I was amused a few years back when GenZ declared the Millennials to be uncool because they couldn’t move on from their side parts or skinny jeans. Oh, the wailing and gnashing of teeth! 

Fortunately, my generation (early GenX) had already experienced the abject humiliation of being labeled “uncool” by those same Millennials years ago. As someone who is closer to 60 than 40 these days, it’s been a long time since I’ve looked to teenagers for fashion validation.

What I found particularly funny about the declaration banning skinny jeans is that, regardless of which type of denim the fashion police have declared in or out of style in a given year, those of us who have cycled through all the trends understand that the answer to “which jeans look best” is both subjective and constantly changing. 

An Integral and Authentic Part of My Wardrobe

During most of my corporate career, I worked in an office and dressed a step up from business casual. Skirts and dresses were the norm, so jeans were reserved for Fridays and weekends. Like a lot of remote workers, I took a hard turn into extreme casual wear during the pandemic, but am now trying to find a balance. In fact, after too many months spent lounging around in yoga pants and the like, I made it one of my New Year’s resolutions to put on real pants each day!

I’m proud to say that I’ve been successful with that one (I adhere to the SMART goal framework, so achievability is key)! … In my world, that means that I’m generally reaching for a pair of jeans.

And now I’m going to make a very controversial statement: There’s a time and a place (and a potentially stylish outfit) to be made from nearly every kind of denim. Not the limited options those GenZ arbiters of “cool” would have you believe.   

Bear with me here… In an effort to sell the Average American Woman way more denim than she actually needs, fashion designers have left no trend—no cut, wash, rise or embellishment—untried over the past several decades. So which pair will look best on you is NOT going to be determined by some Instagram influencer. Rather, the most attractive pair will take into consideration your age, your body, your attitude, the occasion you’re dressing for, and perhaps most important, the rest of your outfit (top, shoes, etc.). 

End of hypothesis.

For example, cool or un-, I will never get rid of all of my skinny jeans. That’s because I have a considerable number of boots, and skinny jeans are the only jeans that will balance out an oversized top and tuck into tall boots. And in January, in Minnesota, a cozy bulky sweater, jeans and boots will never not be in style. 

BUT, that being said, I also have plenty of other denim styles in my rotation: flared jeans, baggy jeans, straight-leg, cropped, wide leg, distressed, embellished, hemmed and unhemmed, and the previously lauded flannel-lined jeans. 

Which pair I’m going to wear is dependent on all of those other factors mentioned above, but ALL are in the rotation and are an authentic part of my wardrobe. 

Curse of the Crop Top!

I think I speak for most women who have given birth or are over 35 when I say that we’re pretty much over the cropped-everything trend. Really, enough already! Yes, a cropped top can look nice—when paired with the right bottoms, but most people my age aren’t comfortable flashing their bellybutton outside of the gym or a beach.

Crop tops are definitely one of those styles that are tricky to manage if you’re older than 30 or have given birth—and the last couple of years it’s been nearly impossible to find tops that are both cute and work appropriate. So, if I’m wearing a shirt that is slightly cropped, I will pair it with mid- or high-rise jeans to compensate, keeping my bellybutton covered. Likewise, if I’m wearing a longer, tunic-style top, I want to pair that with minimal bulk around my waist. Yet I couldn’t always tell, by glancing at a pair, which jeans would work. Finding the right bottoms to wear with a specific top frustrated me, because—invariably—I would end up trying on several pairs each time, in search of the right fit. 

But this is where my jeanius idea comes in…

Necessity is the Mother of Invention 

That led me to my *new* labeling system for denim. I bought a pack of plastic size disks ($9.99 for 30 on Amazon) and labeled them by rise, length and style. Voila! I now can grab a pair and know exactly how they will fit, saving me time and irritation. (In retrospect, I could have done this with cardboard tags as well, which would have been a bit more environmentally friendly.)

While doing this may seem over-the-top, it’s already saved me more time than I spent making the labels. And I’m a BIG fan of anything that saves me time and frustration. So, I wanted to share this hack—in case any of you find it helpful (and can thereby validate that I’m actually “authentically clever” vs. just weirdly compulsive.) 🤣

(I ended this blog post with the laughing emoji, because that was declared uncool by GenZ around the same time as the skinny jeans and side parts… That Stormy is such a rebel.) 🤣🤣🤣