What makes Jeans 'Jeans'? - YouLookFab Forum

Category

General

Welcome! Read about what to wear and how to wear it on the YLF Blog. Join the YLF Forum to ask specific questions or just chat about fashion and personal style. Or check out the curated list of things we love in YLF Finds.

Outfits Ensembles Trends Advice

What makes Jeans 'Jeans'?

Deborah

Veteran

At the risk of asking what is possibly the silliest question ever asked on the Forum... I am just wondering what it is that makes jeans jeans?

I am wearing a pair of skinny 'jeans' today that are not denim. In fact if I post them in an outfit, I often refer to them as skinny pants. They are a nice fabrication, black, and just the right amount of stretch. I am about to reveal my big secret with skinny jeans... they are 'pull on' ie. no fly/zip etc. They have false front pockets and actual back pockets. So I guess style wise they follow the traditional jeans design.

Are they jeans or pants?

I do understand the obvious differences between jeans and say tailored work pants but the jeans 'design' has kind of crossed over into such a variety of fabrications (and occasions) that I wondered how we actually define jeans.

Is it the 'design' that makes them jeans? Sadly I am old enough to recall when jeans were pretty much only denim:(

Clearly I have too much time on my hands at work today, but if you have any thoughts I would love to hear them:)

xxx Deborah

General

17 replies

Latest reply was from andis

donnat

Veteran

In my mind, jeans are denim or stretch denim. Ponte pants my be styled like a jean , but they are not jeans. (imho)

Jeanie

Veteran

I will risk a first guess and say I think it's the fact that the fabric is denim that makes jeans jeans. I also have a pair of skinny pull on jeans (they are denim). They seem to work perfectly with curves...don't miss waistbands or zippers at all! Maybe yours are skinny pants. Are they twill?

Aziraphale

Veteran

OK, so to me, the pants you have just described sound like jeggings. Here are my criteria for what qualifies as jeggings:

- denim-like material with quite a lot of stretch
- skinny -- even more so than "normal" skinny jeans, so they cling to your legs more like leggings do, but tend to be a heavier fabrication
- have two back pockets (like jeans), sometimes false but often real
- have two or three front pockets (like jeans), often false
- have typical denim stitching
- may or may not have an actual zip, but even the ones without have a false "jeans fly" in front

Is that what your black pants are? I have black denim jeggings in a heavy denim-y fabric that have true back pockets, a real front zip, and false front pockets (they look like pockets but don't lead anywhere). In fact I'd say they are teetering on the border between skinnies and jeggings. They look a lot like skinny jeans, but are clingy, whereas skinnies are less stretchy and more simply tight (although it's true what you say: most jeans have at least some stretch in them these days).

MsMary

Veteran

I'd say two things make jeans "jeans:"

Denim fabric (of any color)
and
Five-pocket design or recognizable approximation thereof

Sona

Veteran

To me jean always have a real fly and button that are functional and have denim material in the composition. The amount of spandex/ other materials can vary.. What you are describing is something I would call exactly the way you have: pull on jeans. And they can be straight legs or even boot cut ( JAG makes these kind).

AnnieMouse

Veteran

I'm with MarkyK - "jeans" are of denim and have a 5-pocket detailing with fly, functional or no. Not denim? Not jeans. No 5-pocket details? Not jeans. Denim with no back pockets? Not jeans. No fly? Not jeans.

I never realised that I'm a purist on this. Ha!

Janet

(website)

Veteran

But wait, there are trouser jeans that don't have pockets, and yet we still call them jeans.

Ya know, just to throw a monkey wrench in the description. The term jeans has come to represent a wide variety of pants!

Angie

(website)

Fashion Stylist

Great question, Debs.

Jeans are made of denim.

Denim - over the years - has changed (to Janet's point). Purists like me do not believe that jeggings (soft denim with lots of stretch) are jeans. They are pseudo jeans, or stretchy pants.

Denim should be quite hard and rigid. Crunchy. And with 2% or less stretch. But most denim today is soft - which makes my clients happy, and drives me bananas.

I don't think jeans need to be styled with 5 pockets and a fly. My jodhpur jeans are jeans. Best denim fabric - hard and no stretch.

