Working, playing, day or night, the look that's right
September 18, 2012 10:30 AM Subscribe
You beat me to Jewess, but I raise you Mom Jeans.
posted by Madamina at 10:59 AM on September 18, 2012 [2 favorites]
posted by Madamina at 10:59 AM on September 18, 2012 [2 favorites]
The BonJour Jeans ad reminded me of this Snuffbox sketch.
posted by isopraxis at 11:03 AM on September 18, 2012
posted by isopraxis at 11:03 AM on September 18, 2012
While searching for Kevin Nealon's "Bad Idea Jeans" SNL ad, I found this bad idea (NSFW audio)
It's an appropriation of a Kentucky Fried Movie skit, Rex Cramer: Danger Seeker (really NSFW audio)
posted by zippy at 11:22 AM on September 18, 2012 [1 favorite]
It's an appropriation of a Kentucky Fried Movie skit, Rex Cramer: Danger Seeker (really NSFW audio)
posted by zippy at 11:22 AM on September 18, 2012 [1 favorite]
The company my dad works for owns over 100 Hallmark card stores in malls across the Midwest. In the 1980's mall-boom they diversified with other specialty stores that sold only candy, curios, and one that only sold designer jeans called "The Fly".
They had over 20 locations but shut them all down all at once, not due to bad sales, but due to the fact they were being robbed blind by employee shoplifting. The theft was so rampant among all levels of employee and management plus the profit markup so thin that it made sense to just cut the loses and sell the remaining inventory to a close-out retailer.
posted by wcfields at 11:54 AM on September 18, 2012
They had over 20 locations but shut them all down all at once, not due to bad sales, but due to the fact they were being robbed blind by employee shoplifting. The theft was so rampant among all levels of employee and management plus the profit markup so thin that it made sense to just cut the loses and sell the remaining inventory to a close-out retailer.
posted by wcfields at 11:54 AM on September 18, 2012
My great-grandfather was one of the founders of a jean company in San Francisco later bought out by Lee Jeans. Even after the buy-out, and for decades, my grandfather sold jeans door-to-door, driving around the West to ranches and little department stores and even houses where people worked in the dirt, always, always, wearing an immaculate three piece suit and tie and hat. I'd imagine he'd look around my tech office today where you can tell the rank of the corporate Brahmin by how expensive his jeans and desert boots are, and chuckle out "300 bucks for jeans? Where were these suckers when I needed em?"
posted by Potomac Avenue at 12:24 PM on September 18, 2012
posted by Potomac Avenue at 12:24 PM on September 18, 2012
Ironically, I stopped wearing jeans about 15 years ago when I discovered that I found plain cotton or cotton-polyester blend trousers to be more comfortable and that they lasted much, much longer than jeans. Denin doesn't last as long if you have thighs that rub together - and thighs don't patch well. And skirts last the longest. I know people with 40-year old skirts that haven't worn out. Less practical when mining, but just fine for covering the body every other day.
I'm curious about the adoption of jeans around the world: do they really last longer than traditional clothing? Or is it about status?
posted by jb at 2:04 PM on September 18, 2012
I'm curious about the adoption of jeans around the world: do they really last longer than traditional clothing? Or is it about status?
posted by jb at 2:04 PM on September 18, 2012
That Jewess Jeans commercial was one of my favourites on SNL! Love it!
I can tell how old my friends are (my American ones, anyway) by the jeans that were popular when they were in high school. In the upper Midwest of the mid-80s, or maybe it was just Milwaukee, the only acceptable brands for girls at my high school were Jag, Guess and Levi's (barely, though, on those). My younger friends from the 90s wore Girbauds. And the girls among my young nieces and cousins in the early Aughts didn't seem to want to wear anything other than 7 for All Mankind.
Unfortunately, back in the day my family was too poor to afford even the Levi's and I had to make do with horrid poly-cotton blends from K-Mart with pink and purple floral appliques sewn onto the back pockets with "silver" threading. What made it worse was that I was very small and thin, so when I asked if we could go to TJ Maxx and look for a designer pair on markdown, I was told that those kinds of jeans were "too grown up" for me. Imagine being 16-17 years old wearing K-Mart jeans at a rich suburban high school (partially) because I was still a girl's size 12. Good times.
Now? I wear J Brand, AG's, Citizens of Humanity and BDG (no, I don't pay retail). There is definitely a difference in manufacture and fit compared to what you could get at H&M or Target. And I do have a pair of Levi's - but I only wear those for gardening.
posted by droplet at 5:34 AM on September 19, 2012
I can tell how old my friends are (my American ones, anyway) by the jeans that were popular when they were in high school. In the upper Midwest of the mid-80s, or maybe it was just Milwaukee, the only acceptable brands for girls at my high school were Jag, Guess and Levi's (barely, though, on those). My younger friends from the 90s wore Girbauds. And the girls among my young nieces and cousins in the early Aughts didn't seem to want to wear anything other than 7 for All Mankind.
Unfortunately, back in the day my family was too poor to afford even the Levi's and I had to make do with horrid poly-cotton blends from K-Mart with pink and purple floral appliques sewn onto the back pockets with "silver" threading. What made it worse was that I was very small and thin, so when I asked if we could go to TJ Maxx and look for a designer pair on markdown, I was told that those kinds of jeans were "too grown up" for me. Imagine being 16-17 years old wearing K-Mart jeans at a rich suburban high school (partially) because I was still a girl's size 12. Good times.
Now? I wear J Brand, AG's, Citizens of Humanity and BDG (no, I don't pay retail). There is definitely a difference in manufacture and fit compared to what you could get at H&M or Target. And I do have a pair of Levi's - but I only wear those for gardening.
posted by droplet at 5:34 AM on September 19, 2012
For decades, my father wore awful, ugly work pants to putter around on the weekends. I'd tell him he needed denim, and he'd make a face. Jeans were for kids, he'd say. But they're comfortable and don't wear out quickly, I'd point out. No way, he'd reply.
When he was in his 60s and retired, I got tired of watching him freeze in the garage in his thin work pants and bought him a pair of L.L. Bean flannel lined jeans.
He spent the remaining years of his life clad primarily in denim. When I pointed out how amazing this was, he'd declare, without irony, "hey, they're comfortable and they don't wear out quickly!"
posted by kinnakeet at 9:24 AM on September 19, 2012
When he was in his 60s and retired, I got tired of watching him freeze in the garage in his thin work pants and bought him a pair of L.L. Bean flannel lined jeans.
He spent the remaining years of his life clad primarily in denim. When I pointed out how amazing this was, he'd declare, without irony, "hey, they're comfortable and they don't wear out quickly!"
posted by kinnakeet at 9:24 AM on September 19, 2012
I have a persistent pot-belly that won't go away. I havent looked good in pants for a long time. I do have denim skirts, I do it 70's sule, by using an old pait if leans and denim panels, or two too small denim skirts. They hold up really well, and I have gotten lots of complements on them, internationally.
posted by Katjusa Roquette at 5:59 PM on September 19, 2012
posted by Katjusa Roquette at 5:59 PM on September 19, 2012
70's style* pair*
They are comfortable and have POCKETS.
posted by Katjusa Roquette at 6:01 PM on September 19, 2012
They are comfortable and have POCKETS.
posted by Katjusa Roquette at 6:01 PM on September 19, 2012
That's a really nice organization, mrgrimm.
posted by The 10th Regiment of Foot at 12:26 PM on September 20, 2012
posted by The 10th Regiment of Foot at 12:26 PM on September 20, 2012
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And Tweed's ... flannel.
posted by zippy at 10:42 AM on September 18, 2012 [1 favorite]