The quest for the perfect jeans

By Marci Laehr-Tenuta

Monday, February 20, 2006 2:08 AM CST

ow-rise, boot cut, extra long, dark wash, straight leg, medium-rise, tapered leg, ankle length, wide leg, flare ...

Sorting through the extensive menu of jeans at just about any store can be as confusing as ordering coffee at a specialty shop these days. Which means finding the perfect pair can take a lot of time and effort, making it something most women just don't want to bother with.

Finding the right jeans is an almost universal issue with modern women. It's a daunting task whether you're tall, short, heavy, thin, have a small waist, wide hips or big bottom.

But the search is worth the reward of finding the perfect pair of jeans. "Everyone loves jeans, as long as you find the right pair," said Laura McDowell, fashion spokeswoman for TJ Maxx. "They're a basic for a reason."

She urges women not to give up searching for just the right pair of jeans, because the huge variety of options also means that somewhere out there, the perfect denim is waiting for you.

"Designers are making things for all body types," McDowell said. "There's a lot of different options."

The Journal Times talked with nearly a dozen local women of all different ages, shapes and sizes about the problems they have had in search of the right jeans, and the solutions that led them to the perfect pair.

Too-wide waists Kamase McCoy, 18, of Racine has had some trouble finding jeans that fit her waist as well as the rest of her body. A mom whose weight and pant size has fluctuated through her pregnancy and after, said it has been hard to find a pair that wasn't tight in some spots and too loose in others.

"Sometimes they would be too big in the waist, or they would bunch up in the front," she said.

McCoy searched and searched, until she found the perfect pair of jeans at J.C. Penney. Usually she wears a size 5, but these jeans are a 7. "These are not too loose, or too tight," she said. "They just fit fine."

Taking the time to try on a bunch of different brands in your size, and a size up and down from that, is the best way to find the perfect jean, McDowell said.

"Every label runs differently," she said. "You can't be afraid to go up and down. It's important to bring a variety of sizes and labels with you into the dressing room, and also a variety of styles."

Patti Cannella, 49, of Burlington also has had a problem finding jeans that would fit her in the waist and thigh. "When I got them big enough to fit in the leg, the waist would be too big," she said. "Whenever you bent over, it made that gap in the back."

Her solution?

Cannella found her perfect pair of jeans at The Gap. Their Curvy Flair jeans are made for women with shape, Cannella said. "They come in stretch material so if you have bigger legs and a small waist, it fits you everywhere," she said. "That's the biggest key. That's exactly what this curvy design is designed for."

Since she found her jeans about five years ago, Cannella has bought several pairs. She currently has four pairs of The Gap jeans. "I don't even go anywhere else," she said. "I don't even try them on anymore. It's that simple."

Amy Contreras, 20, of Racine also found stretch material to be the answer to the too-big-in-the-waist dilemma with jeans. "Usually my problem is the jeans are too big in the waist and fit every where else," she said.

She found her perfect pair of jeans this past December. She was out shopping at Regency Mall and tried on a pair of Stretch Skinny Flair jeans at American Eagle. They fit her just right.

"I never had any jeans to wear," Contreras said.

Now that she found the right pair, she has them in petites to wear with tennis shoes and regular length to wear with heels.

Cannella also loves that the jeans come in a variety of washes and lengths. A woman with long legs who also likes to wear heels, she loves the extra long length.

Short and curvy Mary Collum, 17, of Racine grew out of children's size jeans in the sixth grade. Since then she has had a problem finding jeans that were short enough for her 5-foot-2-inch frame.

"Not many stores have short lengths," she said. "It makes me mad. Not everyone has the same shape."

And when Collum was able to find a pair of jeans short enough for her body, often they wouldn't fit nicely over her curves. "They wouldn't fit my thighs or butt," she said. "Or they would be too big in the waist. I don't like that."

In August, while shopping for a new pair of jeans for school, Collum found her perfect pair. They were at Charlotte Russe at Regency Mall. The jeans come in a short length, which was just right for her, and made of a stretch material.

"They fit," she said. "They stretch over my curves and are the right length."

Tall trouble Finding the right length of the jean is a common problem local women said they have had. However, most said jeans just aren't long enough.

"I'm almost 6 feet tall," said Jennifer Cohen, 24, of Racine. "I've always had trouble finding jeans that were long enough."

A professional who wears dress pants most of the time, Cohen still wanted a pair of good-fitting jeans. Even in high school she wore mostly khakis or dress pants, because she could never find jeans that were long enough. "I maybe owned one pair of jeans," she said.

One day about a year and a half ago, she tried on a pair of Long and Lean jeans from The Gap. Much to her surprise, they were the perfect length. "The longs fit perfect," she said. "Those are the only kind of jeans I'll buy. I have about four pairs of them."

Cohen said she knows she's not the only one who has had a problem finding jeans to fit her tall frame, because the Long and Lean jeans appear to be a popular line. "They're always picked over," she said.

Rachael Contreras, 25, of Racine has the same issue.

"I'm 5 foot 9 inches, and my legs are really long," she said. "It's really hard to find long enough jeans, unless you spend a lot of money."

