Jeans: Fond Memories

Jeans. They can evoke so much emotion in us: the hot jeans we wear on a date, the skinny jeans we can finally fit into, mom jeans we vow never to wear, the comfy jeans we’ll never throw out.

I remember two pairs of jeans from high school. My dad was a professor/minister, so money was frequently tight. My jeans usually came from JC Penney or Sears. No name brands for me! I got a job at a local department store in town and one of the first things on my list was to buy a “real” pair of jeans. I wasn’t built like your typical teenager. I was a shapely hourglass girl – not overweight – just curvy. This was in the late seventies, so there was very little specialization of jeans. You wanted jeans, you went and bought jeans. That was it!

I saved my money and waited for the annual Levi’s sale. I bought my first (and only) pair of Levis. I was so proud! I could roll them up at the cuffs and wear my penny loafers and oxford cloth button down shirt with my little (fake) pearl earrings and (fake) gold add-a-bead necklace. I had arrived! (Yes I was “prep” crazed!)

They didn’t really fit well -- too large in the waist, too tight in the thighs. But I didn’t care. I had Levis! Life was good. I wore those jeans until they shredded behind the knees. It didn’t matter that they weren’t particularly comfortable, they were Levis.

The second pair I remember may have been bought right before I started college. I was/am short. And back in the day I was small – petite, so I frequently hit the sale racks in the children’s department. I found a pair of yoked, peg-legged jeans there that became my go-to jeans until after I married. I adored those jeans. They were cute and stylish. They fit everywhere and made me look great. AND they were from the children’s department, so that must prove I wasn’t overweight, right? (Can you tell I had some body image issues?)

I have fond memories of different outfits built around those jeans. The white cotton men’s shirt tucked in with the sleeves rolled up and a red bandana worn as a belt, with sandals, flats or white tennis shoes; the jeans worn with an oversized gray college sweatshirt and white tennis shoes and NO socks; or the jeans with the white peasant blouse and no shoes at all!

Those were seriously happy jeans! Maybe I need to find some more of those, but then again I’m 49 and 50 pounds overweight, and it’s been 25 or more years since they were in style, so maybe not!


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