Ladies of a Certain Age ~ for those invisible powerful, dynamic, vital women

Wow!  I just could not pass up this opportunity: I was invited by a friend to have a personal fitting from an expert of a well-known blue jean company at a shop on Main Street in my small Western Colorado city.  I couldn’t believe this store carried this brand that I associated with Nordstrom’s.

Suddenly, I was flooded with my memories about blue jeans and the joy they have always brought me.

I am not sure when I started wearing blue jeans.  I distinctly remember in 1951, when I was 4-years-old, my mother holding my sister as I put on my jeans to go out and play. I could hardly wait until my infant sister was old enough to play, too.

Oh, the blue jean recollections I have — from ankle fitting to bell bottoms, from fringe on the bottom to roll-ups, from bling and embroidery to stone washed, and from black to white. I could not forget the various belts I have worn with them from wide to skinny, some costing more than the jeans.  What joy it was to find a pair of maternity blue jeans!  Always associated with being inexpensive, fun and adventure and not professionalism, I never wore jeans to work.

For many of my years, jeans were associated with farm and ranch women. I can’t remember my mother ever wearing jeans. She grew up in a city; but, my paternal grandmother, who was born on a large Colorado ranch, wore them. I do have a cute picture of her in jeans from 1927. She and her 10-year-old son, my dad, are riding horses.

I’m not sure when it became acceptable to wear jeans in “any old place,” nor do I not know when jeans were sold in fancy dress shops, or were associated with a certain sexual look.

Levi Strauss first sold women’s jeans in 1934. They caught on quickly in the West – Utah, Wyoming and Colorado – where women first gained the right to vote.  For many years, women worked in  men’s jeans they had altered to fit them.

Today, blue jeans are still associated with fun and adventure, but not necessarily low cost.  They are marketed to babies (Gucci offers a pair for $245,) little girls, teenagers, and women.

As any other clothing item ladies-of-a-certain-age are rarely seen in marketing materials.  Perhaps, this is because of the somewhat sexual nuance blue jeans have (Many in our culture do not correlate sexual activity after a certain age,) or perhaps it is because few of these women have the figure they once have.

Finding blue jeans that fit and look good, has never been easy; but, for many ladies-of-a-certain-age this pursuit is even harder.  The fit consultant I talked with told me  the best way to find the right jeans is try them on. She stated, don’t go by brand name alone.  Try on jeans that appeal to you.   Unlike other pants, finding the right fit specifically by size can be tricky.  She told me her brand offers wide elastic waists, which hug in the abdomen while providing comfort and give a delineation to the waistline, an area of the body that often changes with age. She also stated new fabrics – not just denim – are used in jeans today which provides more form and function.

You may notice that I have not mentioned the brand.  I did this intentionally because I did not want my readers to think I was promoting this brand, or any other brand for that matter.

How could Scotty McCreery capture so well in his “Blue Jean Baby” song the feelings  I and many  Americans have ?  After all, he was born in 1993 and my recollections go back a good 60 years before then.  Yes, I do love my jeans!

She bought ’em at a thrift store down on Main

For twenty-three dollars a pair

Faded and worn in all the right ways

That’s all she ever wants to wear

From the first sweet moment I laid eyes on those Levis

Well, I was begging on my knees

Pretty please, oh, won’t you be my

Blue jean baby

Painted on tight, driving me crazy

Denim daisy

Turning heads all over town

The other girls rocking them mini skirts

But they can’t hold a candle to her

My blue jean baby

She got a little hole right below the pocket

Showing off a little skin

She don’t care if they get a little dirty

Tomorrow she gonna wear ’em again

The way they’re hugging on those hips every time she struts by

I know as long as I live I could never get enough of my

Blue jean baby …..

Yeah, the summertime is the best part of all

‘Cause when she gets too hot, she just cuts ’em off

Copyright – Elizabeth J. Wheeler, June, 14, 2018