wed, 23 Oct 2013 01:45:49 +0000 Janet 1060547@https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/ That is such a great story! (I just wish we could see pics of the jeans, after all that! I have a Swimsuit Dudette. Seriously, this woman is the Angie of swimwear. She works in the Swim'n'Sport in a nearby mall, and she has managed to get me into multiple bikinis and one-pieces that make me feel fab. PLUS, she did the same for both of my nieces, and my sister, who hadn't bought a swimsuit in over a decade. They need to clone her and put her in every swimwear store and department! Mander on "The Jeans Dude" https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/the-jeans-dude#post-1060447 Tue, 22 Oct 2013 23:35:10 +0000 Mander 1060447@https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/ I'd love to find someone like this!  Usually I get responses more along the lines of "sorry, we don't carry that size/length". Fruitful on "The Jeans Dude" https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/the-jeans-dude#post-1059426 Tue, 22 Oct 2013 03:13:18 +0000 Fruitful 1059426@https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/ I loved this story second time around as well! It is so hard to trust an SA. A filter I have, is if, like kkards said, they will steer you away from something. That earns my trust in them. I have had an SA tell me "that colour does nothing for you" and although I already knew it, it reassured me that she was being honest about the things she did like on me. Kudos to you for trying something new (the listening to JeansDude, not just the jeans!). It's a style epiphany! Gaylene on "The Jeans Dude" https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/the-jeans-dude#post-1059217 Mon, 21 Oct 2013 23:57:55 +0000 Gaylene 1059217@https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/ Loved your story about the Jeans Dude! I had a similar experience a few years back when I walked into a trendy boutique staffed only by a young girl with piercings, tatoos, and pink/green spiked hair. To say that I felt out of place would be an understatement, but no one else was in the shop, she seemed eager to help, we started talking, and I ended up trying on things she picked out for me. She was very good at showing me how to wear the items as well as making me try on very different styles. I left with some wardrobe workhorses and a huge appreciation for the fashion knowledge that the younger generation bring to their retail jobs. Since then, I've been shameless about asking young SAs for help instead of being dismissive. Under their tutelage, I've been taught how to use an eyebrow pencil properly (huge dividends for my over-60 thinning eyebrows), the correct way to tuck my jeans into my boots, what not to wear under a sheer top, and so much more. My favorite lip stain was picked out by a young MAC SA who steered me away from the shade I was gravitating towards and substituted hers instead. As someone who came of age in the late sixties and seventies, a period in which makeup consisted of frosted lipstick and kohl-lined eyes, I obviously have a lot to learn in this area. And no one knows how to make a trendy style wearable better than those who do it all the time. Bring on the Jeans Dudes, Fashion Mistresses, and Makeup Mavens--they are amazing guides to those of us who walk in the fashion and make-up wilderness. Caro in Oz on "The Jeans Dude" https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/the-jeans-dude#post-1059087 Mon, 21 Oct 2013 21:58:53 +0000 Caro in Oz 1059087@https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/ Magic - thanks for sharing. Now if you could find me a shirt dude I'd be eternally grateful Lyn D. on "The Jeans Dude" https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/the-jeans-dude#post-1058981 Mon, 21 Oct 2013 20:59:07 +0000 Lyn D. 1058981@https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/ Great story! I think I suggested JeansWest to Fruitful too, as I too have also met a 'Jeans Dude' at one of their stores. Since joining YLF I have started volunteering at the Salvos. Thanks to the wealth of knowledge here, when asked at the checkout how to style a pair of great high-heeled boots the other day, I was able to rattle off a number of styling suggestions with confidence, and the customer happily bought the shoes deb on "The Jeans Dude" https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/the-jeans-dude#post-1058956 Mon, 21 Oct 2013 20:35:16 +0000 deb 1058956@https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/ I have done the same thing with glasses. I have a hard time accepting the sales persons opinion when I try on glasses but I have to because I cannot see without the proper lens. To help me with this, I now go up to everyone, sales people and customers, and ask their opinions. Sort of like the yea/nea here at YLF. Those with the most yea's get purchased. kkards on "The Jeans Dude" https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/the-jeans-dude#post-1058935 Mon, 21 Oct 2013 