This is part of Image Issue 4 "Image Makers", an anthem to Los Angeles fashion celebrities. In this issue, we pay tribute to the people and brands who promote the development of urban fashion culture.
Last month, I bought my first pair of jeans in nearly ten years-a plain UNIQLO straight-leg, shallow-washed jeans. Its elasticity is exactly what I need to "enlarge the waist" part of my life. Denim is not my food. It is rough and too casual, and reminds me of getting lost with my parents at the local Costco on weekends. A good pair of well-fitting jeans can make you look like a pop star or a rough individualist. A pair of shoes that don’t fit can turn you into a busy salesman at a trade show or Napoleon’s explosives.
But what is a perfect fit? This is far from resolved, although residents of Highland Park, Lincoln Heights, Eagle Rock and many communities that make up northeast Los Angeles seem to have once and for all stood by the hallmark of the mid-to-late 2000s: skinny jeans.
Wandering in Highland Park long enough, you may see black skinny jeans, wallet chains, Converse all-star shoes, and various other clothing from the Obama era. Although communities like Virgil Village and Silver Lake seem to be younger with further gentrification, the gentrification rate in Northeast Los Angeles may reach 8.5 on Pitchfork.com. If you don't know what Pitchfork is, then you don't belong to the crowd I am talking about. If you do, you might still go to a music venue like Permanent Records Roadhouse, or you might like to relive the glorious years of Hi Hat (RIP). Some people might even call you a "hipster", which is outdated for those who think they are cool in their 20s. Whatever the meaning of that word at the time, it seems irrelevant now, because time does not stop passing, whether we like it or not.
Every few years, people's expectations of how jeans fit your body will change. In the early 2000s, you might have been wobbly in the low rises or boots. Then, as you get older, you get those stiff trim jeans from APC. Now, you might be wearing high-waisted and stretchy jeans. When I was in high school, the really avant-garde choice was JNCO. These are loose jeans from the 90s and are popular with the enthusiasts and devotees of the crazy clown team. JNCO is wide enough, in some cases, if the occasion requires, you can stuff a whole person under the trouser legs.
I'm still shocked by how JNCO became popular in the first place, but I don't have to worry about it. They appealed to someone. In fact, they have attracted many people for a long, long period of time. Jeans are a way to define subcultures, even if these subcultures eventually become mainstream cultures. Hippies, revellers, punks, hip-hop fans, athletes, nerds, moms and dads: every emotion has a pair of jeans. This is the problem with jeans. They are deep personal expressions of who you are and what kind of social circle you think you are suitable for; but they are also time capsules, windows to specific moments in our common cultural history. The way jeans fit (or don't fit) can remind you of a certain place and time in your life, adolescence or personal growth, or a period of suffering.
The shape, cut, and fit of the jeans can be changed, but the rest of the jeans remain almost the same. Therefore, we tend to establish an emotional connection with them in a different way from other clothing. Gen Z TikToks clown millennials were hurt by sticking to skinny jeans last spring, precisely because jeans are what we associate with youth, vitality, coolness and rebellion. If someone younger than you tells you to cut off your skinny jeans and "burn them", this is not just a shrewd criticism of fashion. This is a way to draw a line between children and the elderly.
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A trend article in the New York Times reignited the debate in April, proclaiming: “Loose, even loose, men’s and women’s jeans are booming and are expected to become a symbol of our post-pandemic world.” Even making skinny jeans a culture The phenomenon man, former Saint Laurent designer Hedi Slimane, is also bragging about his jeans in his current position at Celine. Wearing skinny jeans now runs the risk of looking out of touch.
Maybe this is why I haven't bothered about jeans for so long. They are bound by generational anxiety. The moment I promised a pair of shoes, I promised an idea. I'm too wishful thinking, noncommittal, eager to please myself and connect myself to trends. No one will be angry because of a reasonable pair of navy blue pants. Apart from the person in the State Farm insurance advertisement, who else has a soft spot for khakis? If I don't play games, I won't lose.
This is the nobility of the homeless people in the northeast of Los Angeles. No one challenges the tightness of their jeans. People in Highland Park don't just throw their Urban Outfitters denim into the trash can. For Bohemians in the late 1930s who still buttoned their jacket lapels, the dream of skinny jeans did not die. The extension of northeast Los Angeles may make you feel that time is still in 2009.
The air in northeast Los Angeles is still full of the smell of guitar strings and belly buttons, but this is not the natural atmosphere of this place. This is a working-class community above all, and still the most important-auto repair shops, corner shops, and panaderias on both sides of York Avenue. Time has not actually stood still. Places like Highland Park are entering a whole new world, and every year people hope to reshape the area in their image.
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If your favorite grocery store is not near you, don't worry. It will open there soon. Don't like bars because they don't play your favorite music? be patient. Gentrification is not necessarily an act of moving to a new community. When you appear to fundamentally change the structure of a place to meet your needs. It's kind of like jeans. The idea of a "perfect fit" and the way people criticize how others wear jeans are a form of fashion gentrification. Millennials don't like loose pants, so loose pants should disappear. Gen Z does not understand why millennials wear skinny jeans. They should all throw their pants in the trash.
But this consistency may actually bring some people together. Perhaps it's because many young people grew up listening to Morrissey's songs. Maybe they find themselves in the fashionable culture of the 2000s, which is very willing to absorb blue-collar aesthetics. Regardless of motivation, skinny jeans seem to cross racial and cultural barriers. It doesn’t matter whether you grew up in Northeast Los Angeles or just like to walk home from York on Friday night. You may have to squeeze into your pants in the morning. What can bring us together more than the incredibly uncomfortable shared feeling after a big meal? I gave up skinny jeans a long time ago because they didn't fit. But in reality, there is no perfect fit—whether it's a community, a generation, or a pair of jeans.
Dave Schilling is a writer, humorist, and fashion connoisseur. His work has appeared in The New Yorker, The Guardian, New York Magazine, and GQ. He is also the host of the "Galaxy Brain" podcast.
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Dave Schilling is a writer, humorist, and fashion connoisseur. His work has appeared in The New Yorker, The Guardian, New York Magazine, and GQ. He is also the host of the "Galaxy Brain" podcast.
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