"I just don't get hips?" What the actual fuck? Do you "just not get" humans? Seems like "getting hips," much like "getting torsos" or "getting heads" would be, I don't know, the bare minimum for being in the business of clothing design.
(As always, this was pure fire, Virginia. FIRE! Thank you.)
Feb 1, 2022·edited Feb 1, 2022Liked by Virginia Sole-Smith
This made me feel so much better about jeans never fitting me "right." No matter how many times I've read that the problem is the clothes, not my body, I could never really shake the thought that if some of my belly fat just moved down a few inches to my hips/butt, it would be ideal. Your explanation of fit models and how the whole design process works finally made it click for me - it really is not my body's problem! Thank you for diving into this, Virginia!
On my to-do list for today: "Try on/return clothes." One major dilemma is two pairs of 7 for All Mankind jeans (grad school-era me is like "holy crap, you can afford 7s? TWO PAIRS?"), because wow, I saw an ad and they are still or again making true mid-rise (ie not the high-rise currently being widely labeled as mid) bootcut jeans, so I bought two pairs that turn out to be virtually the same fit if not the exact same fit, and ... hmmm. I sized up one to accommodate my pandemic weight gain, and when I put them on they are absolutely the best fit of the 12-14 pairs of jeans I have bought in the past eight months or so, but they also have the thing where there's a tiny bit of muffin top but at the same time I strongly suspect that within an hour they will start falling down. I think I'm going to keep one, because, again, best fit out of 12-14 pairs (plus also grad school-era me kvelling that I could afford them), but do I return the other because let's face it I barely wear jeans these days or do I exchange it for a size smaller in the view that they will stretch out and the next size down might be a little uncomfortable for an hour but then turn out to be a better fit?
Argh, jeans.
Also, the hip-to-waist thing is one reason, beyond my sensory issues with stuff on my stomach, that I really, really hate high-waisted jeans. They add a place where the fit can go wrong. I remember as like a very early teen, my mom making me try on some high-waisted jeans and it was comical, because they fit in the waist but there were like mug handles of denim off the sides of my hips. Whereas jeans that are not supposed to fit at both hips and waist, one possible area of drastic fit problems is eliminated.
Another part of this, to me, at least, is feeling like I shouldn't buy "fast fashion" and instead buy from smaller, environmentally conscious brands. But so often those brands have the most limited sizing! I am straight size, but I'm (very) short and my hip/waist ratio is non-standard, so most jeans from "high quality" denim brands don't work on me. I always struggled with feeling like I "should" buy fancy jeans that don't actually fit and get them tailored. On the other hand, it's always felt ridiculous to buy a pair of jeans that don't actually fit for a fair amount of money and then pay more money to hopefully get them to fit. I have no confidence what the end result would be like so I never ended up doing that. In the end my favorite pair right now is from American Eagle's "Curvy" collection and in the end, I guess, it's more sustainable to buy a pair of jeans you actually like and wear them to death versus buying a pair that just sits in the closet.
This is so, so helpful for me. I have tried and returned probably hundreds of pairs of jeans over the years. I’ve felt like a weirdo because everyone seems to love Madewell jeans, which have always looked so bad on me. And now I’m at a point where I just want to wear dresses all the time, which is more difficult than it sounds.
I think the thing that keeps me coming back to jeans is the idea that half my outfit is done. It’s the promise that if I just find this unicorn pair of jeans, my life would be easier. And honestly? It would be. But that is only if and when there are radical changes to this industry that would result in me finding that pair.
Very few women I know wears jeans anymore- it’s all dresses and leggings. I guess I need to build up my dress wardrobe!
I realize this is not the point of this article, but- did you find ANY jeans that didn’t suck out of the 56?
Ugh this is depressing. Plus-sized clothing in general always feels like brands just make things wide enough to cover a larger body instead of trying for any kind of actual "fit". Not related to jeans, but Madewell does this with their tops especially. They get comically wider, but not longer, and the proportions are just totally off. They even made a big deal of updating the fit of their plus line recently, but it still seems as oddly sized — just with far fewer options now.