20:18:47 +0000 kkards 1058935@https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/ for years my sister and i would go to this tiny boutique on the jersey shore where we spent a week each summer. there was a marvelous girl/young women who would help us. and i mean help, she would pick things out, make us try things outside our comfort zones, give suggestions on how to style, and most importantly say no (gentlely, in a positvie way) when something did not work. just the act of her saying no give so much weight to her yeses. i would end up getting much of my summer and early fall stuff from her. every store should have a SA like her, but unfortuntaly, i find most don't know how to give the no's, so the yeses are less meaningful Ornella on "The Jeans Dude" https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/the-jeans-dude#post-1058913 Mon, 21 Oct 2013 20:06:21 +0000 Ornella 1058913@https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/ OMG, I thought I'd wake up the kid (bad idea on a school night). I laughed so much. Such a brilliant story in every respect. It's interesting you say how every speciality shop has Jeans Dude. I mostly remember that great service from when I was a kid and my mum would go to buy clothes. That feeling when you walk through the door, and the saleslady knows your size the moment she sees you - even I remember how great that felt, and it was my mum who needed clothes. In my experience, they are either on a break every time I need specialist help or they have never seen tall woman who needs extra long jeans so I end up with their empty stares and dropped shoulders "sorry, we can't help you". I'm glad you have a happy ending times two. I'd grab two pairs immediately myself as well. Can't go through the same ordeal again, I agree. annagybe on "The Jeans Dude" https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/the-jeans-dude#post-1058906 Mon, 21 Oct 2013 19:59:47 +0000 annagybe 1058906@https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/ That's awesome. I just found out one of my favorite sales associates is a LOT younger than me. It was unsettling but she usually gives good advice. Amy on "The Jeans Dude" https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/the-jeans-dude#post-1058900 Mon, 21 Oct 2013 19:55:23 +0000 Amy 1058900@https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/ Great story. I love a happy ending. I've learned to ask sales associates for their input on items and also try picking their brains about how things wear, particularly if they're wearing something sold in the store.  Sometimes, sales assistants can steer you wrong, but when you find a good one...it's marvelous! JillG on "The Jeans Dude" https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/the-jeans-dude#post-1058869 Mon, 21 Oct 2013 19:28:19 +0000 JillG 1058869@https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/ What a great story, and so cleverly written!  I can't remember the last time I asked the SA for help.  I wish we could clone your Jeans Dude. Jeanie on "The Jeans Dude" https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/the-jeans-dude#post-1058458 Mon, 21 Oct 2013 13:52:58 +0000 Jeanie 1058458@https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/ Great story and very brave of you to ask the Jeans Dude for help!  I recently asked the opinion of the svelte 20 something blonde associate at BR her opinion on a sweater and just got an unconvincing "it looks good response". However, we do have a local boutique here that is amazing at not only telling you what looks good but grabbing gobs of stuff from all over the store for you to try that they think will look good on your body type.  They are the 'gold standard' for helpful SA's for me and I often wonder why I can't find more folks like this out there but I am starting to ask more often.   MuseumGal on "The Jeans Dude" https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/the-jeans-dude#post-1058441 Mon, 21 Oct 2013 13:32:20 +0000 MuseumGal 1058441@https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/ Yay for your Jeans Dude!  I hope you thanked him profusely.  Too bad there's no way to tip these occasional stars. El Cee on "The Jeans Dude" https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/the-jeans-dude#post-1058439 Mon, 21 Oct 2013 13:31:02 +0000 El Cee 1058439@https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/ Got a huge chuckle while reading your tale of jeans-shopping woes. Love the part about skinnies feeling like a tourniquet on the calves. I almost never ask for help from sales staff when it comes to the vetting process. Your success may make me rethink this. Suz on "The Jeans Dude" https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/the-jeans-dude#post-1058438 Mon, 21 Oct 2013 13:29:55 +0000 Suz 1058438@https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/ Thank you for reposting this, Lyrebirdgully! It's such an amusing story, but with so much truth to it. We often stereotype the sales staff in our minds (especially if we are young and inexperienced and relatively poor and they seem snotty, or if we are older and they are younger and not dressed in a way we want to emulate). But many SAs are worth their weight in gold and have more training than we can imagine. (Just think of our own Rae!) I've had a few similar experiences, both with jeans and with bra fittings. It's tricky at first -- before you build that initial trust. But as you see that they have your best interests in mind it becomes quite a happy experience.  