Marianne's Exhaustive (and Exhausting!) Fun Denim Recs

For a while Adrien has been sweetly complimenting me on taking fashion risks, especially when it comes to denim. Now, I take that as she likely means it, which is as a compliment, but I know some people look at my jean choices with a wary eye. What can I say? Nothing edges up a basic jeans and a top outfit like those jeans being Fashion. And no, I don't mean like those clear plastic window jeans.

Sometime in the last year and change I got really tired of skinny jeans. I still have two pairs I wear sometimes, and my fave Target moto pants are a very skinny cut, but for the most part I'm just not feeling it. So I asked Adrien if she would like me to do a post on some fun jeans and she said duh, so here we are!

My absolute favorite jeans for over a year now are from H & M and man, I wish I could go back in time and buy a second pair of them in my size, instead of what I actually did which was buy a second pair in a size smaller which is JUST MEAN PAST ME.

Anyway! H & M is a good place to have some fun with denim. When I'm looking at cuts, here's what works best for me: I have a big butt and wide hips but skinny calves, so often times when things fit my butt they are naturally looser in the calf. So for me, straight styles look looser/more flared in the calf. I know for some of you straight styles fit closer to skinny jeans so take these recs with a grain of salt, etc. I like the look of these distressed jeans:

(I love these WITH that floral top and I also love her hair so maybe I just want to be her.)

(A lot going on here I know but these are outfit makers. I'd wear with a simple white top and slides on the weekend like some goddess of the farmers market.)

That said I continue to try and find a wide leg jean that works on my particular body. I feel like I'm getting closer! I need them to fit very snugly in the hip and the crop is key--in general if I'm not using a skinny jean to highlight the skinniest part of my leg (calves/ankles) then I need a crop to show a good 2-3 inches of ankle estate. These aren't exactly super wide legged, but they are the Conscious line and look like good quality:

Now let's talk white jeans! White jeans are not exactly groundbreaking, I know, but my favorite pair are again--not super skinny, have some distressing, and the perfect crop. They are from the Gap and yes I wish I had bought more than one pair. And I wear them allll the time without spilling all over myself, including when I'm traveling. I like to live dangerously (and I keep Tide pens on me, they work). I'd like a backup pair, so I'm currently eyeing:

(These look the most similar to my current pair, down to the raw cropped hem.)

(These are challenging for sure and not likely to work, but if they DO work they will be amazing.)

Can't do distressing? I personally am fine with distressing and obviously still wear distressed jeans, as evidenced from the above. However, there are times that I want to wear cool jeans to work but don't want them to literally have holes in them, because while my workplace is creative and casual there are times when you don't want holes in your jeans! This is a good time to consider patches. They give your jeans a little something without that something being your leg skin showing. My current fave are these:

which I got for cheap after Christmas. They have a lot going on and NO stretch so they are a challenge to get on and move and have organ function in...but they are COOOOOOL and I feel cool in them. These are an easy way to try this trend:

And these aren't from H & M, but Pilcro just fits me so well and I think they are fun without being CRAZY. I might have to buy these:

WOWWWEEE That was a lot of denim talk and I didn't even get very far. But I want to know--where are you guys on denim these days? Are you clinging to your skinnies? Did you never give up bootcut? Are you full-on normcore mom jeans? I am not lying when I say I really want you to tell me. I love talking about jeans.