Pulling on an old pair of
jeans is like hugging an old friend. They're soft, familiar and you
can't seem to part with them. After all, they were once your favorite
pair of jeans – almost a portal to some of the best times of your life.
But, for whatever reason, they're just too -- you fill in the blank. But
you never leave the house in them anymore. Before you cut the cord and
toss those old blues, take a look at the latest trends in pricey jeans.
All your old jeans may need to fit in with today's style is a little
makeover.
The Hottest Looks and How to Get Them
Melody Fuhr, VP of Merchandising
for Perry Ellis' New York denim team, said "painterly" is the emerging
look in jeans. This means any creative paint flair you put on old jeans
is probably going to fit the trend.
“You can buy (a pair) in the mid-$200 range from premium brands, or do it yourself,” Fuhr said.
Fuhr suggested filling eyedroppers
with black and white paint. Splatter dabs of the paint in the front and
back hems, the legs below the knee, the front thigh area and the waist
of the jeans. If you don't have an eyedropper, use wooden ice cream
sticks to apply the paint.
If you have a bottle of Aqua Net
hairspray sticking around from bigger-hair days, it can be applied to
jeans for a look that's so right now. Spray the jeans with Aqua Net, let
them dry, then iron them.
“It'll give your jeans a little shine without the heaviness of spray starch,” Fuhr said.
Color blocking is another option if
the jeans are 100 percent cotton with no previous coatings. All you
need is a $3 bottle of dye.
“Color is the new big thing, so if
you have a pair of jeans in fairly good condition -- not ripped at the
seams but just faded -- dye them a great color for fall, like red,” said
Kim Turner, a Chicago-based certified image consultant and the blogger
behind FashionCents.tv. She said this could be done with RIT dye.
“The more faded they are, the
easier it will be to dye them a darker color," Turner said. "Definitely
do rich reds, purples, rust or teal green for fall. Think deep and
rich.”
Yet another option is to apply
color from pigment sprays. These are fabric dyes sold in pump bottles
at craft stores. Fuhr said to tape off sections of your jeans and spray
only in those areas to create designs, even plaids or stripes. After the
spray dries, iron the jeans and tumble-dry them to set the color for
the life of the jeans.
"Your jeans will look like they've been coated with a solid surface,” she said. “Brown or black will look like a leather jean.”