My white jeans are made of white denim fabric but without the wash.

Diana

Veteran

Yes, I think of jeans as things made of denim fabric too. I agree with Angie that 2% or less spandex is ideal, but I differ from her in that I like my denim best with little stretch but a soft texture. By that, I mean soft not as in stretchy and flexible but soft as in a soft surface texture. It's hard to describe. Several of my favorite jeans (my Vince skinnies, my Lucky bootcuts, and others) have this amazing soft velvety texture while still being low stretch and structured enough to provide just enough shape. It feels great and doesn't have that icky clingy feeling that too much stretch can give. You can get that texture through a lot of washing and wearing, but some premium denims come with it.

But getting back to the question at hand... I do have a couple of pairs that are questionable as to their jeans status, like my Wit and Wisdom brocade skinnies, which to me are styled like and look like jeans but the fabric doesn't seem denimy to me at all. It's more like a thin twill. I just avoid the issue by calling them "skinnies" and leaving it at that. Similarly, I call my grey CoH jeggings "jeggings" and not "jeans".

Vildy

Veteran

I think the difference is between jeans and "jeans styling". Lots of pants are cut and constructed like traditional jeans but the fabric is anything goes. I suppose I might view Angie's jodhpur jeans as fashion denim. I'm old enough to remember when a friend lived in Paris for some years and was all excited about how blue denim was used to create garments with a lot of detailing that would normally have been made with regular woven fabrics, and not just bottoms pieces, eitther.

amiable

Veteran

I'm with MaryK too - I'm guessing that others are called "jeans" as marketing tricks, but to me, jeans are denim or stretch denim, and have the jeans 5-pocket type details....

MsMary

Veteran

I thought about "trouser jeans" when I posted. My position is that "jeans jeans" at least allude to the five-pocket styling, and any other style needs a modifier: e.g. "Trouser jeans," "jodhpur jeans," "Mom jeans."

JAileen

Veteran

On another website (or blog maybe) I read that jeans' pockets are accessed from the top and trousers' pockets are accessed from the side.

Echo

Veteran

This drive me up a wall, too. I so often see coloured "jeans", but when I feel them, they are clearly made of something other than what the blue ones next to them are. One pair feels stiffer and one softer, despite them having the same style, same tag and same price. Very often companies make a style of pant in many colours and slight fabric variations and call them all the same thing when they aren't. I've always felt that - according to labels in stores, anyway - jeans are the style of pants and not necessarily the fabric. I guess that's opposite of Angie's description, so I must be incorrect. But the lines are very, VERY blurry now. Even on this forum I've seen someone wear trouser jeans and insist that while they may be denim, they really aren't jeans. I guess I am just as confused as Deborah!

T-Rex

Veteran

Blue denim pants with traditional "jeans" styling (five pockets, rivets, button or zip fly, etc.) will always be the archetypal jeans to me. Other colors are acceptable, so long as the dye gradually fades over time. And finally, so long as the shape and construction fit the archetype, I can stretch the definition to other pants if the fabric is at least a medium weight twill, even if the color doesn't fade the way indigo does. Barely. But those versions of "jeans" are definitely at the outer edge of the "jeans" circle on the Venn diagram I have in my head.

Denim pants that are styled like anything other than the "jean archetype" are not jeans to me. They are denim pants. I have a pair that are basically straight leg dress pants, but made of denim. In my head, they are not jeans and should be acceptable at my workplace...but I don't even try because I know that denim pants will be interpreted as jeans by the managers as well as most of my co-workers. It doesn't matter to them that the cut of my denim pants and their dark wash make them dressier than an average pair of chinos.

I have denim look leggings like the ones you describe, and I love them. But in my head, they are definitely leggings and not jeans.

Deborah

Veteran

Thanks for humoring my question ladies. I appreciate your responses and Angie you definitive response. Because we are daily articulating about style and fashion it cam to me that I really didn't know how so e of "pants" should be described. The pants I described probably are a jegging, but they weren't labelled as such:) x

andis

The pants you are referring to are Jeggings, bcoz they are strechable. The features you said resemble Jeggings.