Amazing Jeans Can't Solve All Your Problems but Buying These Won't Hurt

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Like grand, fully absolving romantic gestures and bosses who respond jovially to criticism, the Perfect Jeans Moment is one of those Hollywood tropes I was sure didn’t happen in real life. You know the drill: A woman facing a challenge (her coworkers’ constant hijinks, for example, or an unforgettable summer apart from her besties) tries on a pair of jeans and is amazed to find that the off-the-rack pants fit her flawlessly — nay, transformatively. However the story may end, in that one magical dressing-room moment, the world is hers for the taking.

Which is weird, because my jeans-shopping experiences usually end either in tears or in acquiring even more denim that I’ll never end up wearing. The flimsy fabric, the extreme rises (in one direction or another), the simultaneous choking at the waist and bagging at the knees — if nothing else, I’ve thought, the jeans required for a PJM were a luxury I couldn’t afford. Until a few weeks back, when I had that moment in a pair of Levi’s Orange Tab 721s.

With 98 percent cotton and 2 percent elastane, they stretch just enough to keep from pinching me around the middle, but not enough to lose their shape (though note that as various washes contain different material ratios, they won’t all feel or fit exactly the same). Their 9.75-inch rise keeps me securely covered without buckling into awkward lumps over my 5-foot-2-inch frame, and their pintucks make me look, well, not 5 feet 2 inches anymore. On top of all that, they’re under $100.

I was skeptical that I’d ever experience the Perfect Jeans Moment, but 721s have made me a believer. If anything similar happens on the grand gesture/boss banter front, I’ll keep you posted.