Jeans Shopping

Jeans are the ubiquitous, easy, go anywhere garment to own and wear, with the ability to link both formal and casual items in our wardrobe. You can wear the right pair with a jacket and heels, just as easily as with a sweatshirt and trainers.

However finding the right pair can be challenging…..

Discovering the ideal pair for you will involve a combination of fabric, shape and rise. If you have shorter legs and a longer body go for high rise jeans (also useful if you want to hold your stomach in!) If you have a short body and long legs then a mid-rise might be better, especially if you are going to be tucking in your top.

Depending on your body shape, jeans shopping can be a quick and easy experience or a depressing and frustrating ordeal. When you are faced with a pile of jeans where do you start?

Jeans Shopping Tips, for different body types

Straight Body

If you are tall and lean with slim hips and a flat bottom, jeans shopping shouldn’t be too challenging for you. You can probably wear most styles, including the traditional, pure cotton denim without any Lycra or stretch. ie the original “boyfriend” jeans.

You can also wear skinnies, straight, “Mom” and flares. Rips and distressed jeans probably won’t faze you either! You could experiment with different colours, textures and finishes – just because you can!

Great places for you to find jeans would be Mint Velvet, Jigsaw and Reiss.

Inverted Triangle

If you have this body shape then you need to balance out your broad shoulders. Although your hips, bottom and legs are similar to a straight body type and could accommodate all of the styles above you need to be careful with very skinny jeans as they can make you look out of proportion and a bit like a “Weeble”, as you might fall over!

Therefore if you wear skinnies ensure that you team them with chunky boots or shoes to create some balance. Slim flares or boot cut are the best shapes to help balance your proportions.

If you are pear shaped, an hour glass or apple shape jeans shopping can leave you upset and distraught. My best advice would be to allow yourself plenty of time! You may have to kiss a lot of frogs until you find your prince!

However once you have found a brand/style that works, stick with it. I have advised many personal shopping clients to buy a couple of pairs, perhaps in different colours &/or lengths. Lycra is definitely your best friend. This means that the jeans will be comfortable and are more likely to fit into your waist and stretch over your curves.

If you have a very narrow waist to hip measurement, look for jeans with a “yoke” and extra shaping around the bottom and waist. Try brands like NJDJ, M&S Lift & Sculpt, Next and Salsa.

I would also be very careful with super skinny jeans as they can accentuate your wider thighs. And the old rule about dark colours being slimming is absolutely true here. Light coloured jeans will draw attention to your thighs no matter what their shape or fabric content!

My best advice is to take your time, try lots of pairs on and be prepared to spend some money on a good quality pair. If you wear jeans most days of the week consider your cost per wear. If you have a fabulous pair that fit brilliantly and make you feel amazing, then it is better to invest in them rather than 4 pairs of so-so jeans that you don’t actually like!

Happy jeans shopping!!

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