I searched " mom jeans" on Pinterest - YouLookFab Forum

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I searched " mom jeans" on Pinterest

catgirl

Veteran

Thanks to Denise. So far everyone has mentioned that the term is derogatory to the jeans, but harrumph! As a mother find it derogatory to moms too! And I wanted to see if I could find some looks I liked or if my poison eye comes from seeing them worn regularly in my environment.

So Far I've found this and will add more. Along with the dreaded authentic look.... Feel free to contribute!

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Dressing

45 replies

Latest reply was from rae

MsMary

Veteran

She looks great!

And yes, it's a derogatory term all around.

And this whole discussion is making me think of this classic SNL short film:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yTK_MNkVx-0

And look! So funny! They remade it:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sqYeP3EpHU0

catgirl

Veteran

Yes that is where I got the pic! Hilarious!

These all came up as mom jeans - are they? The look seems best with waist covered or crop tops and irony.

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viva

Veteran

Okay, Una, you are doing an amazing job of finding gorgeous mom jean pics. HOW IS THIS POSSIBLE?

Vicki

(website)

Veteran

Ever since Denise mentioned that Mom jeans in her post, I've been intrigued by the Mom Movement. As a cat Mom, I'm sitting here enjoying both of your photos and I also agree that any word used derisively is offensive.

Marmee

Veteran

Hmmm. Mom jeans seem to look best on a tall and narrow body type (and with young, non-mom abs). In your last pics, #3 and 4 don't really strike me as mom jeans. #3 look like super cool old man jeans. It's hard to tell in #5. The drop in the crotch seems too low for mom jeans.

catgirl

Veteran

True, Marmee. It is hard to find pics of body variety on Pinterest! If there are shorter non-skinny people in these they are not posting photos!

Diana

Veteran

4 and 5 just look like BFs to me.

As I mentioned on Denise's thread, I think I have poison eye not really for the whole mom jeans package, but specifically for the super high, tapered waist. I just don't like pants that go all the way to one's natural waist (with the possible exception of extremely voluminous trousers). With a belt is even worse to my eye because it accentuates the fact that the waistband of the jeans is so high and tight.

Admittedly the high waist thing is especially bad on someone who is short waisted like me (by the way, I'd need something like a 13 or 14 inch rise to hit my natural waist) but I have honestly never liked the look on anyone that I have ever seen, including tiny twiggy teenagers and 6 foot tall models.

Something that is like just 1" below the natural waist is totally fine to my eye though. I just don't want the waistband to be RIGHT at the narrowest point.

catgirl

Veteran

Agreed, Diana. That is my issue also. I feel like it makes everyone look oddly shaped and poochy. But with tweaks maybe it can work.

Liz

Veteran

The mom-jeans conversation is reinforcing to me how much style is in the eye of the beholder in the moment. I remember feeling the distaste when tapered jean styles (today's mom jeans) gave way to bootcuts ("It's the 70s bell bottoms again!"). But then my eye adjusted and I easily wore them.

I'm sure, at some point in the future, high-waisted pants will be either back on trend again or much more norm in the mix. Maybe at that time, we'll be calling low-rise pants or skinnies or bootcuts "mom jeans"!

Marmee

Veteran

Yes, Liz. I already dislike the look of my jeggings and sized to fit skinny jeans with the sausage leg effect (even with slight weight loss).

Sal

Veteran

I feel like at 43 and an hourglass body type (I think) I would like wrong in this style of jeans. I agree a level of irony helps with the styling. However of Alaskagirl's pics I like No 1 the best. I am not sure I could go back to acid wash....although never say never!

Your eye does change. I also used to think skinnies looked unusual, then as my eye adjusted I started to feel that way about some bootlegs.

I (hope) I have got to a point where I can wear a variety of styles, I have 5 pairs of denims - black skinnies, dark flares, faded boyfriend, mid denim straight and indigo coated straight jeans in my wardrobe. This is the right amount for me - enough variety but not too many that I get bored. The only addition I would consider would be white or cream jeans, but at the moment I feel they are not my most flattering look.

Sorry to go slightly off topic.

Gaylene

Veteran

OK, in the interests of helping our eyes adjust, here are some other ideas for those high-waisted jeans Denise is considering. And a bonus pic of Audrey looking fabulous in hers. (Is there anything that the divine Audrey couldn't wear with style and grace?)

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Sona

Veteran

I wear high waisted skinnies because its the only way for me to have no muffin top while sitting. I never wear a shirt tucked in though and mine are premium makes like AG and Joe's. Also a pair of EF high waist jeans. None of these look remotely mom-ish on me even if I was to tuck in. Although heels are a requirement to make the look current if worn with a tucked in shirt. I don't think waist rise alone makes a pair of jeans "mom jeans" in the derisive term that is.

catgirl

Veteran

Sona, I think it's that combination of high nipped in waist plus pleated or baggier midsection and tapered legs, along with certain washes, that characterize the true "mom jean" look. Like you say., skinnies and BFs get muddled in there from what I see on Pinterrst.

catgirl

Veteran

"When it hasn't been your day, your week your month or even your year..."

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MsMary

Veteran

*snort*

anne

Veteran

Love that song! But none of those jeans go up to the waist

shiny

Veteran

I am giggling over here... it starts with mom jeans and then ....shoulder pads! Because shoulder pads add balance, to go from pear to hourglass shape. Just you watch. Mark my words. Shoulder pads.

Personally I love the idea of these. I came of age when high waisted jeans were the norm. I remember one of the first garments I ever sewed, when I was maybe 14, was a pair of pleated high waisted tapered trousers in lime green polyester. Don't knock it. They were seriously cute! And gave me an hourglass shape.

