Why Jane Birkin is the Queen of Jeans
Nobody, past or present, has worn jeans better than Jane Birkin. While most people know her as the namesake of the Hermès Birkin bag and the mother of French fashion muses Charlotte Gainsbourg and Lou Doillon, to me Birkin is the queen of denim. She's never worn designer jeans or jeans with elaborately branded embroidery on the back pocket. She just wears well-loved, well-worn jeans. In the seventies, she seemed to wear them nearly ever day-some days with a T-shirt and red sandals, other days with a stripy sweater and ballet flats or with a tank top and wedge-heeled espadrilles. It also appears that Birkin has never been one to own multiple pairs; in most pictures of her, if you look closely, she's wearing the same ones. Even today, she still looks more at home in jeans than almost anyone else I can think of. She inhabits them so effortlessly.
How to wear a plain white button-down shirt.
Recently, I found a picture of Ashley Olsen wearing jeans with the front pockets that gave me a Birkin-esque vibe, and I myself have been wearing a pair of already worn-in J.Crew jeans, which I like to roll up at the bottom. But what I really feel like doing now is wearing a pair consistently enough that they break in at their own pace. I'm already working on some-a pair from 3.1 Phillip Lim that has a high waist and a flared leg. They may be a trend for most people, but for me, in terms of my own seventies-inspired style, they are a classic. The denim is much softer now, and the hem is just starting to slightly fray. I also like the fact that in this time of jeans styles coming in and out of fashion every season, I am making a choice based on what suits my own body and my own style. And if I get tempted to move on, I can always turn to my favorite pictures of Jane Birkin and get reinspired.
-Amanda Brooks
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