#3

(Image from http://themostexpensivethings.com/most-expensive-jeans.html)

Jean #3 are in the Guinness Book of World Records as the most expensive jeans, the Gucci Genius jeans as the most expensive “off-the-rack” jeans, with elaborate feathers, rips and other detailing, including African bead work. Each piece has unique details and no two pairs are the same. The price tag that landed these jeans in the Guinness Book of World Records is $3, 134.

(Image from Forbes.com)

While Gucci may officially hold the title of the most expensive jeans, other designers have featured off the rack jeans which come with hefty price tags. Escada made Forbes Magazine list of most expensive jeans with their handmade pairs of jeans. Including a pair encrusted with a Swarovski crystals, which are hand placed, down to every last crystal. The price tag for these is $10,000.

#2

(Image from: http://most-expensive.net/jeans-designer)

Perhaps the most surprising fact about the second most expensive pair of jeans is that they weren’t even manufactured in this century! Levi’s recently purchased a pair of their classic 501 jeans, dating back to the 1800s, on eBay for a whopping $46,532. If that doesn’t sound expensive enough, in 2005, the pair went to a Japanese collector for $60,000!

While it sounds like an exorbitant amount, paying these types of prices may actually be a fairly common practice for Levi’s. The brand is known to purchase almost any vintage pair of jeans that they can get access to, and recycle the materials in their new lines or showcase them in their clothing library.

#1

The price tag for the most expensive jeans in the world comes down to the details: diamonds, rubies, sapphires and gold. You can see these below.

(image from http://most-expensive.net/jeans-designer)

Dussault Apparel’s Trashed Denim offers men’s jeans which have been washed in a unique process 13 times. Between each wash, the jeans are dyed and painted, adding more depth to the wash. Then the glitz and glam are added on, each pair has sixteen 1-carat rubies, twenty-six .05-carat rubies, eight .05-carat diamonds and 1080 grams of 18k white or rose gold. This brings the price tag to $250,000.

(image from http://www.baur.de/content/tunk/categories/jeans/most-expensive-jeans-in-the-world.html)

Also featuring embellishments, Secret Circus offers denim that is diamond encrusted.  Featuring slightly less embellishments, Secret Circus still provides the bang for your buck, with 15 brilliant diamonds arranged in a unique pattern on the pocket. Average price for a pair is $1.3 million dollars.

You can also see how things have changed by browsing this post from a couple of years ago.

Source 1, Source 2.

Image of washing machine courtesy of electricshop.com

A pair of premium jeans, or any jeans in general, should always come with a care label. The care label is always important as it will give you the washing instructions for that particular pair of jeans. Some jeans with special coatings or embellishments will say ‘dry clean only’ and this will be because the water will most likely ruin the design of the jeans, so you should follow these instructions and take your jeans to a dry cleaner.

Most other jeans will say that you need to wash them on a low temperature and hang dry or tumble dry on low. The low temperature is important when washing your jeans because too much heat will shrink the fabric and it can also damage the elasticity of the denim which will make them sag and not fit as nicely as they did before. One thing you should always do before washing your jeans is turn them inside out. This helps to keep the wash as secure as it can be while being submerged in water. The inside of the jeans will get properly cleaned and take the beating around while the outside of the jeans will get washed, but in a more delicate way. It’s very important to do that unless you don’t mind your jeans fading quite fast.

If you have a pair of really dark, rinse colour jeans then you can also add a special vinegar or dye sealer to the wash to help lock in the colour. This will prevent the dye leaking onto any lighter stitching or from fading too quickly. If you have raw denim, they should have come with instructions for wearing them as long as possible before washing them, but you can also do soaks. These soaks just require you to submerge your jeans in water for a little while to clean them lightly without fading the raw denim fabric.

Image of a cotton field courtesy of savagebrushmfg.com

Jeans are a pair of pants which are made from the fabric denim. The word jeans comes from the French phrase bleu de Gênes, which is the blue of Genoa while denim originated in the French town of Nîmes, from which denim (de Nîmes) gets its name. Denim is made up of a mixture of different fabrics. It is essentially all cotton, but to get certain stretch in jeans, elastane or lycra will be added to the blend. The cotton can also be mixed with fibers like polyester, nylon, elasterell and spandex to produce different types of denim for different types of jeans.

