Buying Your First Pair of Jeans & More

Can we all remember when we starting wearing jeans for casual wear and not for farming or working around a ranch but for everyday wear because it was the style? I’m probably going to age myself, but everyone who reads my hubs, knows I’m hitting the big 6-0 this year, so what the heck.

In the 1950’s women didn’t wear jeans for any occasion unless you lived on a farm and maybe those were overalls. It wasn’t the fashion style until the 1960’s when the baby-boomer generation made them their favorite pants to wear. These jeans were only for the younger people, Moms & grandmothers never wore them because it wasn’t in fashion for that age group.

When I started school, kindergarten through seventh grade, I went to a parochial school where we wore school uniforms; blue bleated skirts, a white blouse, a blue sweater to match the skirt, white socks and either loafers or Mary Jane shoes. After school we wore play clothes. I guess for parents whose children attended Catholic school, this was an easy fix and no problem or argument in the morning as to what your children were going to wear to school, it was the same outfit everyday.

Then everything changed for me when I entered the eight grade. I was now attending a Junior High school (Middle school) for you younger hubbers. I was 13 years old and part of the fad was wearing pegged jeans. I can remember taking my first pair of jeans, turning them inside out and having my Mom pin them as tight as she could to fit my legs and then sewing them to make them tighter; it was called pegged jeans and if done right, it's just possible to get one's foot through the bottom and if you gained weight, look out because you'll have to throw them out. Every girl who wore jeans did the same thing; pegged them because that was the fad; we had to be cool and I’m not making fun of this because its important to fit into the crowd, at least it was for me.

So I was 13 years old when my Mom bought me my first pair of jeans. Wearing them in the winter months was okay but not for summer when the weather can be 110 on any given day. But I bet I had them on….later in the 1960’s, bellbottoms pants was the fad and I liked these jeans a little better because you could move in them and unlike your pegged jeans that were skin tight. The difference with bellbottoms is they become wider from the knee downward and had a wider leg at the bottom, some were extremely wide to more tightly fitted version and most were long to cover our shoes. We certainly can’t forget the hub-hubbers jeans too.

I also remember buying a few pair of jeans at the local Army & Navy Surplus store in my hometown. Do some of you remember these stores, did I trigger any past memories; If I did I hope good ones, of course. Anyway, also popular along with the bellbottoms were real Navy wool pants and pea coats. I had both and loved my pea coat on cold winter nights when sitting outside at one of our home games, cheering our football team to victory, it sure kept me warm.

Jeans have sure changed over the years, we now have many different styles, boot-cut, straight-leg, flare, skinny jeans, just to name a few. I must admit that I’m a jean kind of gal. I love them because now you can wear anything with them, they are versatile, inexpensive (most of them) to buy, just wash and wear clothing. You can dress them up or dress them down. Wear them around the house and also to a concert that night.

Jean material, denim, can also be used for jean skirts, vests, dresses, purses, blouses, tennis shoes and overalls. I can remember in the 1980’s having a long fitted jean dress and a jean skirt. I loved them both but sadly they are out of style but I do have a few jean vests that I wear all the time. I love them and they can also be worn with other pants besides jeans.

So, in conclusion jeans are here to stay, the style and color may change, but everyone including men, women, children, grandmothers, babies, to your mom now wear jeans.

Jeans are definitely about being sexy and all about fashion these days and now a very popular form of casual dress around the world. Americans spent more than $20 billion on the denim industry a year. I know my closet has more than a few….