Not to be dramatic, but I wouldn’t wish shopping for women’s jeans on my worst enemy. Each store seems to have its own sizing system. Think you’re a size six? Visit literally any other jean retailer and suddenly a “size six” won’t squeeze past your knees.
I’m someone who’s never had much luck with jeans. They’ve just never been the effortlessly comfortable option they seem to be for a lot of people. No matter how many different kinds and sizes I try on, I always feel like I’m somehow still leaving the store with the wrong size. My thighs and hips are larger than my waist, and jeans that fit me in those areas are always too loose around my waist, causing that cavernously awkward space (which is actually such a widespread phenomenon that they refer to it as “waistband gapping” in the ‘biz’ at the back of your jeans that sometimes looks big enough for two.
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When you involve the use of a belt just feels like you’re pinning unnecessary fabric to your body—and it’s super uncomfortable. The more you try to accommodate your hips/thighs, the more your waistline disappears, and when you’re trying to buy clothes that’ll actually fit right, it’s annoying to have to make that choice. Baggy shouldn’t always have to be ‘The Move.’ For all these reasons, American Eagle’s new curvy jeans collection was such an exciting concept to me.
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For its fall 2019 campaign, American Eagle created a size-inclusive curvy jean collection, increasing their range of women’s sizes now 00 to 24 and increasing men’s jean sizes now 26 to 48. The curvy jeans are available in 5 different lengths and fits, and 12 different washes. The company claims to have created the “best-fitting, best-feeling” jeans by increasing the usual women’s jean 10-inch hip to waist difference to 13 inches. American Eagle also announced that it would be introducing size 4, 8, and 16 female mannequins for use in-store.
As soon as I heard about the launch, I knew I needed to try it.
The store offered a BOGO 50% off moment for August, so I decided to try out the AE NE(X)T LEVEL Curvy Highest Waist Jegging in black and the Curvy Mom Jeans. These were disappointingly the only mom jeans style available in store, but I did find other kinds online! And in the end, I was surprised by how fun it was to wear them, and how profoundly comfortable they were. I’ve never worn a pair of jeans that feels so little like a…pair of jeans. They’re soft, look good, and actually…fit? Love that for us, honestly.
While it might seem trivial from the outside, a simple task like jean shopping can contribute to a decreased sense of self-esteem as well as body dysmorphia, so these admittedly small additions to AE’s existing lineup still feel powerful. I see this change as an important move forward in creating affordable clothing that accurately reflects the wide variety of body types that make up the young-adult age demographic. While these changes certainly don’t permanently solve size inclusivity, it is definitely a step in the right direction!