Tuesday, September 28, 2010

Jeans. Plain Jeans. Dirty Jeans!

Ummm, dirty denim? Raw? What's with that, anyway?

It seems that a current "fashion" fad is to buy a pair of unwashed denim jeans and wear them six months WITHOUT washing them. The hoped-for end-product is a pair of jeans that fits Your body only. Molded. Shaped. Yours!

Ummmm, Stinky!

I'm laughing, Man! I'm laughing.

You see, I've already been there. Well, maybe not with NEW jeans. But I remember, as a teen, working in the fields, hoeing corn, rogueing milo, detasseling corn, and finally (before the end of summer and return to the classroom), hoeing beans. We wore the same clothes day after day. We did that because we didn't have an automatic washing machine and the wringer washer got brought out to the porch from its closet only once a week.

When we were working in the field we didn't fuss about having clean jeans each morning. Those old Levi's took on a shape and smell of their own. Mud. Green stains. Ragweed pollen. Not to mention blood, sweat, and sometimes tears. Those jeans learned to stand on their own, so to speak.

So...will I be buying a new pair of raw denims and wearing them six months?

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

NOT!

P.S. Excuse me while I go pull my clean jeans out of the dryer and dress clean for the day.

9 comments:

Diane said...

The ability to put on a pair of clean jeans every day is something a good portion of the world would love to have. The conceit that worn, stinky jeans are "fashionable" is one that can only survive in societies that have never experienced that kind of poverty.

People are crazy.

Glenda said...

I guess I'll just never be in style! Stinky jeans . . . no!!! :-)

Cat Rocketship said...

NO IT'S WONDERFUL! The point of the jeans is that the denim is higher quality and therefore also holds its shape better, and the fibers are much longer, so they last longer - but you must give it its shape. My husband does this by wearing his new pants in the bath a couple of times.

This way, even when the jeans are worn every day, they last a long time. I think Scott has two pairs of raw denim, both over a year old, without tears. I, on the other hand, also rotate through two (washable) pairs of jeans, and they're falling apart. Unfortunately, they don't make affordable raw denim for ladies - Scott's are just great Levi's for $35-40 each - $25, when the local workwear store is having a sale. I'd have to drop a couple hundred.

Oh, and for the record - they don't smell, surprisingly. He is careful about laying them out each night to get air, and they can be popped in the drier as long as they aren't wet.

Alli said...

I have teenagers and I can't apologise for them wearing these types of clothes. When I was a teenager all I wanted was a pair of Go Go Boots......haha Life just happens with each generation...

Love Alli....XX

WhiteStone said...

Oh, Well, Go-Go boots! That's a different thing entirely. lol

Kelly said...

I think I'll pass on that and keep my jeans clean! (even though the older the get, the better they get)

Debby said...

Nope. I don't care whether they smell or whether they don't. I like clean jeans. And since I buy them from a thrift store for four bucks a pair, it doesn't much matter if they fall apart after a year.

Sarah Gracen said...

I must agree I don't get them you can make them like that yourself and anyway why would you want a pair of ratty old jeans with holes I guarantee I'll never wear such atrocious pants as long as I live!
What I like to do with jeans that have holes in the knees or lower you just cut them into shorts enough said.
but I garentee those pants aren't for me.
-Poem Girl

jim said...

Cat you can tell your husband that taking a new pair of Levis's down to the river was the way we did it in the fifties. Take them for a nice long swim and then let them dry on you in the summer heat. They would fit perfectly. My mom used to say that my jeans would "stand on there own"! Styling a new pair of Levi jeans was great fun.