Michelle Siwy on E! News from Siwy Denim on Vimeo.

E! were lucky enough to go to the jean factory of Siwy Denim and chat with the designer and founder, Michelle Siwy. She talks about the process of sanding, washing and drying and you get to see a pair of jeans go from its raw state to the finished state. It’s a great video and I love seeing these!

Image of 7 For All Mankind’s factory via GoRuck.com.

Jeans are made in many parts of the world, the top places being the United States, mainly Los Angeles, Italy, China, Turkey and Japan. Los Angeles is famous for its premium denim factories as is Italy. China and Turkey are famous for the everyday brands and Japan is known for its raw and selvedge denim, however different jeans can essentially be produced in many places. Some are even made in England, Portugal, France and all over the world.

Jeans are made in factories of various specialties. Premium denim, from the likes of brands such as Diesel, 7 For All Mankind, J Brand and Paige etc, are made in specific jeans factories which have workers trained in premium denim making and use a lot of special equipment to get the cuts, finishes, chain stitching and normal stitching perfect. Cheaper jeans can be made in the normal garment factories alongside other clothes as they don’t require a specific amount of detail. Premium jeans also go through their washing process in specific wash houses where they are hand sanded and creased, stone washed, coated in resin or wax and hand distressed etc. You can see a couple of videos of how jeans are made in the links below.

Click here to see premium jeans being made and click here to see regular jeans being made.

IRO has just launched their new E-Shop on their website. I found their clothing to be one of the hardest to hunt down and am so happy that they launched their own shop online. Everything is at my fingertips now. Another thing that is great about the new feature on the site is that it is for both the men’s and women’s lines. You can click here to check out the new online store now.

NSF has just announced that they have just signed Simon Miller as their creative director for their denim debut. This venture will also not disappoint the NSF lovers. They made sure that quality and amazing craftsmanship is still involved. The line features Japanese denim in six washes which you can see below.

With an amazing celebrity fan base like Zac Efron, Bradley Cooper, Chris Evans, Johnny Deep, Brad Pitt and Ryan Reynolds. I’m sure that these will be just as popular with their great fits.

Something new has come along in Los Angeles called The Ass Cam. Here are some photos and some information from the press release. I think it’s a pretty cool concept and I hope it catches on because the first thing I look at in jeans is how they fit in the butt area. What do you think of it?

Perhaps more so than any other piece in anyone’s wardrobe – denim is all about the fit. Regardless of preferred styles, the final decision is reached in the dressing room and it always comes down to the seat of the jeans – the “bum”, “tuches”, “fanny”, “derriere” or to put it in clear American vernacular – the “ass” . But straining to see the mirror behind your back doesn’t make it an easy decision to make. Now – finding the best fitting jeans is right in front of you on an imbedded screen in a mirror that shows the perfect view or your behind via the patented closed-circuit Ass Camera™ only available at the World Denim Bar of American Rag (both in its Los Angeles and Newport Beach locations) and soon at Industrie Denim stores. The very latest in American Rag’s range of innovative services and trend-setting merchandising, the Ass Camera provides the World Denim Bar shoppers a truly cutting-edge and convenient way of selecting their jeans.

The World Denim Bar is the enormously popular shop-within-the shop section of American Rag that spotlights the best denim brands in what has to be among the most extensive range of styles brought together under one roof anywhere in the world. The success of this concept store inspired the newly-formed partnership of San Francisco’s Levi Strauss & Company and American Rag CEO Mark Werts to open Industrie Denim in select markets soon. The first two stores are slated to break ground in Scottsdale, AZ and San Francisco, CA and are expected to feature leading denim brands including Levis, J Brand, PRPS, Ernest Sewn, AG, Paige, Joes, Nudie Jeans, Current/Elliott and Goldsign against a vintage looking interior space. As in the World Denim Bar, the Ass Camera will be a prominent feature in dressing rooms at Industrie Denim.