Lyrebirdgully on "The Jeans Dude" https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/the-jeans-dude#post-1058417 Mon, 21 Oct 2013 13:11:19 +0000 Lyrebirdgully 1058417@https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/ Following the suggestion of Fruitful and Suz, I'm reposting this anecdote that I put up as a comment to a recent thread of Fruitful's about jeans. 2 months ago I bought my first pair of jeans in over 12 years - with help from an very unexpected quarter!  Now jeans are one of those tricky things I had almost given up on. I wore them less and less often, and been putting off buying new ones on account of the depressing feelings that come with unsuccessful jeans shopping. I have a long list of special fit requirements for jeans that sometimes seemed nearly impossible to fill.  Nevertheless for ages I had had a longing for a pair of skinnies. But any skinnies I had tried on from time to time looked awful, and I believed that for me only a bootcut style would ever look any good. However, from YLF I had learned that straightleg jeans might be a good skinny substitute; so in August I marched into my local JeansWest in Sydney, ready to try on straightlegs. Enter The Jeans Dude. You know the type, every specialty jeans shop seems to have one. He introduced himself as the manager, though he couldn't have been a day over 22, i.e. young enough to be my grandson. He was slim, taut and confident, very tanned with a bleached faux hawk, wearing an overly tight check shirt, and skinnies so tight they looked glued on. He cast a practised glance at the jeans I had on (my best and only pair, bootcuts of course) and guided me as requested towards the straightleg section. And then he suggested I try skinnies. I told him my skinnies woes, how I couldn't even get my feet into them in "my size", how I couldn't bend my knees, how my calves felt like they were in a tourniquet, how I couldn't find any long enough, etc. And off I went to the changeroom with the straightlegs. But the fit looked wrong, whatever the size and style. He suggested skinnies again. What the heck, I thought, I suppose I should. I did insist on a relaxed fit (I was thinking slouchy/boyfriend skinny) but when I looked in the mirror, my heart sank. The fabric was wrinkling in a way that I had seen often enough when my knock knees meet skinnies (any knock-kneed gals out there? you know the double diagonal knee wrinkle thing?) I felt suddenly at a dead end. It seemed to me that trying different sizes would just bring a host of other, even worse fit problems. I realised that I did not have the slightest idea what my next step should be. So I did something out of character, that I cannot remember ever doing in a clothing shop. I asked The Jeans Dude for his opinion. Now I'm normally very clear in my own mind about why something does or doesn't work on me, so I never feel the need to seek a fit critique from shop assistants . But this time, I walked out of the changeroom wearing the "bad" jeans, found The Dude and said the words I had only ever uttered to members of my family: "What do you think?" I swear he straightened up. He took one look at the jeans and said emphatically, "You need to size down", and then vanished to get the smaller sizes.  I could not bring myself to reply that, with the jeans I had on, I had just spent 2 minutes struggling to get the sides of the zipper to meet. How could i possibly get into a smaller size? Never mind, what did I know about jeans?..I was now in the hands of the expert. I meekly wrangled my flesh into every pair he brought me without a word of dissent; and walked out of the fitting room every time to show him and ask him what he thought. I even submitted to a jeans jegging which look surprisingly good, if a little nightclubby for my taste... anyway, he found me a pair of darkwash skinnies so nice that I bought them in the black as well. (Bonus - they are a standard Jeanswest line, so only $75 a pair ).To most skinny wearers out there they would not look like anything special - just 2 standard pair of skinnies -- but for me they are a complete marvel. I have worn each pair many times since. I now think everyone could do with their very own Jeans Dude (or Jeans Mistress).  I definitely feel more confident about jeans in general as a result of the assistance I was given. In a way, the experience was similar to a good bra fitting session. Do you have any experiences with sales staff taking a lead role, vetting fit and initiating style selections? how did you feel about it?