"Like a favorite pair of torn blue jeans
This skin I’m in it’s alright with me

 It’s not old - just older."

Just Older - Bon Jovi

Everyone needs a good pair of jeans. I have noticed that trace elements of 80's rock fashion and style are creeping back into closets and one of the most prominent areas of this resurgence is in apparel of the two-legged variety. Over the last 10 years or so, many clothing manufacturers have jumped on the bandwagon of creating "vintage-style" jeans, most of which are pre-distressed and faded. While often times this seems like a quick and easy addition to the wardrobe, there are certain points you should consider before opting for a brand new pair of pantalones. First, you will be hard pressed to find jeans in the right CUT. Boot cut jeans and skinny jeans seem to be the most prevalent in most major retail stores like JC Penney's, Sears and Macy's. They also have similar styles at hot retailers such as American Eagle and Abercrombie & Fitch but if you are buying jeans from those places, you have no business being on my blog, let alone trying to recreate glam rock fashion. While skinny jeans are definitely 80's as a general rule, they don't often present themselves with the same vibe that we are after, and boot cut jeans are great, I love wearing them, but if anything they are a bit too 70's. The second problem with buying new jeans is that because of our economy and the principles of American consumerism they often quite poor quality in both materials and craftsmanship. Jeans that I bought 6 months ago won't usually last much more past that point without becoming completely destroyed, and not in a fashionable way. So where does that leave us?

Well it only stands to reason that you go true vintage! I'll mention that a lot throughout this blog because in my opinion if you want to dress from the 80's you have to wear from the 80's. Now there are a few drawbacks to doing this, mainly that of cost, condition and rarity, but I will outline these shortly. To me, the quintessential jeans of the 80's had to be the Levi's 501's.

Levi's 501's are button-fly, shrink-to-fit jeans, meaning that when brought brand new, after a few weeks of wear, the wearer washes the jeans which significantly shrink more or less to conform to the curves of the wearers body. It's important to remember that because of this, on these style of jeans, Levi's measures by the original size of the jeans BEFORE shrinking, so be sure when purchasing a pair of vintage "post-wash" 501's that you find out the "measured size" which is the size as measured by the seller, as opposed to the actual "tag size". Also note that since 1971 the 501's remained relatively unchanged until 2003 where it changed to a more modern (baggy) look. So often times I find its helpful that if you can see the way the legs are tapered to determine if they are at least pair made before the change. If you would like to know a little more about how to identify vintage Levis, check this out the Vintage Levi's Jeans Guide

As with most of the items I will mention throughout, second-hand stores, flea markets, goodwill, hold the perfect opportunities to find some really cool 80's gear, but so far It's not been my luck to run across any 501s in any of these types of stores especially in my size (30x32). In this case I turn to reliable old Ebay. It's pretty easy to find vintage 501's in the style we're after at a good price on there, some as low as $10/pair most no more than around $30/pair, Most of these jeans aren't rare enough or in pristine enough condition to attract serious collectors so rarity or scarcity shouldn't be a concern at this point, but  be prepared to pay a substantial amount more for a less worn out pair of vintage 501's, or at least $10 or so more for a pair with minimal holes/stains. As with everything, you may have to sacrifice a bit on one end to gain the other, specifically that of appearance/durability. I know I mentioned earlier that a major problem with new jeans is that they aren't made as well as older jeans. With that said, think about how many times these jeans have been worn, and have washed and rewashed hundreds of times over. With every wash a little bit of the material is rubbed away leaving some areas thin or faded. Because of this, most vintage jeans will have small discolorations, stains and rips, most of which are fine, but be aware of these larger pitfalls:

- Big, dark or multiple stains. 

 Unless you are just wearing them around home, I would avoid getting jeans with bad stains. Unorthodox dress is one thing, but looking like a bum who spilled his Old E is completely different.

-Large tears or potentially large tears.

 Having jeans with blown-out knees if fine and so is fraying around the waist, pockets and hem, in fact I advocate both. Unless your girlfriend is very good with a needle or you like oversized patches on jeans, I would definitely try to avoid big holes and rips, or areas that look like they may soon rip in the higher stressed areas of the jeans. The most common of these (and coincidentally most embarrassing) being the seat and the crotch. Some people will wear these spots out faster than others,  Personally I am prone to often tearing the rear portion of my jeans. Once this happens, even the best stitch can put too much strain on the fabric and it may just tear again at the most inconvenient time. Best to avoid these pairs altogether and find jeans that look mostly intact in these areas.

That's about all I can think of for Jeans, hope this helped in how to pick your new pair of 501's, or other if you choose. Drop me a comment if you have any questions :)

-J