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Name:

Azucena

What would you name these jeans?

Current favorite

How did you come to own these jeans?

I bought these jeans at the Madewell in San Jose's Santana Row. It was the most money I had ever spent on jeans--over a $100! And buying them in Santana Row felt extra bougie. I got them because my old jeans were starting to fall apart. My old jeans literally had a hole on the inner thigh while I was shopping for these current favorite jeans. I think these jeans are reflective of the period of change I've been going through. I grew up pretty poor and was in a PhD program making no money until recently. Then in the last couple of years I got married, finished my PhD, and finally started making a little more money as a postdoc. I still feel uncomfortable spending what feels like an exorbitant amount of money on jeans, but I appreciate that these jeans are very nice and sturdy. I also recently turned 30, and my body has changed a bit. My old jeans were getting kind of tight, which was activating poor body image for me. Getting roomier jeans helped with that.

How do these jeans make you feel?

These jeans are my current favorites. They make me feel ready to face the outside world. These days, I work from home a lot and rarely wear jeans when I'm not leaving the house. I suppose these jeans also make me feel a little more put together and with the times because I held on to my skinny jeans for a while. I've worn these jeans a lot over the past couple of years, so they also feel comfortable, familiar, and reliable. You can see a couple marks on the right pocket from where I always carry my chapstick. That's the signature touch of me having lived in some jeans!

Other comments:

I wore these jeans for my PhD exit talk (what my department calls the dissertation defense)! They were pretty new at that point, so they felt more appropriate than they might now when they're more well-worn. I wore my jeans with a nice floral blouse, a blazer, booties, and ladybug earrings (relevant for my dissertation topic). My department/field tends to dress pretty casually, so this felt like a nice outfit in that context. I was probably also unconsciously channeling my mom. Her go-to nice outfit is jeans with a nice blouse. I resisted her style influence for a long time when I was growing up, but I can't deny her influence on my present style.