Cheryl Shops

Not so much: stretch overload
It's been awhile since I've written a "Not so much" here at Cheryl Shops, but after my experience tonight, a good, healthy rant is in order. Ever since I posted the Cheryl Shops Fall Shopping guide roughly a month ago, I've been looking for a pair of skinny jeans. I've been everywhere from Bergdorf's to Urban Outfitters, and I recently came to the conclusion that maybe I'm just not cut out for a skinny jean. That said, I am a fan of straight-leg jeans--they're kind of halfway between boot-cut and skinny, and they happen to look pretty good on me. I have a pair of straight-leg jeans, the Sienna by Citizens of Humanity, that I bought last fall and love, and I'd gladly buy another pair if I were able to locate one--I'm assuming they were a limited-edition run and thus are not available anymore. But as I've said before, I'm a hunter, and I'm stubborn, so I decided that tonight I was going to buy a new pair of jeans, damnit! I headed over to Barneys after work, because that's where I bought my Siennas last year, and their salespeople are usually very helpful when it comes to jeans. Not so much this time. I found that I'm between sizes in J Brand, and the salegirl tried to convince me that the smaller size--which was bursting at the seams--looked "hot" on me. She also seemed unable to determine the difference between the 14-inch straight leg (which I wanted) and the 12-inch drainpipe (which I did not). I also asked her to bring me any other dark-wash skinny jeans in my size, but she said I had them all (um, no, I had four). All of which led me to believe 1) service at Barneys at 6:30 on a Thursday sucks and 2) J Brand just doesn't fit me. Fine, ok. I decided to move on to Bloomingdale's, figuring they might have a better selection, and at least I can use my employee discount.

Bloomingdale's, however, was in the midst of a Girls Night Out, so every Upper East Side teenager and Queens administrative assistant was packed onto the second floor, sipping cosmos and wreaking havoc in general. I grabbed every dark-wash straight-leg jean I could find--True Religion, Habitual, Goldsign, Citizens, Seven, etc.--and hit the dressing room. And you know what? Every last pair looked horrible on me. First of all, when did jeans get so freaking tight in the thighs? In order to get a pair that fits me in the waist, the thighs are so skintight, I'd be embarassed to leave the house in them. Now, I get that skinny jeans are supposed to be tight. Fine. But is there no middle ground between boring boot-cut and skintight skinny? My next issue is that every pair I tried on, the denim was so lightweight, it hung funny and clung to every curve in my leg--and not in a good way. What happened to normal denim? And my final, and most important issue, is that every last friggin' pair of jeans has stretch. I will admit that when stretch jeans first came around, I was psyched, and I bought a pair of Sevens, almost identical to my non-stretch Sevens. But my new Sevens were not skintight--they fit like my other pair, except I could eat steak frites for dinner and not impede my digestion process. So, yay for stretch. But at some point, stretch jeans went from practical to way too tight. And now you can't find a pair without stretch to save your life. I asked my salesgirl at Bloomie's if they had any non-stretch jeans and she looked at me like I was ka-ray-zee. I can't be the only person in the world who doesn't like her jeans ass-tight, can I? I mean, if I want to be that uncomfortable, I'll wear compression stockings!

So, I am back to the drawing board. Saks is the one place I haven't been yet; perhaps I'll stop by after work tomorrow. I know I could shop online--Active Endeavors and Revolve Clothing come to mind--but when jeans are concerned, I think it's incredibly important to try on many pairs, and unless I'm familiar with the brand, I never know what size I'm going to need. So I'm a bit reluctant to take that route. In the meantime, does anyone know where to find non-stretch straight-leg jeans? I'll even take a slightly stretchy straight-leg jean, as long as it's in a heavier denim. But as for lightweight stretch skinny jeans--say it with me, everyone--not so much.