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What are "my" jeans?

Transcona Shannon

Veteran

Ok my fellow Fabbers...can you help a gal out? I am always on the hunt for the perfect jeans (if there is such a thing) and have yet to find what I'm looking for. I'd like straight legs (not skinny nor bootcut), medium to dark wash, mid rise (I have a long rise so a mid rise works best on me) and not a lot of embellishment or distressing. I'd like a pair I can wear casually with a tee but can also dress up.

Although I'm on a weight loss/fitness journey I am still thinking of buying a great pair of fitting jeans to do me at this size, even if that's only for a while. That having been said, I'd like to keep the cost to under $200.

Although I like all of the jeans I currently have, I admit I don't love any of them. I want that one pair I want to keep reaching for over and over again.

What brand would you recommend for a petite apple with a long rise wearing a size 12 (waist 31)?

Dressing

23 replies

Latest reply was from Kristin SF

Anonymous

Have you tried Bluenotes? I'm an hourglass with a 31" waist. The hannah fit (bootcut) comes up to my belly button and so does the lauren fit (skinny). I haven't tried their straight jeans. They are very inexpensive at $30 each or 2/$25 but I find them to be very good quality. They are the only jeans I wear.

rae

(website)

Veteran

Hm. What brands have already failed you, Shannon? Have you tried Kut, Jag, or NYDJ? For NYDJ, if you have any interest, don't mind the style titles - for those used to other denim brands, their "straight" can feel very wide, "skinny" and "ankle" seems more like a straight cut, and "legging" is closest to a traditional skinny fit. The ankle also has a lower rise than the others and is full length for some petites.

Thistle

Veteran

I love my Talbots jeans and my Levi's jeans best. I don't think the Levis i like would work for an apple. they were designed for a pear with a very defined waist. Levis does make a cut designed for apples, though.

I tried so many designer ones, and I really felt most were cut for slim rectangles. great quality, but not meant for me.

Thistle

Veteran

These are the ones I have that I love. http://www.talbots.com/online/.....e=cat70008

Suz

(website)

Veteran

I was going to suggest that you try Kuts, too. I know a lot of people love their Paige straight legs. But I don't know what body type those work best for.

Angie

(website)

Fashion Stylist

Jag gets my vote:

http://shop.nordstrom.com/S/ja.....=Predictiv

DonnaF

Veteran

I just ordered these Jags, which are different from the ones Angie linked to. If they fit me, they aren't likely to fit you as we have different body types. I noticed that many Jags and other brands call jeans "straight legs", but the bottom width is 14-15" so more like bootcuts, so that is something you may wish to monitor.

http://shop.nordstrom.com/S/ja.....ltback=731

Transcona Shannon

Veteran

Rae - I have tried on NYDJ and have to say I absolutely HATED them. I didn't like the fabric at all nor the fit.

Gennifyr - wow, interesting about Blue Notes. I will have to check that out.

Thistle - I would love to try the Levi's but am unable to find them locally unfortunately.

Suz - your white jeans are Kut aren't they? I love the fit of those on you.

Angie - thank you for chiming in We actually have a local store that carries Jag although perhaps not the exact style you linked to. But I could try them on locally to at least determine my size.

I think part of my issue is that although a jean is labeled as a straight leg, by the time you get to my waist size in a jean, the leg is very wide to correspond with the waist size. Then I don't get the leg fit I'm looking for.

Anonymous

Just noting that the bluenotes jeans are 2 for $50 not 2 for $25 like I said before. Bit of a typo there.

Anonymous

Don't you have some silver jeans that you bought locally? Just wondering if they might have something for you there.

I just bought some jag trousers that I am having altered to make into straight legs. Not sure how that would work with jeans though. The jag jeans I tried on initially I didn't like at all.

DonnaF

Veteran

Nordies cancelled my Jag jeans order so I won't be able to report on them. They also cancelled a couple of other sale items in the same order; this is the first time this has happened to me. Guess some items are going like hotcakes.