For over two decades, American Rag has been a standard bearer of stylish living and an undisputed leader in the independent retail scene for its the ideal blend of special merchandise, excellent service and welcoming atmosphere for a truly unique, lifestyle shopping experience. Located at 150 South La Brea Avenue in Los Angeles and 401 Newport Center Drive Suite 953 in Newport Beach, the store is open seven days a week.

Here is some special news. The founder of many denim brands such as Citizens of Humanity, AG Adriano Goldschmied and Goldsign, just to name a few, has given Ron Herman a sweet 35th Anniversary gift. Ron Herman worked with local artist Jarrod James to set up a display of more than 100 pairs of sneakers, a pair of Citizens of Humanity mens jeans covered in resin and a birthday candle. How sweet is that? Here is some more background about their relationship below:

About 35 years ago Ron Herman walked into AG Adriano Goldschmied’s booth in Paris and a friendship was made. What Herman didn’t know until recently was that in Italy his blue trousers, white crisp button down and sneakers were an oddity and Goldschmied’s team began to call the store owner, Mr. Sneakers. Hence the name of the display “Mr. Sneaker.” They would refer to Ron Herman internally for orders, phone calls, payments; asking each other “Has Mr. Sneakers order been shipped”.

The display will be up until the end of May at their Melrose boutique with a video running beside it. So hurry and see the display yourself.

I know this post is from 2009 so I thought I would update it and add some more relevant information.

I have been Denim Obsessed for many years now, I am always finding out new information about jeans, obsessing over the perfect fit and gaining more and more knowledge about which jeans fit best for my body. I have put together a little post with my opinion of how jeans should fit and the best jeans to flatter your body shape. I hope this information helps you when you go on your next denim shopping spree!

Styles of jeans and how to wear them:

Bootcut/flare – I find you need to have hips to make these work best, bootcuts are great for balancing out larger hips and giving you a great silhouette. If you are narrow and are not that gifted in the hip department I wouldn’t suggest a bootcut/flare jean, they can swamp your body and make you look bottom heavy and a bit out of proportion. Bootcuts are made by almost every single brand out there and I couldn’t narrow it down to just a few brands to suggest, you have a whole selection so go wild and pick!

Straight Leg - The straight leg jean is a lot more versatile than the the bootcut jean. It’s a more flattering option if you are not blessed with hips as the leg opening is wide enough to go over your shoes but not wide enough to make your body look out of proportion. Even if you have hips you can still rock the straight leg, it’s a very flattering cut. Since skinny jeans are so hot right now, if you don’t feel comfortable wearing them, then opt for a straight leg jean, it’s half way between. When worn with heels they will still give the illusion of super long legs as well. They are perfect for wearing as skinny jeans if you are very curvy as well.

Skinny - Skinnys are very versatile and could work for any body shape as long as they are worn right. If you are slim then you have no problem rocking a great pair of skinnys, they work if you are tall or petite, with heels or with flats and are perfect for tucking into boots. Even if you are on the curvy side you can still wear them! You probably want to wear a longish floaty tunic over your skinnys and a good pair of boots as well, this would look great on the curvier lady. You still get the sexy fit of skinny jeans but it’s balanced out with the longer top and boots. For the perfect skinny jean, you have so much choice! Paige Premium have a good choice, you can choose your leg opening and your rise as you can with J Brand. So many brands out there do skinnys and they are all gorgeous! Others I would recommend are James Jeans, AG Jeans, Current/Elliott, 7 For All Mankind and Diesel, they have a great selection with wonderful fits.

Jeggings – Jeggings are still one of my favourite trends to come around! I often thought to myself when I was younger, how comfortable would it be to have leggings with back pockets and front pockets but in a denim material. That takes me back to when I first became obsessed with denim so I was so happy to finally see all of these jeggings on the denim market! They are the most comfortable jeans you can wear due to their stretch but again, the rules of the skinny jeans applies for these. They are very clingy and much like second skin but not uncomfortable. I would suggest the jeggings with back pockets because they are much more flattering than the ones without. I would recommend Paige Premium, James Jeans and 7 For All Mankind for the widest selection of comfortable jeggings in a lot of washes.

