PicoBlog

Greetings from my new studio. I’m still figuring out the light. I’m still unpacking – boxes and feelings about the flag’s prominence – but for the most part, this is the backdrop. To celebrate the change (and my being done with the bulk of it), I went back and bought the pricey Levi’s Big E 501s I found while reporting this story for Vogue. What. They were 15% off and, to quote my denim spirit sister Meg Younger, “They’re an heirloom.”

Gosh, they are gorgeous. Selvedge. Untouchable. I’m cuffing them rather than shortening the hems. The factory number stamped on the back of the top button is 6. The color – inkier and sort of “smooth”– has the richness of real indigo (v synthetic). According to my guru Eric Schrader, real indigo went out of production in 1966, making these jeans something around 60 years old.

Will I wear them, you ask? I will because no jean ever got better by sitting on a shelf. It’s not wine. As Joan Didion famously said: “Every day is all there is.” Good to wear the best stuff as often as possible and while we can, I think.

P.S. I was recently asked to explain the difference between selvedge and raw. Selvedge jeans utilize the finished, self-edged vertical seam of denim milled, historically, on narrow shuttle looms; they have the distinctive “stripes” running all the way up the side seams. Raw jeans are those that have not been pre-washed or treated in any way. “Dry” is another name for them. At the heart of it: Selvedge is about the fabric and raw refers to a design feature. And though selvedge jeans can be left raw, raw jeans are not always selvedge.

A number of you have written to me about this jean, raving. Or, wondering. What are barrel jeans, like Tibi’s Sid, all about? Closet staple or passing fad? So many brands are offering them right now – from Alaïa to Everlane. Citizens of Humanity makes one called The Horseshoe, and there are many more, almost all of which have a rodeo-themed name (Lasso is the favorite from B Sides). The Sid is high-waisted with a wide, mellow curve created, like most barrels, by some combination of twisted seams and darts. It’s a lot of fabric, yet they’re still flattering (in a funny, body-bending way).

The origins of today’s trending barrels are mercurial. Stephan Brovko at Denim Revival suspects the look evolved from 1920s French workwear, those high-high waisted bleu de travail pants with wide, tapered legs. Others I spoke to cited historical trouser styles like jodhpurs and breeches that balloon above the knee; a popular look at dude ranches in the 1930s. Me, I see a cowboy’s bowed legs when I look at barrels – the shape a jean takes from riding horses all day. Add chaps and the concave-leg look is further exaggerated.

I suspect the jeans we’re seeing today are a mashup of references and, more importantly, a reinterpretation of the effect of wearing jeans, rather than the duplication of a specific design. In the Levi’s Archive, for example, there are a number of 501s that have “taken on the bow leg and ragged, shortened hem through natural use, perhaps through horse-riding,” explained house historian Tracey Panek. “They certainly have that [barrel] feel.”

The current barrels at Levi’s, Panek told me, “are inspired by folks who wear super oversized vintage 501 Original Jeans, cinching the waist like a paper bag and in turn creating an exaggerated ‘barrel’-shaped leg.” Clever. I can see that. Cropped or long, all of these jeans have a residual waist-slimming effect, being so big in the legs. My personal favorite is probably the B Sides Lasso pieced together with vintage Levi’s, which Meg (ever the denim collector) owns. Weathered, bow-legged, cinched, patched, darted, raggedy-hemmed… all together, it’s something to see.

What jean does someone who is, like Uniform’s Ali Pew, “rarely in denim” wear? “I think the very basic answer is anything that looks more like a trouser,” she told me. You can see what Ali means here (behind the paywall; trust me, it’s worth it).

Mother Denim did a Paris-meets-L.A. collaboration with Clare V. I haven’t shown you the collection’s Pleated Bell Prep, yet, because it’s long and I am having it hemmed, but it is a very good trouser style and $100 less than Nili Lotan’s famous Flora.

The RealReal has a pair of Celine jeans like the ones I recently purchased listed for $795 (size 26). These are similar, but mid-rise (size 25). And oooh, look at these (size 27).

WhoWhatWear recently asked a handful of fashion newsletters, mine included, what to buy now. Almost all of them recommended a jean of some kind. Here’s the story.

I’ll leave you with this photo I found of a woman helping a small child with their stirrups. The way she seems to defy gravity to get it done… I see her. I love her. (I love them all, actually, the horses, too.) Such grace. Thank you for reading, shopping, sharing, and becoming a paid subscriber (if you aren’t already). Your support, like this photo for me today, is everything.

Jane

Related to this Letter…

Redline Jeans: Some say selvage, and I like selvedge. Potato, potahto.

Vintage Jeans, Part 1: How to shop for it online. Karla Welch says you can.

Vintage Jeans, Part II: What to ask and where to start when buying online.

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