Pablo's guide to straddling the line between a tool and an asshole edit disclaimer: this guide leans towards asshole
1) Wear a belt that matches your jeans, and wear a belt that matches what you're wearing with your jeans. Don't wear a polished leather belt with a t-shirt, and don't tuck a dress/fancy button-down into your jeans under the age of 30. You may tuck a button-down in if your jeans fit you perfectly and you have a great ass, granted the button-down is appropriate for the belt and you're in a semi-formal situation where you can't not wear a button-down. I love love love love Lucky Brand Jeans and nobody makes better belts to fit than them, at the price range. Note, their prices are high, catch 'em on a clearance. I think their price range is perfect if you can afford it, because anything more is generally a waste of money, anything less may not get you a quality, quality pair. 2) Better have jeans slightly longer than shorter, but the width should be perfect. Don't compromise size, ever, you will always look stupid with or without a belt. You can always do a cool and presently-trendy roll-up of the bottom of your jeans if they're long-- bonus points to show off the selvedge sewing if your jeans are selvedge denim. I roll up all my jeans at the bottom cause they look cooler that way and I can make them fit the length of my leg perfectly, and this show off shoes a little more too, which I arguably value the most in an outfit. 3) Dark wash unless you're hot, trendy, and hipster enough to wear light wash. 4) Absoutely zero rips/tears unless you're on the set of Sons of Anarchy, you've sold your soul to Hollister, or you wear your jeans explicitly to build orphanages in the jungle. 5) OK to buy slightly faded/worn-ish jeans especially if they're dark wash otherwise you'll look like Steve Jobs. Not to be confused with destroyed/torn jeans. Don't be Steve Jobs, but don't be the neighborhood crackhead either. 6) ... Freezer thing? 7) Wash your jeans folded inside-out to avoid unintential fade. But wash your jeans. 8) ...........Freezer thing?
Edit notes: 9) Don't be afraid of button-up flies, they're edit: not sexy, but not weird either. They're only weird if you make them weird. Lucky Brand Jeans has a hilarious habit of sewing the words "Lucky You" vertically down the length of the fly where the buttons are. If a friend decides to go down on you, you take the hilarious risk of getting a great laugh or a slap in the face.
I think with the freezer thing, he's talking about the Raw Denim trend. http://www.rawrdenim.com/2011/09/the-essential-raw-denim-breakdown-our-100th-article/ It's basically when you don't wash your jeans (or about 1-2 times a year) so that they fade progressively and they become "yours". The knees are worn out exactly where your knees are. Not somewhere down the middle of your leg like with pre-faded jeans. Careful to buy Raw denim (not pre-washed) if you plan to do that. Otherwise, you're just wasting your time and waring dirty jeans. About the freezer thing, it's not really necessary in my opinion. Maybe it speeds things up but in my experience, leave then out to breathe outside for a day or two and they should be fresh again. And shower every day you wear the jeans/ wear clean underwear. I guess it goes without saying that if you don't, the jean will start to stink. And it's overall just bad hygiene to wear dirty underwear.
I've done all types of washing for my raw denim. The problem with the freezing of jeans is that it doesn't actually clean off any of the dirt which is still going to break down your jeans. So even if I freeze them to kill bacteria I still had to spot wash them. I've ended up either hand washing my raw denim in the bathtub with a little bit of soap and hang drying or if I'm being lazy I'll put then in the washer by themselves on a delicate cycle and then hang dry. I only do that like once every 6 months. I want the fade to come from me not the wash. I've been doing this for awhile and this article is the best I've seen on it. https://www.washingtonalley.com/blogs/raw-denim/the-10-things-to-know-about-raw-denim-before-purchasing
Ooh interesting. I've usually held on to a pair of jeans for a year or two until I grow out of them, but now that I don't really grow anymore I'll see how long I can make them last. I've noticed with the jeans I've bought that the buttons on the fly eventually create a circular fade around the 'cover' bit over them. It creates a very, very weird situation. Then again I was wearing $35 Hollister jeans, then again they actually felt like really good quality jeans, durable comfortable and warm. I wonder if that happens with all jeans when they're washed and I should start freezing my jeans, or those were just shitty pairs.
I'm pretty sure fashion rules for girls' jeans are totally different. AKA I routinely break your rules #3 and #4. The jeans I'm wearing right now, actually, in fact. I won't wear acid wash/supremely light, but I personally think it's important to have a variety of washes, from ultra-dark to mid-grade. Button-up flies are like intermediate level. I do love the 'Lucky You.' It takes some bravery to wear button up flies. But if you learn to do it right you can pull it apart with a tug at the right angle. It's really just doing them up that's a hassle at that point. I wash my jeans when I look at them and know they need to be washed. IE, if there are visible stains, wash them. If there aren't, don't. (If they are covered with cat hair, it's not a stain but it's annoying, so I will cave sometimes.)
I'm exclusively talking about men's jeans and men's fashion, e.g. 3 and 4 are subjective design/style topics. I also wash my jeabs when theyre actually visibly dirty, normally thatll be like once a week or two if i wear them very frequently.
Lucky You That's perfect. You know your jeans. You got me thinking more about how to wear my jeans. Pre-ripped/torn designer jeans are sad and say little for us as a culture. The guy who came up with that is laughing on a beach somewhere.