Now that's an interesting thought! DS, 16, wears jeans rather than sweats when he's not in his school uniform khaki pants. But it was only a year or so ago he asked for jeans; prior to that he preferred sweats.

FWIW, I was at college from 2001-2005 and the uniform (for women at least) was jeans (only bootcut) with t-shirt if warm (most of the time) and sweatshirt if cool. For shoes, flipflops for warm weather, and athletic shoes year 'round. There was some flirting with knit gauchos (plus t-shirt and flipflops) when those hit the stores, but it really was a uniform. I regularly got comments for wearing a plain knee-length skirt with sandals, as if I was dressed up. The denim-wearing doesn't seem to have changed much for my "generation," so to speak. I can't really speak for younger ones.

When I said my DD wears joggers, I was referring to the ones made of lightweight fabric, not sweatpants.

I think you might be onto something. When I'm driving by the high-schools getting out it's jeggings or leggings almost exclusively, some short skirts.

When I taught high school three years ago, it was mostly the boys that wore jeans (super baggy with the waist down around their hips) and the girls wore skinnies, jeggings, and athleisure stuff. Now I'm back with the elementary crowd, and they of course wear a mixed bag of everything.

I'm the opposite of you Angie. I love my jeans to feel soft and stretchy. I'm wearing a pair of AG's that feel (don't look) like a pair of leggings! My DD who is three and half now, only has one pair of jeans and they are really jeggings. If I put a pair of regular "stiff" jeans on her she insists they're too tight. So I can see that she's just used to the comfort level of her uniform which is leggings and tunics. It will be interesting to see if that changes as she gets older. The teenagers where I live wear a lot of jeans but we're also in the country where they ride horses and do rough farm stuff so that may be why.

I prefer 100% cotton jeans like the Calvin's I have on today. I will wear them until one of us dies.

I see it in my kids! They don't like jeans (stiff, buttons, blah blah blah) even though I insist they each have a presentable pair. Lazy kids want elastic waist athletic pants. I feel so old. I thought jeans were the height of casual until college when it was a lot of spandex (mostly because we went to class straight from sleeping). I still don't feel right in gear out in public. I'm sad because I have such fond memories of my jeans and love to wear them, but my kids will have these feelings about trackies?

Jjsloane -- it might not be so much laziness as being used to a certain level of stretchiness and comfort. When I was a kid, our mothers dressed us in gussy outfits in stiff materials with tights and buckles, so jeans seemed comfy by comparison. A generation later, I dressed my own children in soft knit dresses, tee shirts and jersey pants and shorts. No wonder they demand comfort now.

ETA having said that, my kids like jeans and that's mostly what they wear in the fall/winter.

I was watching a group of five tween girls on Saturday as I waited for my Starbucks order. All five were wearing black stretch leggings with a short sleeved tee. They looked virtually identical. I couldn't help but laugh.

@ Marilyn, that is whAt I find just dumbfounding ! They DO all look the same. Long straight hair in ponytail, black tight pants, a short sleeve t shirt and a black north face jacket. I have gone to my daughter's school and not been able to tell which one she is. I ask her often why she doesn't like to be more original. Her response " WE are being original . " we. Lol

Oops, accidental post and can't seem to delete. Sorry

Ha, ha, ha. Girls of a certain age become amoeba and travel in groups. DD22 still wears skinnies or jeggings and wants Lululemons but won't shell out the money and I won't buy them for her. And of course during exam week would wear the baggiest sweats ever.

I don't find jeans overly constricting (don't wear calf sucking skinnies, however), but then I don't find button shirts particularly constricting either. What I DO find objectionable are girdles and garter belts (bad memories from high school) and control top hose/tights that aren't sized up a size. Yuck!!!!!!

DS's (in their 20's) wear jeans - but can be hard to fit. DS #1 is very thin and has an inordinately long inseam. (28 X 38 !?!). I got him some light weight raw denim jeans he quite loves. Heavy, high waisted Levis - not so much. DS #2 is athletic, has some American Eagle boot cut jeans that fit his slender waist, but strong thighs and 'booty'. There are a lot of slim fit jeans that don't work, though. They both like chinos, and light weight wool (!!) as well.

Both are athletic, but don't hang out in gear. DS#2 has a capsule of ethnic cotton trousers for pm leisure, and DS#1 likes scrubs!

Interesting! Everyone around here, not just young girls, think leggings are pants. My son wears jeans I give him every day. My daughters wear jeans when they aren't in school, again because I gave them to them, but they like them. At school they need to wear skirts (with leggings). High waisted skinny jeans are definitely the most popular style among younger women. I will investigate further.

My two 14 year olds (one boy, one girl) wear jeans to school almost exclusively. True, my daughter favors denim ON Rockstars, which are hardly the denim I wore in high school, but they don't wear athleisure to school --- I won't let them!

I used to limit the number of days that I would wear jeans in high school. I guess I batted for team dressy even then!

I wonder if this is why so many jeans this season are sooo stretchy with poly and elastane so the look like jeans but are moving toward the comfort of leggings etc

We are in the EU, and my DD (18,5) wears exclusively jeggings (double stitching on sides and 5 pockets style) in various shades, rips and fads in blue, black or grey-and longer, maxi, hi/low or faux tucked in tops.