I've been waiting patiently for this installment! One thing that also comes to mind is the fact that the current world of jeans across the United States is dependent on unvalued labor in foreign countries. I remember once getting so exasperated by searching for a replica of jeans on Poshmark (having found the first pair on a fluke, second hand at a consignment shop). Naturally, they were close, but not quite as good as the first pair, though the style and size were the "same." Later a friend told me she had heard too that jean fit varied greatly depending on the factor they were made! I had never even thought of that. Thus, reading your post here and how companies refuse to have multiple fit models (heaven forbid they make clothes to fit the actual population), infuriates me further, as all these unfitting cheaply made jeans are just winding up in thrift shops and eventually piled in a landfill. So there's also an huge environmental gain to be made if companies actually invested in valuing the diversity of body shapes/sizes out there and figured out how to make us better fitting clothes! Most of these companies we are talking about are pretty wealthy too. In the meantime, thank you so much for your research and writing about this.
On another note, it felt sort of revolutionary to be reminded to try on many many pairs and feel free to walk out of the store and/or return. I hear in this that age old tendency that so many of us as women go around apologizing all the time for existing. Like, why do I need to apologize for trying on multiple pairs of jeans? My body has changed a ton in the past two years due to Covid, pregnancy, breastfeeding, and age. Not much fits the way it once did, and instead of feeling guilty about that, I'm embracing my size and allowing myself to buy a few things to feel good in, even if it means trying on 10 different pair of Target jeans- which BTW, I finally found 1 pair that work ok, and I'm size 12-14.
And if any other readers are pear shaped and know a good jean for our body type- so sick of the uber tight thighs and massive drafty waist gap- lemme know...
Like everyone else, I just want to thank you for writing this series, and for showing us how the jeans fit on IG stories. I had no idea how much I was blaming myself and my body for not "fitting into" jeans until you turned this into a science experiment. Logically, of course, I knew the problem wasn't my body, but... Anyway, learning the actual reasons why jeans don't fit is so, so helpful. Thank you, Virginia.
Like other readers, I’ve been eagerly waiting for this installment. Another great essay, V! And how great to see Mallorie Dunn interviewed; I admire her so much.
You may have mentioned this in your Insta stories and I missed it, or maybe you’re saving for big reveal at end of this series, (in that case, don’t answer) but how many pair did you keep of the 56?
Catching up on this! But I think I’m most stunned by the hesitance to invest in more fit models. Yes, they’d have to pay them, but I would assume the sell through would be higher, making the ROI positive.
This was amazing, and somehow I had missed part 1 of this saga, so I went and dove in and watched the Instagram highlight story and all, which was riveting not only because of the incisive analysis but also because my body is a very similar size and shape to yours. I may order the Liverpool jeans!
Side question: What do you usually do with a pair of jeans when you’ve worn them out? You mentioned that you’ve bought certain styles over and over again, when the pair you have gets too stretched out or otherwise unwearable. I have a ridiculous number of old pairs of jeans taking up space in my closet because they have crotch rips too high up to make them into shorts, or a broken zipper, but do I just throw them in the trash? I can’t donate them, they’re too damaged.
I am on my last pair of unicorn jeans that fit me well enough, flattering enough to wear to my office, suit my specific body shape. ("Apple" shape here in a size 20/22 with belly rolls, narrow hips, a flat butt, and very skinny legs.) The major brand I have been loyal to for 10+ years has now apparently discontinued or changed their fits, so I cannot replace my jeans. There are also style and aesthetic preferences - I am a queer cis woman, but I do not dress "femme." It feels like all of these factors of my style preference for my gender/queer identity and the specific body proportions I am uniquely working with will just make this an impossible equation forever. I don't or won't default to skirts or dresses or leggings every day - that's just not who I am. Somehow, finding slacks that look right on my body has been even harder than finding jeans. So, what do I do when this last pair that I have kept squirreled away in my closet is too worn for going to work? Sigh.
