Thrifty Thursday

I do it myself...

worn out Levi's

It's no secret that I'm a jeans girl. Before challenging myself to join the Wardrobe Remix community on flickr, my standard weekend uniform was jeans and a tee or tank- and it's still a favorite solution for me. I often feel my most comfortable and confident in jeans. In college, I'd wear the same pair of jeans most days of the year: freshman year was a pair of Earl slim dark rinse jeans; sophomore year was a pair of classic stone wash button-fly Helmut Langs; junior year was a pair of wide leg sailor jeans from the Gap; senior year was a pair of worn Levi's '69 reissues. The idea of wearing a pair of jeans to threadbare is still very appealing to me- I love the aesthetic of a pair perfectly worn-in. I hardly consider jeans an article of clothing as much as I consider them an extension of the person wearing them, a fingerprint or a wearable diary. Of course, I own probably 50 pairs of jeans, given that I never throw anything out. In my stash I have everything running the gamut from $200 pairs from the latest labels to timeless denim from American standard brands to thrifted pairs of busted, oil stained, ripped and mended 501s. Out of them all, the most highly-revered are those falling into the latter category. There's something romantic to me about a pair of jeans who've lived so much life and look as stylish as they do anti-fashion. Having said that, I just read this blurb about A.P.C.'s new "Butler" line of pre-loved denim. Part of me totally gets it, but a bigger part of me is repulsed by the idea of paying big bucks for someone else's denim memories- especially when you could achieve the same effects by either wearing out your denim all by yourself, or at the least picking up a cheaper pair from a thrift shop. Ah, but I guess this reflects my general love/hate relationship with A.P.C.- LOVE their classic, simple style but despise their elitist attitude.

A.P.C.'s "real thing"