I started out styling in Washington, D.C., which isn’t very sartorially inclined. Ann Taylor and J.Crew are most popular. When I first moved to the Bay Area, many of my clients were women working in tech who didn’t want to look like they worked in tech and moms who wanted to take the mental load off of getting dressed. But one thing that’s common between those who come to me is that they’re overwhelmed when shopping for a pair of jeans. I even have a spreadsheet of all the brands I know — how they fit, for what body types, the budget we’re dealing with — and there’s a tab just on jeans. So, whenever a client says they really don’t want to give up their skinny jeans — I have millennials who are like, You can pry my skinny jeans from my cold dead hands — one of the stops we usually make is Madewell. I hear a lot of “I never thought to shop at Madewell for jeans.” Maybe it’s that they’ve moved on from the brand. Or they forgot about the jeans there. But beginning at Madewell and getting that initial this is amazing sets us up for a good shopping session. And the pair I’m putting them in first is the Perfect Vintage.
It was either 2019 or 2020 when I found them. I thought these were a good straight-leg. That’s how I worded it to clients — If you’re used to skinny jeans but wanted to branch out — because they hugged your butt and thighs a little bit. The first client who tried them on was around five-one — and she needed jeans that weren’t too long and weren’t too short. I find that with petites, if you get something cropped, it makes them almost look like they’re wearing children’s clothes. It has to hit right on the leg. These cut her off at the perfect length — with no puddling at the ankles — and she got some skin. This was when Vejas were big, so we paired them with the jeans. Then there was one client who was convinced that she was a size 14, and when we went shopping together, I grabbed her a 10 and 12. She couldn’t believe that she was two sizes smaller. These were nicely fitted through her hips. She ended up buying two pairs that day. And a few weeks ago, actually, I had a client who didn’t have any jeans that fit. She wondered whether Madewell was even going to have her size. I wish I had taken before-and-after photos. She was very self-conscious in leggings and an oversize T-shirt. In the jeans, a fitted T-shirt, and blazer, she became confident.
I’ve recommended them to probably 150-plus clients. I would guess that 90 to 95 percent actually go for them. I don’t know why anyone wouldn’t. If anything, they might get them off Poshmark for a little less. I call them the Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants pants. For virtual clients, I’ll send a link with a note about why I’ve chosen them so they know I’m not blindly saying, This might look great on you. They work on almost every body type. Some of the more premium denim is made for a specific body type in mind. Mother might be for a straight and narrow shape. Good American for an hourglass. Agolde for an apple. These Madewell jeans are made to fit the body really well and so that all different bodies can wear them.
It’s really about the consistency in Madewell’s Perfect Vintage range. There are petite, tall, and plus sizes. I’d say the smallest size I recommended these to was a 24P and the biggest might’ve been a plus-size 18W. The shortest clients — those who are around four-eight — might get them hemmed, but that doesn’t change the look of the jeans. The tall — with a 32-inch inseam — is tall enough for those under five-eleven. If the straight-leg fits, then a different cut in the Perfect Vintage line, like the wide-leg, should, too. If there’s a big difference between your hip-to-waist ratio, you can choose the curvy cut. You can get them in all the washes — Decatur, Kepler, Fitzgerald — and the jeans will feel the same. They fit like worn-in Levi’s.
I’ll sometimes size down from the size someone tells me. That’s not a Madewell fit thing, though. I find that most of my clients are wearing the wrong size. I’m thinking about one who I was getting the size she was going to be in the jeans based on the measurements I took of her, and she was like, Ha, those are not going to fit me. I was like, Well, I am the stylist and you’re paying me and we are going to put them on. I think people don’t know how much jeans stretch. You feel frumpy when they’re sagging and dragging your butt down. These have a great blend of cotton and elastane: 99 percent cotton and one percent elastane. It’s the right amount of stretch so that the jeans aren’t stretching out. You don’t feel like you’re stuck into them, either. And a great point about them is the price point. You know that you’re spending $128 on a pair that’s not going to break the bank, but they’re not so cheap that they fall apart within a year.
I get a lot of little texts, out of the blue, like, The best thing I got during our shopping session was the jeans. I’ll do a check-in every once in a while and ask them, What have you been wearing all the time? The answer is the jeans a lot of the time.
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