Nicole in OC

I'm going to put in my two cents for Paige, I love the fit of their strait legs! They are MY pair of jeans, it's all I wear and I get excited choosing which one I get to wear each day.

judy

Veteran

I commiserate...it's a lifelong search!! :)...and for me, the perfect jean has changed as my body and style has changed too. I've put in a vote here for APC Raw Unisex petit standard for my rectangular body, but for your body type I am not sure. I trust that to the experts here. I assume you are talking about form fitting, not boyfriend type? I'm attracted to these for boyfriend type...a little more pricey, but you know, if they are perfect...http://www.barneys.com/NSF-Bec.....lt,pd.html

K. Period.

Veteran

Shannon, how do you want your straight legs to fit? Could you pick out a few pairs to show us? I think that technically straight legs are supposed to fit with no change in width from top to bottom, but no one making a straight leg anymore makes them truly straight, other than Levis 501s. And thank goodness because true straight legs are not so flattering on me. Also, what kind of a rise do you want? Can you measure a pair with your ideal rise and let us know?

As someone who has strong apple tendencies, I have had good luck with Gap Real Straight, even though they say they have a low rise. I have to try on lots of them though to find the ones that fit my waist and hips (or lack thereof) best.

Even better than the Gap ones have been my J Crew matchsticks. They are more expensive, but I really like them. They also say that they have a low rise, but I don't feel like either of them are very low. The J Crew matchsticks come in a 31/short and 32/short. You may still have to have them hemmed, but J Crew will hem them for free. I know that J Crew has several stores in Canada--I can't recall if one is near you, though. If one is, I have something crazy to recommend. Call them and find out what the rise is on the short, regular and tall sizes. My guess is that the rise gets progressively longer. If you need to have them hemmed anyhow, why not get a tall and get the extra rise length?

Kristin SF

Veteran

K can shop, I did *not* know that J.Crew hems for free. And your idea about checking the rise on the tall size is GENIUS!

Transcona Shannon

Veteran

k can shop - you are a wealth of information! Thank you.

My ideal rise is between 8.5 and 9 inches. On many, that would make their jeans a high rise but with my high waist, a 9 inch rise still comes about 1.5 inches below my belly button.

Unfortunately my home town does not have a J Crew or one anywhere near it.

As for showing you a few pairs with how I want the legs to fit, I haven't got a clue - lol! That's my problem.

Suz

(website)

Veteran

Ha! Interesting idea, K can.

On the evidence of K Can's recent post, I just bought a pair of J Crew toothpick jeans. I am wearing them as we speak. I totally love them. I got ankle length regulars, which on me are just barely long enough for regular length. There's no real scrunch but they don't feel too short. I sized up one size for ease and a fraction of slouch and that also gives me a smidgen of length. They are looser on me than on the model. These are now my "dressier dark wash" jean. The simple, classic jean to compare to my slouchy distressed skinnies and my Cameron BF jean.

I tried the matchsticks for comparison, but those did not look right on me. They almost gave a bootcut effect vs. a straight leg, which is what they really are. I don't really understand why. Maybe because I had to fold them under (they were too long) so it could have been doubled fabric. But I'm not sure. This is the second time I've tried them on and not liked how they looked on me.

The rise in J. Crew jeans in regular size is just barely high enough for me. I think it's 8 inches. 8.5 is better for me. So these, on me, are a very low rise. But not so low that they are uncomfortable or obscene. Or falling off me.

I have not had great luck with Gap Real Straight. I had a pair, and liked the bottoms of them, but the rise never felt good on me. I ended up giving them to my daughter, who really needed a pair of jeans.

PS yes, my white jeans are Kuts, Shannon. They are skinnies, though, not straights.

ETA: The rise on the Kuts is 8.5, by the way, and although they are skinnies, they are not calf-sucking skinnies...they have some ease in them. For you they would have a lot of scrunch at the bottom.

K. Period.

Veteran

Kristin, yup. They hem full price items for free. Very nice! I've had them tweak more than a few pairs of crops and pants for me.