"I just don't get hips?" What the actual fuck? Do you "just not get" humans? Seems like "getting hips," much like "getting torsos" or "getting heads" would be, I don't know, the bare minimum for being in the business of clothing design.
(As always, this was pure fire, Virginia. FIRE! Thank you.)
This made me feel so much better about jeans never fitting me "right." No matter how many times I've read that the problem is the clothes, not my body, I could never really shake the thought that if some of my belly fat just moved down a few inches to my hips/butt, it would be ideal. Your explanation of fit models and how the whole design process works finally made it click for me - it really is not my body's problem! Thank you for diving into this, Virginia!
On my to-do list for today: "Try on/return clothes." One major dilemma is two pairs of 7 for All Mankind jeans (grad school-era me is like "holy crap, you can afford 7s? TWO PAIRS?"), because wow, I saw an ad and they are still or again making true mid-rise (ie not the high-rise currently being widely labeled as mid) bootcut jeans, so I bought two pairs that turn out to be virtually the same fit if not the exact same fit, and ... hmmm. I sized up one to accommodate my pandemic weight gain, and when I put them on they are absolutely the best fit of the 12-14 pairs of jeans I have bought in the past eight months or so, but they also have the thing where there's a tiny bit of muffin top but at the same time I strongly suspect that within an hour they will start falling down. I think I'm going to keep one, because, again, best fit out of 12-14 pairs (plus also grad school-era me kvelling that I could afford them), but do I return the other because let's face it I barely wear jeans these days or do I exchange it for a size smaller in the view that they will stretch out and the next size down might be a little uncomfortable for an hour but then turn out to be a better fit?
Argh, jeans.
Also, the hip-to-waist thing is one reason, beyond my sensory issues with stuff on my stomach, that I really, really hate high-waisted jeans. They add a place where the fit can go wrong. I remember as like a very early teen, my mom making me try on some high-waisted jeans and it was comical, because they fit in the waist but there were like mug handles of denim off the sides of my hips. Whereas jeans that are not supposed to fit at both hips and waist, one possible area of drastic fit problems is eliminated.
Another part of this, to me, at least, is feeling like I shouldn't buy "fast fashion" and instead buy from smaller, environmentally conscious brands. But so often those brands have the most limited sizing! I am straight size, but I'm (very) short and my hip/waist ratio is non-standard, so most jeans from "high quality" denim brands don't work on me. I always struggled with feeling like I "should" buy fancy jeans that don't actually fit and get them tailored. On the other hand, it's always felt ridiculous to buy a pair of jeans that don't actually fit for a fair amount of money and then pay more money to hopefully get them to fit. I have no confidence what the end result would be like so I never ended up doing that. In the end my favorite pair right now is from American Eagle's "Curvy" collection and in the end, I guess, it's more sustainable to buy a pair of jeans you actually like and wear them to death versus buying a pair that just sits in the closet.
This is so, so helpful for me. I have tried and returned probably hundreds of pairs of jeans over the years. I’ve felt like a weirdo because everyone seems to love Madewell jeans, which have always looked so bad on me. And now I’m at a point where I just want to wear dresses all the time, which is more difficult than it sounds.
I think the thing that keeps me coming back to jeans is the idea that half my outfit is done. It’s the promise that if I just find this unicorn pair of jeans, my life would be easier. And honestly? It would be. But that is only if and when there are radical changes to this industry that would result in me finding that pair.
Very few women I know wears jeans anymore- it’s all dresses and leggings. I guess I need to build up my dress wardrobe!
I realize this is not the point of this article, but- did you find ANY jeans that didn’t suck out of the 56?
Ugh this is depressing. Plus-sized clothing in general always feels like brands just make things wide enough to cover a larger body instead of trying for any kind of actual "fit". Not related to jeans, but Madewell does this with their tops especially. They get comically wider, but not longer, and the proportions are just totally off. They even made a big deal of updating the fit of their plus line recently, but it still seems as oddly sized — just with far fewer options now.
That insight explains SO MUCH about banana republic. Ugh.