And yeah.. about time higher waisted denim was more widely available. It's more comfortable for a lot of us, and more flattering too (no muffin top). A lot of us have been waiting for this moment. We don't necessarily need the exaggerated edgy ironic version in acid wash -- but higher waisted translated into dark wash boot cuts, straight legs, trouser styles would be quite nice.

If it's not your thing and it doesn't flatter, then don't wear it. I actually think I look longer and taller and less stumpy when the waist is higher. Yes I finally started getting used to lower rises but still I find I need a heel.

catgirl

Veteran

Well i was way skinnier back then. But now muffin top would be replaced by unsightly bulge. Instead of bulging upward the gut would be pushed down (not in) by the waistband. I know someone has to know what I mean. It was true with those pleated gabardine pants too. I remember an older woman I worked with grabbing that part of her abdomen in these pants like a bike tire. It scarred me.

But I like the looks I've pinned here! Just don't think I can wear them. Again, I don't think all high waisted styles translate to Mom Jeans. It's a very specific look I have in mind.

Suz

(website)

Veteran

I'm with Shiny -- I think I look taller with a high waisted jean (or trouser). Maybe because I am sensitive about being relatively short-legged. So even though I'm also a bit short -waisted, I'll take the long legged look! Although I admit, I also have grown to like the long torso look, and my favourite jeans at the moment are the ones with a low rise. So .... horses for courses, I guess! And I seem to have more than one horse in this race.

I just watched a documentary about the sculptor Maya Lin. A lot was shot in the 80s and early 90s when the Vietnam memorial came out and then the Civil Rights memorial. And...there were lots of shoulder pads. And....gasp...I actually liked a lot of the fashions that I saw!!!! These were mostly ordinary people, all dressed up to come to the formal opening ceremony of this or that memorial.

And also Maya in her (sometimes high waisted, often "boyfriend" like or baggy straight leg) jeans, and her oversized sweaters and simple tanks -- she looked amazingly current.

Jaime

(website)

Veteran

Hmm, I do think they can work, and I want to be open minded, but I am not convinced they are worth it.

Deborah

Veteran

Here's what Wikipedia has to say :

Mom jeans is a humorously pejorative term for a specific type of fit of women's jeans, considered to be both unfashionable, and unflattering to the wearer's body shape. This style usually consists of a high waist (rising above the belly button), making the buttocks appear disproportionately longer, larger, and flatter than they otherwise might. It also tends to have excess space in the zipper/crotch and leg areas. The jeans are usually in a solid, light-blue color, with no form of stone washing or fading. Other attributes of the style often seen are pleats, tapered legs, and elastic waistbands. The style is often accompanied by a blouse or shirt that is tucked into the jeans. This style of jeans was popular with women in the United States until the mid-1990s, when lower rise jeans started to become fashionable.

Though the term was in widespread use in the 1990s, it gained greater notice after a 2003 Saturday Night Live skit for a fake brand of jeans called Mom Jeans, which used the tagline "For this Mother's Day, don't give Mom that bottle of perfume. Give her something that says, 'I'm not a woman anymore...I'm a mom!' "[1]

CocoLion

(website)

Veteran

I do like some of the Pinterest looks. Some of the other humorous pictures, not so fab. But we can find badly styled cheesy pictures from today as well. Here are some actual pictures from the 90s that are pretty cool. I am repeating them from my Mom jean thread.

Picture #8 is a screen shot from a recent ad I got on my computer. Modern day styling which I will remember in a negative way later. Direct your eyes to the lower right corner. Please no offense to anyone in a Christian dating site. (I am in that demographic/zip code where I get many Christian dating offers.)

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catgirl

Veteran

Lisa Bonet! Denise, I hope you know how much I appreciate you causing me to look at a style in a whole new light. I like these best when oversized and styled in that waif-like manner. And I can see how it could appeal. I am trying to adjust my eye. It took me a while to get used to the return of skinnies too. I'm at an age where I've worn it all before and don't always want to see it the same way again! Fortunately it's usually not the same way twice.

CocoLion

(website)

Veteran

LOL at the SNL videos! Yes they nailed the worst of the Mom jean.

rae

(website)

Veteran

I promise I mean this question at face value, and not at all in a snarky way (I can sometimes have a very Saggitarian lack of tact):

Anyone got some fab pics of this style of jean on someone who is 1) actually mom-age or older and 2) not a model/celeb/young blogger? I am genuinely curious about what criteria needs to be met for the style.

I like looks 1 and 5 quite a bit, though #1 looks a lot more like DH's jeans than my Mom's old jeans.

Day Vies

Veteran

I would not get caught dead in a pair of those unflattering jeans you have pictured up top. I'd look ridiculous. The jeans would end where my bust line begins were I to tuck my shirt in (NOT). I couldn't even use the excuse that I was experimenting were I to sport those bad boys on the forum -- perhaps this is a good April Fool's post. (Please know I am laughing and chuckling to my self all while typing this!) You all would politely suggest better ways to wear such dreaded jeans but there would be no saving these at least on my body type.
Deborah - there should be a like button for certain comments. I found yours hilarious.

catgirl

Veteran

Well, we have our gorgeous Denise! I haven't found any pics out there on the internet like that so far. I think the key is either tweaking the look just so to make it intentional, or not caring whether people who might not know this is a trend think you are wearing mom jeans cluelessly.

Lisa

Veteran

Wow, I'm surprised, I like some of these pinterest looks, who would have thought.

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