"You want to know what comes between me and my Calvins? Nothing." That Brooke Shields quote will forever be referenced in the denim history books, but the overarching concept—that kind of obsessive love you can have for a pair of jeans—still stands up all these decades later. She was only 15 at the time (weird, we know) and probably just told to say this for the ad, but we kind of get what she/the ad execs mean. Right now, no one (and certainly no other brand) seems to get between me and my Frame cropped flares. Or my new white Mother jeans…
Really though, there's something brilliant about when you quit having the tears-in-the-dressing-room denim-shopping experience and start relying on one label to pull you through. I'm not saying this holy grail can only be found in designer denim circles, far from it: We know just how popular ASOS's Farleigh and Ridley jeans are, for example, or that Topshop's Joni jeans are going great guns right now. In our office there are girls who swear by Weekday and others who always head to H&M.
However, what I wanted to know in honour of Denim Week and your busy schedules is where to not go for jeans. I put the word out on Instagram and a flurry of messages saw a verdict that was split 50/50: Primark and Zara. Are you surprised?