Denim Adventures and Misadventures
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I originally went through a Diesel/True Religion/Rock n Republic phase when I was 19 or 20. Everyone makes mistakes at that age, and those giant feminine pocketed, extra boot cut jeans were not a good look no matter how you shake it. Live and learn ya know.
First pair of "fancy", "normal" selvedge jeans were a pair of Nudie Slim Jim's I bought about 10 years ago…
I pretty much went down a similar path during the mid-late 2000's, trying to find jeans that actually fit well and looked good without knowing enough about denim or even having a clear idea of what I was looking for to make any educated decisions. I spent all of the 90's hating the way Levi's fit, and by the time the 2000's rolled around, I had long since written them off as an option. I discovered Gap jeans which fit better but I still wasn't happy, and then a girlfriend of mine told me about Diesel and I bought a couple pairs of those and was happy for a while.
When True Religion came out, I briefly fell for their whole rock'n'roll fashion sales pitch before deciding they were ridiculous and moving on to 7 for All Mankind. Around this time, I was figuring out that although I was happy with the fit of Diesel and 7FAM, I could tell that the quality and durability was lacking, and if I was going to pay that much for a pair of jeans, they damn well better last a long time.
More searching ensued, and I discovered Nudies through their online forum. They were the first brand to open my eyes to the idea of authentically wearing and fading your jeans yourself, and that doing so resulted in a way more authentic and personal look – your fades were unique to you and told a story. I bought a pair of Regular Ralf (a slim straight cut that they discontinued shortly thereafter) in Japanese selvage, and perusing their forum led me to real Japanese denim and it was game over from there.
My first real pair of Japanese denim was a used pair of PBJ xx-005 followed by another used pair of those and a pair of xx-007's. From there I moved on to my first brand new pair, the Samurai S710xx that I purchased for the first HWDC, and another pair of S710 Black Shadows, and then my first pair of Iron Hearts: the SEXIHXLSXA-13's that I wore for the second HWDC.
Since then it's been all IH with the exception of a pair of Strike Gold 5105's. I really feel like my search is over and I don't see myself straying from IH, especially since the 666 cut is the absolute perfect cut for me imho. There's enough variety of denims in this cut (and always more being added) to hold my interest for a long, long time to come.
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I grew up wearing denim brands like Match Stick, Smart R's, Hardware and Levi's whilst still at school. In my twenties, in the 90's, there was a shop in Sheffield called Brother 2 Brother that sold Evisu which marked my first venture into Japanese Selvedge denim. Also at this time a friend of mine worked for Levi's in Brussels who was able to get me samples of LVC Levis selvedge denim jeans like the one (back) pocket cinch back with brace buttons and other styles. Sadly my immersion into selvedge denim was short lived and in the early naughties I was simply getting jeans that fit well. However, after getting into ebay in the mid naughties I started religiously searching selvedge denim. Here was the beginning of my jeans collection which included brands from all over so long as the denim was selvedge. Growing wiser over time and reading more articles / watching any video I could find like the early ROY pieces, I started being more selective about the denim I bought. Now I have almost exclusively Japanese denim in my modest collection. Since discovering / purchasing Iron Heart for the first time I've never looked back as I just cant fault IH in any way.
My biggest denim misadventure; purchasing a pair of denim patchwork jeans by Etienne Ozeki that cost way too much. My love for them at the start was later replaced by dismay that I could have even noticed these jeans let alone bought them, see below
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@den1mhead you win this thread so far. That pictured pair are a misadventure in their own right ???
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@den1mhead you win this thread so far. That pictured pair are a misadventure in their own right ???
The pictured pair leave me, today, shuddering with disgust however, at one time, I really really loved them
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Sadly I cant provide a larger picture, the one shown is from google. Happily the jeans were sold on ebay a long time ago along with many more pairs that would qualify for crimes against denim.
Damn, I missed the white patchwork shirt which would have been a show stopper when paired with the EO patchwork jeans.
OMG the denim / jeans / clothes I have worn in the past :o . . . . thank god they never made it onto photobucket otherwise they'd be holding me to ransom !
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The pictured pair leave me, today, shuddering with disgust however, at one time, I really really loved them
We've all been there mate
(Although right now I can't think of a fashion crime worse than those "jeans") 
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Although now I think about it, it does occur to me that in my late teens I wore an awful lot of paisley shirting made out of viscose. While that is a fashion crime enough in itself, I also bought the 173-BLK about a month ago. I absolutely love it. So some things don't change ::)
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I can't compete with den1mhead, but I do remember a particularly traumatic incident.
I had a pair of white denim jeans when I was about 15, they were very tight, can't remember what brand (but probably just high street).
One Saturday night I was going out, the jeans had been washed and were not properly dry. I had to wear them (of course I had nothing else I could possibly wear that evening). They were very damp and tighter than ever, I did the trick that every female worth her salt knows - lie on the floor with a coathanger, put the coathanger hook through the metal zip pull and drag it closed. I finally got the zip up over my belly and then… PING! The zip exploded.
My Dad thought it was the funniest thing he'd seen in ages (I was lying on the floor in the middle of the sitting room whilst he was watching TV) which added insult to injury. He didn't understand that I had NOTHING else I could wear, my evening was ruined, in fact MY WHOLE LIFE WAS RUINED
Needless to say, after teenage tantrum and tears, I managed to find an alternative outfit and went out as planned.
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@Madame:
. . . I did the trick that every female worth her salt knows - lie on the floor with a coathanger, put the coathanger hook through the metal zip pull and drag it closed . . . .
. . . and males too. I used this method in the 80's when trying to get on my skin tight jeans to wear with my Dr Martins, Fred Perry & Harrington jacket [emoji4]
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
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I can also relate @Madame Buttonfly , no coat hanger but I did some severe rolling around on the floor to get back into the UHR Namo Tako's on Saturday morning
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I can also relate @Madame Buttonfly , no coat hanger but I did some severe rolling around on the floor to get back into the UHR Namo Tako's on Saturday morning
I just dug out a pair of Indigogene's that I had lost/forgot about, and I'll be doing the same… Mist them with water, struggle to get in them, and HOPE they stretch to my liking
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I can also relate @Madame Buttonfly , no coat hanger but I did some severe rolling around on the floor to get back into the UHR Namo Tako's on Saturday morning
That sounds like a Denim Adventure.
Pics or it does count! Do it the Namo Tako style please :D.Thanks for this great contribution @Madame Buttonfly