She used to wear regular skinnies before (same colors) but she opts for jeggings now more frequently as the better ones they nowadays have the same aesthetic(or better as she is really skinny) but are much more comfortable than regular jeans. No leggings by us, either- only for athletic wear, but than it is real gear.

When she was a smaller child (kindergarten+elementary school) ripped bootcuts &even flare hems + body con, midriff baring tops were the fashion hit....OMG, so happy it's over:-).

We, instead wore a mix of straight or BF jeans and tees(with sneakers:-)) OR pencils with pumps and pearls(&occasional blazer) at college in the late 80'ies...those were the times:-).

My 22 y/o DD mostly wears dresses and skirts with an occasional rare day wearing jeans on weekends, or if she needs them to protect her legs on a hike, etc, she has two pairs; my 17.5 y/o DS wears jeans every day. He loves them. It's hard to find jeans for him, he would be size 29 x 38 if it existed. We plan on alterations. Tall guys have just as much trouble as tall women finding clothes!

The students I work with mostly wear athlethleisure. I would say the majority of the staff do also. It goes with the work environment. It's very informal, and it's a place where the students often move quickly and the adults need to be prepared to move just as quick. Maybe that's how I get away with denim at work. It looks dressy in comparison. Who knew?! I never thought about denim being a "dressy" option for me but this thread is clarifying my thinking somewhat.

(There is no doubt that denim works in my professional role, the big question has always been why? What professional gets away with wearing jeans? I have often attributed it to my personality, my style, and my unique role, but here is another possibility to add to the mix.)

I am a happy member of the denim generation, if that's what we are

Runcarla, your DS #1 sounds a lot like my Bro. No. 2! He's 6'8" and high waisted, with a 38 or 39 inseam. He's at least in men's waist sizes; 31 the last I heard. The only jeans he has now are custom order flame retardant, ordered through his employer. (He's a chemical engineer and it's required.)

Where did you get the raw denim jeans for your son? I don't think my brother has ever had trendy jeans.

In another thread I mentioned how I got my first jeans at age 13 or 14. They were 501s. I could not wear that style today, but my husband looks VERY cute in them. I do wear jeans every day, though. They work for my casual dog centric life.

My 91 YO mother has never ever worn jeans. In the 60s she had denim pants. They reminded me of Laura Petrie from the Dick Van Dyke Show.

My son is in his late 20s. He wears jeans, but never blue ones, mostly thrifted.

My niece is in her late 30s. She wears jeans. I've seen her in Levis of some kind. She has two girls under 10. I've never seen them wear jeans. They wear leggings with tunic tops in pink and purple mostly.

I have never thought about it before but now I realize it is the older generation that usually wears jeans. Younger women (early 20s and teens) are in leggings. Usually Lulu. If they do wear jeans they wear super skinny jeans.

I didn't comment earlier because I wanted to think about this. I don't think we will be the peak denim wearing generation for two reasons.

First, I think a lot of children will discover and come to love jeans as young adults. At least that seems to be the trend around here.

Second, if retailers and manufacturers saw that denim was taking on a "matronly" vibe, there would be a major, MAJOR ad campaign to change that. They would never sit idly by. Never.

On a separate note, I commented that I admire women that have denim capsules. I am seriously thinking about developing a mini-denim capsule for myself. So this is rather exciting.

My husband and I wear jeans pretty much whenever we are not working. And often wear high end jeans to restaurants. Our children DS23 and DD26 seem to be the same. They cannot wear jeans to work but wear well fitting, designer jeans on weekends. They are young professionals living in a major east coast city. They are athletic so own and wear gear for those activities and do own sweats for lounging.

So true, at my school all the girls wear a uniform: the telltale full length dark leggings + longer iconic Canadian checkered shirt in a shade other than red + flat or square heeled booties + thick knit, droopey cardigan. Their flattery happens in the scarf - usually the thick, sturdier type - , cellphone casing and nails: humongous and colorful. Whereas teachers, we wear denim. It's like our teaching uniform!

I happen to have a son who is my students' age, and he has never been too fond of jeans, except for one or two pair throughout the years. But they certainly are not his pants of choice. Guys in my classes wear either denim or different types of sweat pants. You can get some pretty clean looking ones nowadays.

So I guess denim is one more thing that will set us apart from new generations, along with using email, in-person banking and owning a car...

I was in high school at the height of the "designer jeans" craze of the (very) early 80s. What passed for having a great sense of style then was to have those Gloria Vanderbilt jeans in lots of saturated colors, with a pair of spike-heeled pumps or Candees to match each color of jeans you had. That and having a butane-powered curling iron in your purse to whip out between classes and re-touch the Farrah Fawcett waves around your face.

Oy.

My son, 19 and very attuned to fashion, especially street fashion, enjoys jeans and joggers (not true sweatpants, but the ones that are more like a slim-fit harem pant). Also very expensive hoodies and the latest sneakers. The most impressed he's been recently was when a woman sat beside me on the train who turned out to be the head of sales for Nike. ("MOM! Why did you not get her NAME?")

When I was a preschool teacher, lots of the little girls didn't like jeans because they were "too hard." As a survivor of those ungodly tight, no-stretch-whatsoever designer jeans from the 80s, I am somewhat sympathetic to their focus on comfort.