This week, my favorite pair of jeans died. RIP black ankle-length skinny jeans with the contrast stitching. We had a good run, but alas, our affair ended due to two rather large holes that would expose my hot pink underpinnings to anyone looking in my general direction. C'est la vie. The whole situation got me thinking an awful lot about jeans though.
“I have often said that I wish I had invented blue jeans: the most spectacular, the most practical, the most relaxed and nonchalant. They have expression, modesty, sex appeal, simplicity — all I hope for in my clothes,” the late, great Yves Saint Laurent once said. At first it may seem odd that the very fashionable and very French Saint Laurent had a thing for denim, that most American of fabrics. But he’s right: jeans have a casual chicness that must seemingly stir envy among itchy wool slacks and unflattering linen pants. I want a job where I can wear jeans every day. And as my friends scamper off to their last round internship interviews and seniors scramble to find a job (any job!), I am reminded that corporate America hasn’t quite embraced the “jeans are so much better than ill-fitting pantsuits” philosophy. (This was further exemplified by the Wall Street Journal’s absurd anti-denim tirade last month). Which really is a shame. Because maybe blue jeans can save the world.
There is no doubt this is a semi-ridiculous statement. I don’t understand the first thing about insolvency or de-leveraging (but hey, neither did anyone else apparently). And to be honest, I don’t really care to. What I do know, however, is that there is something to be said for a little dose of sexy simplicity. Would it really be so crazy to apply the blue jean philosophy to the too complicated, too irrational, too everything world of Wall Street? I certainly don’t think so.
To some, nothing screams denim like sipping a neighbor’s finest microbrew (see our feature, pg. 10). To others, jeans are best paired with hand-printed silkscreened tees (pg. 4). To me, jeans just do it right.
Forever in blue jeans, Julia
