Living in the country as a teenager, I was a bit out of the loop as to what was "in" as far as clothing...I just did my own thing, which, many years later (early 90's) was known as Grunge.....my Dad's old shirts worn with skirts and work boots, that kind of thing.
Anyway, by the time I got to High School, I became aware of a brand of jeans that the really cool kids were wearing. I really liked how they looked and wanted my own but I didn't have a clue what brand they were.
Then one day, a snooty fellow female student told me that they were the ONLY jeans to own and all the cool & rich kids were wearing them, both boys & girls. So I went out and bought a pair of men's unwashed, stiff Levi jeans and proceeded to wear them to the point of they were going to walk away by themselves (yuck!). This was the way to embed your jeans with wear marks so that they would eventually become faded and worn in all the right places, with a nice contrast between dark indigo and worn spots and creases.
See, if you washed them too often the dark indigo dye would fade too evenly and the desired marks of wear and tear wouldn't be as visible. There were no prewashed and distressed jeans then...you had to distress them yourself through patience and diligence and wearing the heck out of them.
Over the years, I have bought and worn a million pair of jeans and I still prefer men's jeans because, although they are too large at the waist for a woman's body, they are cut straighter through the hip and thighs without that curvy shaped look they give a lot of women's jeans.
Fast forward to having a shop of my own, where we don't sell jeans but we sure do sell a LOT of romantic and beautiful clothing that can be worn with your favourite pair of nicely worn and tattered jeans.
For the longest time, I have loved wearing jeans with unexpected tops....romantic ruffled blouses or dresses...long duster coats....even Sympli jersey jackets with mesh layering tunics. That is part of the Tattered Rose look that we impart to our customers.