Shannon, such a bummer that there isn't one close. But...if you were willing to spend up to $200 on the jeans, you could spend less (matchsticks are $115) and pay for hemming right? And J Crew ships for free over $175, so you could buy two pairs, one in your regular size and one in a size down (I had to size down in mine) and see whether either would work for you. Not really all that convenient, but an idea.

I know what you mean on the leg fit. I like my matchsticks because they are almost a skinny jean, but not quite. I think the leg shaping is really nice and skinnier is probably better if your problem is often that in sizing up you are getting too wide of a leg. I also like that the matchsticks don't have a really defined waist nip, so they don't pinch me.

If they don't work, then you are only out the cost of shipping them back. No duties etc. since they have locations in Canada and can ship from there, right? Admittedly, that's something I'm not an expert at--shipping to Canada.

@Suz: LOL you crack me up. I'm glad the toothpicks worked for you.

Transcona Shannon

Veteran

Thanks Suz. I really like the toothpicks on you but an 8 inch rise would be pushing too low for me.

I've also tried Gap Real Straight and although I liked the fit of the legs, there were definite problem with the rise and crotch fit on me. In fact, they were downright uncomfortable.

I'm clearly going to have to try on several kinds and keep on looking. Thank you all for your suggestions.

Suz

(website)

Veteran

Shannon, I really hear you on this and I honestly think the the toughest part is the combination of being on the shorter side and having a long rise. It skews the fit in other ways, too. I completely agree, for instance, about NYDJ -- the ones I had were too high rise for me (which I didn't think was possible). I imagine there are other styles, but truly...ugh. It is very tough to find a true mid-rise jean that also fulfills the other criteria. But I would be looking first for the rise length as a way to rule stuff out.

velvetychocolate

Veteran

While I haven't yet tried the J. Crew matchsticks (intrigued now, to be sure), I wanted to put in a recommendation for Kut from the Kloth skinnies. They aren't that 'skinny' imo. More like a cross between a skinny jean and a straight leg jean. Not too low rise, and I find them fairly flattering. I also like the Kut boyfriend jeans as well - just the right amount of slouch (not too baggy), and fit me well. The so-called skinny jeans aren't the painted-on type, and are a slightly higher rise than the norm - works well for me. For reference, I'm between a size 10-12 in most clothes these days, 5' 6" tall and still hovering around 159-ish pounds these days. The size 10 in all styles of Kut jeans work nicely for me.

Can you get Kut from the Kloth jeans where you are, or order them easily?

I recommend these:

So-called skinnies, which are more like skinny-ish straight legs (extremely flattering):
http://shop.nordstrom.com/s/ku.....m_cat=data

Boyfriend:
http://shop.nordstrom.com/s/ku.....at=datafee

And Angie's latest 'find':
http://youlookfab.com/store/20.....hite-wash/

I have a feeling that the Kuts might work beautifully on you.

Anonymous

Shannon - do you have any issues with the back rise? I think I need a high back rise as well (14-15") to go over my hips. So even if the jeans have a front rise of 9" the back rise is often too short (ie. silver jeans)

Kristin SF

Veteran

BTW, I happen to have 2 pairs of J.Crew matchsticks waiting to go to the tailors, and similar to the toothpicks, they both have an 8" rise. I bought 2 sizes - 27S and 28R. So I don't think these are going to work for you.

Jag might be the way to go - both the rise and the inseam look promising. Here are some ideas:
http://www.zappos.com/jag-jean.....ow#prdInfo
http://www.zappos.com/jag-jean.....ue#prdInfo
http://www.zappos.com/product/.....51#prdInfo

And just for kicks, even though you don't like NYDJ:
http://www.zappos.com/nydj-chl.....sh#prdInfo

Hope you can find some local places to try them on!

I really hate the idea of you spending more than $100 for jeans, if you're on a weight loss journey. But I do understand the need to find something that makes you feel fab along the way!