Forward by Moving Backward

I think sometime about my senior year in high school when the "bootcut" style jean finally came out I swore to myself I'd never buy a pair of wide leg jeans again. Somewhere in the early 90's about the same time Saved by the Bell went off the air, I swore the same thing about anything with paint splatters on it. Never would I wear clothes with paint on them unless I'd gotten the paint on them while painting.

This weekend I bought both.

While at Old Navy I ended up buying a pair of "weekender" style jeans, which essentially look like I stole Champ's pants. (That is if you ignore the fact that I can't wear his jeans nor would they be loose if I did.) They've got blue and white paint along the sides which sort of look like I might have wiped my hands off on them at some point. I also bought a pair of worn in khakis at Gap with a similar bit of paint markings.

And I love them both.

There's something to be said about a pair of jeans that look decent but also aren't really showing off everything for a Sunday afternoon at Michael's.

Comfort aside...have we really gone this far backward? I had an online friend complain one day that she wished her kids had been in high school in the 90s. When I asked why, she pointed out that buying flannel shirts at Walmart was far better than buying them at Abercrombie and Fitch. I had to have a good laugh at that. I remember a time when we all wanted to look like Angela from My So Called life. I remember being solidly jealous of my friend Patty's collection of oversized flannel shirts that doubled as jackets.

Hell, I remember when everything was oversized.

And yet, we're doing it all over again. Of course with new tweaks. The oversized flannel isn't actually oversized, it's just longer. And instead the tapered leg jeans? They're skinny jeans now (I bought a new pair of those as well to make up for the wide legged splatter paint jeans). I even saw a pair of new aged Doc Marten's at DSW not too long ago (I had to force myself to not buy them since I still have the pair from high school).

It's not the first time. I know my mom freaked out with flare jeans were in style again because she wore them in high school too. But aren't I too young to see the styles again?

At least my chuck taylors are still in style.

Posted in: fashion