It’s All About the Fit

When it comes to jeans, we have a confession to make:

Nothing comes between us and the perfect pair. Although we extol the virtues of bargain hunting, our denim mantra is this: If the jeans fit, buy them!

Finding the perfect pair of jeans is the holy grail of shopping. Pull the right pair off the shelf and your thighs and backside will thank you. Pour yourself into the wrong ones and you can look like an overstuffed sausage or worse: completely unhip.

This doesn’t mean you have to spend $200 on a pair of uber-trendy Rock & Republic Jeans.

Here are some tips on denim buying:

• Although super-low rise jeans are out, it is still trendy to wear jeans below or at your navel. If rolls of fat spill over the top of your jeans, they are too small or you need to skip this trend.

• Darker washes make you look slimmer.

• When you find the perfect fit, buy two pairs: One in a light wash for hanging around, one in a dark wash for dressier occasions.

• Relax if you are plus size. More and more retailers are paying attention to your desire for stylish denim. Lane Bryant has hooked up with premium designer Seven to update its jeans line. Gap and Old Navy are making great-fitting jeans in a variety of washes and lengths up to size 20.

• Do the underwear test. Squat and bend over in your jeans. If you see cotton or lace, don’t buy them.

• Find a good tailor. A good fit can become a great fit with a tweak at the waist (to eliminate evil back gap) or the hem. Find a seamstress capable of attaching the original hem after alterations. Cutting off the original hem ruins a great-looking pair of jeans.

• Don’t be label-conscious. You have to really study the back pocket of designer jeans to figure out who made them.

• Make jeans shopping a mission. You may need to try on many styles to get it right.

• Shop for jeans in a store with great sales help and piles of jeans from a variety of labels or fits.

Smart retailers understand that all bodies are not created equal. So they are making jeans to fit a variety of body types. Perhaps no single major retailer has marketed to the diverse fit market more than the Gap, which this fall introduced several new lines.

We put the jeans to the test. Our results were mixed.

We tried more than 18 pairs of jeans, from all of Gap’s lines,including Curvy, Straight, Original, and Long and Lean.

The best fit: The Long and Lean was well worth the $59 price.

The most disappointing fit: The Curvy jean.

Our verdict: Go for that long, lean look and see if it works.

The New York Times News Service