Building your best denim wardrobe

You’re good to go with three basics – plus black, white, colour and the fashion jean of the moment

Seven pairs: that’s the estimate for the average number of jeans hanging in the closets of North American women. But just how many do you need for that perfect denim wardrobe? How many do you have? And what’s hanging in your closet that really needs to be tossed?

We consulted Louise Labrecque, stylist, author and owner of the Académie Avec Style styling school, for answers. And it turns out, seven pairs is approximately right to meet most women’s needs.
But if you are a true jeans lover, many more will be hanging in your closet.

  

For starters, the basic denim wardrobe consists of three essentials, according to Labrecque:

• The clean jean that you can wear to work. Generally, it’s a dark blue, straight leg pant. But it could be a clean black.
• The sexy jean, for going out. “It makes you feel good in your skin, flatters your figure and is usually a skinny, washed jean,” says Labrecque.
• The relaxed weekend jean. It could be distressed or ripped and is probably a pale blue.

   

Wait, there’s more!

Black jeans for fall and winter and white jeans for summer are also classics. That brings us to five musts in your denim wardrobe. But denim is nothing if not a world of possibilities.

After five basics, it’s time for “la folie.” Time to have fun, go for the fashion jean, try new colours, washes, shapes and prints – plus edgy details like tuxedo stripes, fringe, embroidery or insets. Cuffs are having a moment, as are crops.

The fashion jean of the moment is the cropped wide leg, Labrecque says. The waist is high and the hips are fitted. If you feel too short to pull off a very wide leg, or you want something less fashiony, more versatile, try a high-waisted flare or straight leg, she advises.

   

Colour is your next step in building a full denim wardrobe. For fall, cinnamon, camel, safari green and gold classics, reflecting autumn’s glorious foliage. This season, rust is trending; the next might be burgundy.

As we move into holiday season, you might want a dress-up jean. A coated or glossy finish could be the ticket to shine at your Christmas or New Year’s party.

In spring and summer, think pink, or maybe cream, mint and brights. Don’t forget prints: plaids and animal prints for fall, and that summer classic, stripes.

That brings us to perhaps 10 working pairs of jeans in your closet. If you’ve read this far, perhaps you have 15 or 20 pairs of jeans hanging around – but maybe three to five that you actually wear. Toss anything with a low waist, Labrecque advises. They’re out and not coming back any time soon. Ditto for anything that doesn’t fit, naturally. (That’s what you do with the rest of your wardrobe, right?) And if you haven’t worn it in three years or more, your chances of ever wearing it again are about nil. Toss it – and make room in your closet for something fresh.