I've been waiting patiently for this installment! One thing that also comes to mind is the fact that the current world of jeans across the United States is dependent on unvalued labor in foreign countries. I remember once getting so exasperated by searching for a replica of jeans on Poshmark (having found the first pair on a fluke, second hand at a consignment shop). Naturally, they were close, but not quite as good as the first pair, though the style and size were the "same." Later a friend told me she had heard too that jean fit varied greatly depending on the factor they were made! I had never even thought of that. Thus, reading your post here and how companies refuse to have multiple fit models (heaven forbid they make clothes to fit the actual population), infuriates me further, as all these unfitting cheaply made jeans are just winding up in thrift shops and eventually piled in a landfill. So there's also an huge environmental gain to be made if companies actually invested in valuing the diversity of body shapes/sizes out there and figured out how to make us better fitting clothes! Most of these companies we are talking about are pretty wealthy too. In the meantime, thank you so much for your research and writing about this.
On another note, it felt sort of revolutionary to be reminded to try on many many pairs and feel free to walk out of the store and/or return. I hear in this that age old tendency that so many of us as women go around apologizing all the time for existing. Like, why do I need to apologize for trying on multiple pairs of jeans? My body has changed a ton in the past two years due to Covid, pregnancy, breastfeeding, and age. Not much fits the way it once did, and instead of feeling guilty about that, I'm embracing my size and allowing myself to buy a few things to feel good in, even if it means trying on 10 different pair of Target jeans- which BTW, I finally found 1 pair that work ok, and I'm size 12-14.
And if any other readers are pear shaped and know a good jean for our body type- so sick of the uber tight thighs and massive drafty waist gap- lemme know...
sigh... Jeans... great post! Thank you!
Like everyone else, I just want to thank you for writing this series, and for showing us how the jeans fit on IG stories. I had no idea how much I was blaming myself and my body for not "fitting into" jeans until you turned this into a science experiment. Logically, of course, I knew the problem wasn't my body, but... Anyway, learning the actual reasons why jeans don't fit is so, so helpful. Thank you, Virginia.
Like other readers, I’ve been eagerly waiting for this installment. Another great essay, V! And how great to see Mallorie Dunn interviewed; I admire her so much.
You may have mentioned this in your Insta stories and I missed it, or maybe you’re saving for big reveal at end of this series, (in that case, don’t answer) but how many pair did you keep of the 56?
Catching up on this! But I think I’m most stunned by the hesitance to invest in more fit models. Yes, they’d have to pay them, but I would assume the sell through would be higher, making the ROI positive.
This essay was so good and so helpful. Thank you.
This was amazing, and somehow I had missed part 1 of this saga, so I went and dove in and watched the Instagram highlight story and all, which was riveting not only because of the incisive analysis but also because my body is a very similar size and shape to yours. I may order the Liverpool jeans!
Side question: What do you usually do with a pair of jeans when you’ve worn them out? You mentioned that you’ve bought certain styles over and over again, when the pair you have gets too stretched out or otherwise unwearable. I have a ridiculous number of old pairs of jeans taking up space in my closet because they have crotch rips too high up to make them into shorts, or a broken zipper, but do I just throw them in the trash? I can’t donate them, they’re too damaged.
I am on my last pair of unicorn jeans that fit me well enough, flattering enough to wear to my office, suit my specific body shape. ("Apple" shape here in a size 20/22 with belly rolls, narrow hips, a flat butt, and very skinny legs.) The major brand I have been loyal to for 10+ years has now apparently discontinued or changed their fits, so I cannot replace my jeans. There are also style and aesthetic preferences - I am a queer cis woman, but I do not dress "femme." It feels like all of these factors of my style preference for my gender/queer identity and the specific body proportions I am uniquely working with will just make this an impossible equation forever. I don't or won't default to skirts or dresses or leggings every day - that's just not who I am. Somehow, finding slacks that look right on my body has been even harder than finding jeans. So, what do I do when this last pair that I have kept squirreled away in my closet is too worn for going to work? Sigh.