Contreras said until recently the only jeans she could find that were the right length were very expensive: $120. "I won't spend the money," she said.

Since her junior year in high school Contreras has had a problem finding jeans that were long enough and didn't cost a fortune. Recently she found the perfect pair at Wet Seal in Southridge Mall. The jeans were long and only $20.

A jean girl, who says she wears denim every day, says she is very careful with the three pairs she has. "I hang them up to dry so they don't shrink," Contreras said. "If I do (put them in the dryer), the length shrinks. It never fails."

It's a common problem for long-legged women, and teens.

At only 14 years old, Katy Pirtle of Racine has already experienced irritation while shopping for a great pair of jeans. "I always have trouble finding jeans because I have long legs, and I am always worried that as soon as I wash them, they will shrink. I went through my growth spurt about two years ago, so it's been about two years of trying to find the right jeans. I swear I've tried on hundreds of jeans, and they all fit the same: too short or two big in the waist."

At 5 feet 8 inches, Pirtle said jeans she did find in her length, that weren't skin tight and uncomfortable, inevitably were too big in the waist.

Her solution? The thrift store.

"I got these jeans at Goodwill," Pirtle said. "They were only $4."

She knew the jeans weren't going to shrink, because they had already been worn and washed. To make the jeans young and trendy, Pirtle decorated them herself with a patch of colored rhinestones on the thigh.

Pirtle said she knows she won't be able to replace her thrift store jeans with an exact match, but plans to shop for another comfortable used pair there the next time she ready to buy jeans.

Little ladies Carol Strempler, 54, of Kansasville also found her favorite pair of jeans at the thrift store. She's been wearing them for five years now, and has never found a replacement that is good enough.

A petite woman who is just over 5 feet tall and wears a size 3, she struggles to find age appropriate jeans that fit her body. "I can't shop in the regular women's department," Strempler said. "It's too big. In the junior's department everything is flare. I have such a hard time."

Her thrift store jeans, which Strempler says fit like they were made for her, are a discontinued Union Bay style. She's tried to replace them, but can't. In fact, the closest thing she has found to her favorite jeans is a pair of Wrangler jeans from the boy's department.

"But they are not like my Union Bay (jeans)," she said.

Strempler only paid a few dollars for her jeans, while Vickey Ippolito, 32, of Racine, spends an average of $200 a pair on hers.

Ippolito also is a little woman, who has had a difficult time over the years finding a pair of jeans that fits her well. "I'm 5 feet 6 inches, but have no hips or butt," she said. "I've always had a problem finding jeans. They're either too tight in the waist, too short, or too big in the butt."

Shopping in Beverly Hills on a trip, Ippolito found her perfect jeans. The brand is True Religion, a big Hollywood favorite with a big price tag. They cost about $200 a pair.

Ippolito says the price is worth it.

"They fit me great," she said. "You can dress them up or wear them casually. I just love them. They're really cute."

The only problem Ippolito has had with the jeans is finding more. "It took me a year to find a second pair," she said. "I finally found them Chicago."

Kerri Matsen, 25, of Racine has also searched long and hard to find a pair of jeans to fit her size 0 body, but she took a less expensive route. She had to. Her wardrobe is mostly jeans.

"I'm a jeans girl," Matsen said. "I wear jeans all the time, even in the summer."

But finding a pair of jeans that fit her used to be a big problem for Matsen. "Any store I went in I would look for a size 0," she said. But more often than not, the jeans would still be too big.

"I always had to wear belts," Matsen said. "When I would tighten the belt, it would pucker and gather the jeans. It looked gross."

She doesn't have to wear belts anymore. She found her perfect pair of jeans at American Eagle. Their Extreme low rise, stretch, boot cut, slim fit leg jean fits her just right. "They're tight, but not too tight," Matsen said. "They just kind of get wide around the bottom, not an extreme flare."

She also likes the price, which is about $30. "Now I won't even look anywhere else," Matsen said.

Plus size perfect Lika Saliscente, 37, of Racine has struggled with the issue of finding plus-sized jeans that aren't uncomfortable or trying too hard to be chic since gaining weight after her pregnancy many years ago.

"Sometimes it's hard to get a plain, basic pair of jeans with straight legs and pockets," she said. "When I find a pair, I wear them until they start falling off."

Saliscente said there are a lot fewer options with plus sizes. "Sometimes it's frustrating," she said. "It's limited."

And most of the options out there for full-figured women just aren't Saliscente's thing. "There's a lot of stuff they do to try to make people look slimmer," she said. "They aren't the most comfortable thing on the planet."

She works in home health care, and needs to be able to move in her jeans. Stiff, structured denim designed to slim bigger women doesn't work for her. Neither does a lot of bling or attention grabbing styles.

"When you're plus-sized, they try to make things look more chic," Saliscente said. Too often this means embellishments, which attract attention to the bottom half of your body, or no back pockets, which can make a bottom look bigger.

"None of us wants our back end to look bigger than it is!" she said.

Saliscente, who wears jeans pretty often, tends to stick with Lee jeans for the best fit and simple design. "I think I've been wearing Lee jeans consistently since I got my first pair when I was 13," she said. "I refuse to wear anything else."

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