Wednesday, April 7, 2010

Skinny Jeans and Life Lessons

Once upon a time, I railed against skinny jeans, saying things like "they're too trendy," or "they make your hips look super-wide" or "they make your butt look flat." I absolutely refused to buy skinny jeans. I liked my boot-cut and my trouser-cut jeans just fine, thank you.

Last Thursday, I became a sell-out. At the whopping price of $14.50, I purchased my first pair of skinny jeans. I know. I'm ashamed of myself too... But I've been wearing them recently and here's what I've learned.

First of all, these jeans are insanely comfortable. They're easy to move and groove in (evidence: Friday night's dancing with K). On the down side, you know how after the first wearing, jeans start to get all lose and junk? Yeah- these jeans do that too. This is day 3 and they're loose in the waist, butt and thighs. In fact, the only place they haven't loosened up is the calves. My calves are still feeling nice and snug. But that explains why I thought the fit made other people's butt's look flat--it was probably the second, or third wearing of that particular pair. The flat-buttedness of skinny jeans wearers wasn't inherent necessarily the jean's fault or the result of the specific cut of the jeans--just the fact that fabric stretches during use.

I could go on, but I won't because I hate it when other people have really long blog posts. And just because I'm judgmental doesn't mean I can be a hypocrite. But here is what I learned from less than a week of skinny jeans ownership: don't knock it 'til you try it. I made judgements on skinny jeans and of skinny jeans wearers without an experiential understanding. This isn't a mortal sin or anything but I think it's indicative of how easy it is to judge without understanding, which is problematic (to say the least).

I know I am guilty (far too often) of making a quick, superficial judgement that I later have to drastically revise (sorry D.R.). What about the quick judgements that I never revised? What about the people that I've completely written off because of those unrevised impressions? But lets not dwell in the past, because that is neither healthy nor helpful. Instead, I plan on using this lesson in the future-- I'll try harder not to judge someone without walking a mile in their pants...Or something like that.