fashion page: Jeans.

Published in The Post-Star (B12)

10/2/05

If you need a reason to rejoice as summer slips away, look in your closet: Jeans, glorious jeans. With temperatures cooling off and fall fashions hitting the shelves, it's denim's time to shine.

Almost everyone has a favorite pair of jeans -- the ones that fit perfectly and are worn in all the right places. It's almost like dating. You know when you've found the right one, and you remember them long after the breakup.

"Oh my God, I loved them!" said Nichole Dick, 22, remembering the pair of "perfectly low, light-washed American Eagle jeans" she recently parted ways with. After three years of active duty in her wardrobe, the jeans had developed a hole in the knee, so she threw them out.

"Actually, I threw them out, took them out of the garbage and put them back in my closet again for a while," Dick said. Not longer after she finally trashed them for good, Dick realized torn jeans were making a comeback on the fashion scene. "If I'd only known," she said, laughing.

Now, Dick is in a new relationship with a pair of dark stonewashed, slightly stretchy low-rise jeans from Zumiez, the retail store where she works in Aviation Mall. "I know they're my new favorites because I'll go without washing them and wear them again, and I won't do that with anything else," she explained. "It's weird how I get attached to jeans."

For some people, the attachment is so strong, they never want it to end. Mike Zimmerman, 33, said he usually buys three of four pairs of identical jeans when he finds a style he likes. He currently favors Levi's zip-fly jeans, with a loose, comfortable fit, although he also has a pair of vintage jeans that he wears "about once a year, on special occasions."

Of course, the truly fashion-conscious among us have flings, not long-term relationships, with their clothes. Farzad Teimouri, 26, takes pride in wearing tight, trendy jeans with designer labels. When he moved to the Albany area from Shiraz, Iran, about eight years ago, he was dismayed by what he saw people wearing on the streets.

"American people don't know how to dress -- such bad style," said Teimouri, who runs a kiosk in Aviation Mall that sells T-shirts with slogans like "Jesus is my Homeboy" and "Tell Your Girlfriend I Said Thanks."

Teimouri estimated that he owns at least a dozen pairs of jeans, about half of which are Gucci. "They're more expensive than other brands, but they're good quality," he said. "I like whatever their latest style is."

The latest style, according to many sources, is "distressed" or "destroyed" denim.

"I think most of the jeans we sell have holes in them," said Rob Bedard, 27, a Saratoga Springs resident who works at American Eagle Outfitters. His favorite jeans have several strategically placed rips and threadbare spots, but it's not because he's been wearing them forever. He bought them that way this year. The torn areas are reinforced with extra stitching, although he admits that the fabric is still "jeopardized."

It's a look that's more popular with teenagers and young adults than older shoppers.

"Most kids come in here and want destroyed jeans, and their parents say, 'I'm not paying $48 for a pair of jeans that's all ripped up!' " he said. "Sure, they might fall apart more quickly because of what's been done to them. But I like the look."

If your favorite jeans still fit, but don't fit in with this fall's hot look, you can always destroy them yourself. Simply use a nail file or cheese grater to wear down the denim until only white threads appear in a few spots.

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