Super high rise – This style of jean I don’t think is all that flattering for some people, it works if you are blessed with being very tall and slim, otherwise super high rise on a petite or curvy frame can make your figure appear short and dumpy and isn’t very flattering. MiH jeans are great for a super high rise flare if you can rock this cut! Also J Brand and 7 For All Mankind are popular at the moment for their own flared high rise jeans.

Low rise – Low rise jeans are a personal favourite of mine, they are very flattering on a smaller frame, they give you a great silhouette. Curvier ladies may want to stay away from low rise jeans as they can give the dreaded muffin top which isn’t showing off your body to its best. A medium/higher rise is best for your curves. Jeans that have a great low rise are Diesel Matic and Lowky and Frankie B. low rise jeans. These styles are generally of a 6.5″ rise or lower.

Boyfriend – These jeans can be worn by anyone, all shapes and all sizes, they are great, super comfy and versatile. They may not be the most flattering jeans out there but worn right (a little tighter rather than super baggy and paired with a simple top) they can look great. A few favourites of mine are the Paige Jimmy Jimmy, AG Adriano Goldschmied ex-boyfriend and the Current/Elliott boyfriend jean.

Jeans to flatter your figure:

Smaller butts – If you have a smaller butt, you want to stay away from large pockets or long pockets, they are not flattering on the butt at all. Jeans that will flatter your butt and give it a perkier look are smaller pockets, pockets that don’t have the bottom part of the pocket going past where the cheek meets the thigh, this will give the illusion of a rounded butt. Flap pockets are great as well for the appearance of a rounded tush. I find J Brand jeans work wonderful for smaller butts because the pocket placement is higher up. Frankie B. is also great because they have a low back rise and great pocket shape to flatter. Siwy is another great brand for a smaller bottom as is Frankie B. and Black Orchid.

Bigger butts – If you are blessed with having ‘junk in the trunk’ you can get away with pretty much any pocket style, no pockets, longer pockets, flap pockets, bigger pockets… The pocket style I would suggest staying away from is smaller pockets, if they are small, the placement is quite high up on the butt or rounded like Siwy, then it wont flatter your butt to it’s best ability. Also stay away from super low back rises, nobody loves a butt cleavage! There are so many brands to suggest, Diesel, Paige Premium, Rock & Republic, 7 For All Mankind, True Religion, Current/Elliott, AG Jeans… The world of denim is your oyster so take your pick!

Tall – If you are tall it can be hard to find longer inseams. Rock & Republic do inseams of up to 37″ and even 39″ sometimes so they are perfect for those long legs! Paige Premium has a tall selection as well and True Religion also do longer lengths. Diesel go up to a 34″ leg which sometimes run as long as 36″. You might find it easier buying the flared jeans from brands as they always run a lot longer, usually 35″ and upwards.

Petite – I know it’s hard to find jeans in a 30″ or less inseam, Paige Premium now does a petite line, Diesel come in a 30″ length and Rock & Republic now have petite lengths as well! Also with the super peg leg skinny jeans being hot right now, you are in luck! They normally run at around 29″-30″ so perfect for you petite ladies! Loads of brands do the peg leg skinny jeans which skim the ankles on regular height ladies but for you petite ladies they would act as the perfect skinny jean.

Other Denim tips to remember:

∆ When wearing heels with your bootcuts or straight leg jeans make sure the hem is about 1cm off of the floor, if the hem of your jeans covers the heel it will give the illusion of longer and leaner legs.

∆ Wearing jeans with pockets where the bottom of the pocket hits where the cheek meets the thigh is perfect, it makes you have a rounded and shapely butt.

∆ If your jeans are a little too tight and are giving you the dreaded muffin top, wear a looser tunic to cover it or try dampening them and stretching them out gently.

So now you are all of the information I have learned over the years. If you have any questions or anything feel free to email me at editor@denimblog.com and I will help as best as I can

Information all from Lorna Burford. Please credit DenimBlog if used.

Click Here for the men’s guide to jeans.