I was just looking at 80's looks involving a lot of distressed denim. I remember both cutting holes in a pair of thrifted jeans and splashing bleach on them to get the effect at the time.
In general I like it, just because I like the textural richness. Whether it comes from hard wearing, or some kind of ripping machine. I currently have one pair of slightly distressed jeans. I'm avoiding heavily distressed skinnies because on me they remind me a bit too much of hair metal bands --- but I have seen all shapes of distressed denim work beautifully in certain outfits. I think the distressing has to basically be read as 3d pattern, and the rest of the outfit needs to work with that element.
ETA: like Thistle I grew up with 90% second-hand jeans, but that's partly why I liked distressing, and the vogue for retro clothing items in high school and college particularly --- because I could wear older, more worn clothes or clothes from previous eras and not be dismissed out of hand because my clothes didn't look like they were just bought at the mall.
