#CLASSY TIMELESS FASHION SERIES#

Levi’s never fails - they just get jeans and always have.” Gabrielle Arruda, a designer-slash-blogger, is a recent convert to the cult of the 501. “The more worn they are, the better they look and feel.” Her sister AJ agrees: “My booty looks so good in these.

“These are just classic: the fit, the semi-high waist, the color,” Aly Michalka says. This isn’t surprising considering that the legendary 501s are the fit that literally started it all for the brand. In the end, the classic Levi’s 501s took the top spot because of just how often they came up - musicians Aly and AJ Michalka and celebrity stylist Karla Welch specifically name-checked this pair, and several of our other panelists not only own vintage versions of the style but judge their current favorites against them. Sizes and lengths: 23–34 with 30- and 32-inch inseams | Rise: 11.125 inches | Stretch: Not stretchy | Cut: Straight-leg | Price: $ The tall-women-founded company makes jeans with 34- and 36-inch inseams. (It also comes in a 23-inch petite inseam and a 27-inch standard inseam.) And if you’re especially tall, Anello suggests trying a pair of jeans from Amalli Talli. This pair has a 30-inch inseam, which is enough for most tall folks to cover their ankles, according to Anello. “If all the jean styles had a baby, the Stovepipe is what would come out,” she says, placing it somewhere between a skinny and straight-leg cut. I didn’t choose it randomly, though: Hallie Abrams, founder of the Wardrobe Consultant, is a fan. This Stovepipe style is fully stocked in “tall” lengths at the moment. The only problem is that the denim sometimes sells out quickly. Former Strategist social-media editor Hannah Starke (five-ten) describes her Madewells as “the only jeans that fit my body correctly.” What makes the company’s jeans such a standout is the two length options designed for tall people: “tall” for anyone who’s five-eight to five-eleven and “ taller” for those six feet and up. Former Strategist writer Chloe Anello - who’s five-nine - has invested in a number of pairs from the brand. Madewell’s jeans were crowned the best of the best in our guide to jeans for tall women. Sizes and lengths: 23–33 with a 30-inch inseam | Rise: 10.5 inches | Stretch: Stretchy | Cut: Combination of skinny and straight-leg | Price: $$ I considered more than 50 jeans in the writing of this guide but culled only the very best of the best - all of which you can read about below. To ensure we left no acid-washed stone unturned, I searched our archives for memorable endorsements (like a much raved-about butt-boosting pair). So I turned to super-stylish women of all shapes and sizes and asked them about their favorite denim. But collecting recommendations from stylish people you trust is a good place to start, and that’s the Strategist’s strong suit. Everyone has a wish list for their OTP - “one true pair,” to borrow from fandom-speak - and checking everything off can seem impossible. The reality is that as ubiquitous as jeans are, shopping for them is sometimes a Herculean effort.

#CLASSY TIMELESS FASHION SERIES#

The best lesson I’ve learned is probably the simplest (from Virginia Sole-Smith, author of the newsletter Burnt Toast and forthcoming book Fat Talk: Parenting in the Age of Diet Culture, who started a series called Jeans Science and tried on more than 60 pairs of plus-size jeans): There’s no Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants–style pair that will work on all of us. I’m one of the Strategist’s de facto denim correspondents, so I’m always on the hunt for the very best jeans - from high-waisted to mom and every style in between.

Classy timeless fashion