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We’re not trying to hate skinny jeans but we are in search of variety. The one-size, skinny approach has become a scourge. Phumlani S Langa seeks the only place all men should be buying their denims.
I went in search of some new denim jeans. Any modern man will tell you that these are an essential part of a wardrobe and the more you have the better. Really. I was hoping to scoop a dark blue and a black pair.
Now what makes good denim to me is the kind where if I have something in my pocket it doesn’t look as if I have a tumour protruding from the side of my leg. I also prefer my jeans to have a complete look, I don’t want to leave my house feeling like I’m short of a piece of denim to cover my knee cap.
I hit Edgars. I go straight to the Levi’s section; there’s something understated but decadent about their 501s. Instead I’m confronted by a stand of skinny jeans. There are variations which look to me as if they range from skinny to extra skinny and ridiculously skinny.
I’m not a fan of this at all. I know I’m not alone. A few years back Jay-Z even rapped about jeans being too tight and colours too bright. He wasn’t lying because, to go with the skinny stand of denims, there are just mad, bright clothes all around me.
I exit and hit Markhams and try to wrestle myself into what they call a regular fit. Regular for who? I have big legs, I play ball. I can’t be rocking jeggings and so after pulling myself out of these I head straight to a Levi’s store and things turn around. They actually have real variation and different cuts that accommodate a thick brother like me.
So it must be true then, the brand store packs more than the department stores. The same kind of selection was available at the Diesel and Guess stores where there were different styles, some with a distressed look or a matt finish.
All had varied cuts. I don’t mean to ostracise the gentlemen out there who rock the skinny leg but, from the bottom of my heart, believe me when I say there is such a thing as too tight no matter how slender your build is.
Loosen up … really.
