The thought of jeans shopping makes me want to crawl back into bed. One of my least favorite activities, but I've had "find really good jeans" on my to-do list for years (yes, years). I have a pair of bootcut Hudson's from 8-9 years ago that still look as good as they day I bought them, and that's the kind of success I've been hoping to repeat. So I stopped by Nordstrom and tried on 40 pairs of designer jeans recently. I narrowed it down to two pairs - one pair the wash was perfect but the pockets weren't in the right place, and the other the pockets were good but not the wash. I wondered if I was just being cheap and not wanting to spend $200 on jeans, but I asked myself this question: "Would you buy these jeans if they were $30?" Nope! So I left empty handed. They didn't have any Hudson's to try on at Nordstrom that day, so my next step was to order these online:

Hudson  /  Hudson

The fit was great, but I was expecting top quality for $200 a pop. The material felt thin and not necessarily something that would hold up for a decade, so I sent them back, disappointed. At the same time, I ordered the Express jeans I'm wearing in today's pictures. And guess what? A random, $37 pair of jeans I ordered on a whim were a thicker and nicer material. I think it would be easier to have absolutes in fashion. Such as, I once had a great pair of Hudson's so that trick must work again... but unfortunately it's not always the case. I've talked about being brand blind in the past - don't let the fancy jeans fool you into thinking they are great, and don't let the not fancy jeans not impress you. Ultimately it doesn't matter what the label says. So it's $37 jeans for the win... this time.

Jacket: LOFT, $43 (similar below)
Top: C. Wonder, $37 (similar, similar)
Jeans: Express, $37
Belt: Limited, $20 (similar)
Shoes: Zara, $50 (similar, similar)
Purse: Michael Kors/Macy's, $270 (similar, similar)
Approx. dates: Jacket, purse and belt are 3 years ago. Top is 2 years ago. Jeans and shoes are recent.

Dillard's  /  Lord & Taylor  /  Boden
Banana  /  ASOS  /  Amazon
Calvin Klein  /  LOFT  /  Lord & Taylor