Buying jeans is probably one of my least favourite things to do.
I know all women say this, and that buying jeans has been the subject of many a Cathy comic strip – but women seriously hate buying jeans. In fact, according to Levi’s, who recently conducted a survey of over 60,000 women from different cultures and countries, women mostly described their experience buying jeans as “loathsome” and “soul sucking”. Sounds about right.
Levi’s also found that 54% of the women polled try on at least 10 pairs of jeans to find one pair they would buy, and that a whopping 67% believe that jeans are designed for women with ‘ideal’ figures. Which, basically, sucks, and makes it very easy to internalize the issue of not being able to find jeans your'e happy with. “If only I were thinner/had a bigger ass/had smaller hips/longer legs/didn’t have a tail!”
However, Levi’s are now on a mission to change the way women shop for, and wear jeans.
Their new line of jeans called Curve ID is not about a number or a measurement, it’s about the curvature of your hips and bum. “We believe in shape not size,” Levi’s say, and walking around their flagship store on Regent Street, you believe them. Their aptly named “Believe” campaign is fronted by Lykke Li, Pixie from Violet (aka Pixie Geldof) and Miss Nine, and features three different Curve IDs: Slight, Demi and Bold.
Admittedly, as I sat in their flagship store this morning, staring at the three, sample size models who were meant to be demonstrating how the different curves fit – I was unimpressed. I saw thin, thin and tall and thin. I was still seeing size over shape. While I understand that even three women who are a size four have a different “shape”, I couldn’t believe that Levi’s were going to make me love jeans shopping by staring at women who have that Ideal Body Shape but were dropped in to a tiny pair of Bold Curve jeans.
So, how did Levi's convince me? And more importantly, how will they convince you?
Levi’s say they will have a Curve ID expert in each shop to help you out the same way that lady with the measuring tape wandering around La Senza will. Yes, that’s right, you can have a hips and ass fitting the same way you get your boobs measured when bra shopping. However, you don’t have to stand in your pants in the middle of a Levi’s shop, nor do they very loudly shout, “YOUR ASS IS 60 INCHES WIDE!!!!”
Once they’ve measured your hips and your waist, they will tell you which Curve ID best suits you, and then in a perfect world, you’re handed a pair of jeans that fits you, and in a smaller size than you usually wear. Yes, Levi’s are boldly boasting that, “Consumers will need to try on a size down in the Levi’s® Curve ID collection. E.g. Customers who are usually a size 28 waist will take a size 27.”
Sounds attractive, but this isn’t necessarily true. Or at least it wasn't in my case.
I’m usually a size 12-14. I have hips and an ass and a smallish waist. I suffer from Muffin Top Syndrome just like most women (if you don’t know what I’m talking about, I hate you) - but I was told that I was in between a Slight and a Demi. News to me, as my curves are pretty Bold.
I then tried on everything from a 29 Slight to a 28 Bold, and I was shocked to find out that I couldn’t even get a Bold Curve over my hips.
With every pair I tried on (and subsequently couldn’t get over my hips, or zip up) I started to, of course, feel a bit freakish.
Your body is so unproportional and weird that not even Levi’s can help you!
The Bold Curve’s waist is meant for more of a “big ass, small waist” sort of girl, emphasis on the small waist, which meant I couldn’t get the damn thing much farther up my body than my knees. The Slight, even in a 29 gave me the mother of all Muffin Tops – and that was without doing the zip.
Defeated, and leaving the Curve ID expert a bit perplexed, I finally tried on a Demi Curve, but in a 30, trying to remind myself that "It’s about shape, not size, shape, not size, shape, not size!”
And wouldn't you know...it fit. I had found my Curve ID. And I liked it.
If you have actual curves, Curve ID will probably not be as simple as geting yourself measured, grabbing a size smaller, and then weeping with joy that you’ve found The Best Pair of Jeans In the World.
However, if you’re willing to check your ego (aka stop caring about what size you’re wearing) at the door, not presume that you’re a Bold or a Slight, and try on a few different pairs – I don’t doubt you’ll find a size, curve, and style that suits you.
Curve ID isn’t perfect, but it’s a big step for your average denimn company to take. Embracing the ideas that women of the same size number can have drastically different shapes is fantastic, and I'm hoping that eventually Levi's and aother companies take things a bit further, and go beyond just three curve shapes.
For more information, check out www.levi.com
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