Going Wide With Frame Jeans and Diane Keaton

I need to do a YouTube video about my whole history with jeans. I’ve realized that since my teenage years, I’ve always been searching for a style that’s not readily available. Over the past decade, I’ve been bedeviled by the persistence of skinny jeans/jeggings, which was a style I loved in the 1980s — when it was hard for me to find — but in recent years I’ve wanted anything but skinnies. I got some relief after Katie Holmes scandalized people in 2008 with her “pegged jeans”.

Once that style was rebranded as “boyfriend jeans” and the “Never is the next new thing™” magic happened, there was a decent selection for a while. I wore my Acne “Generic Girl” jeans until they fell apart.

Photo from 2008. Click for original post.

But somehow the loose-fitting style — with a long inseam to allow the cuffs to be rolled up — quickly evolved into a “slim boyfriend” cut, which was basically a cropped, distressed, skinny jean. Not what I was looking for. Speaking of cropped, for at least the past three years, cropped styles with a boot-cut, an unfinished-looking hem, or both features have been hard to get away from. I ended up with two very similar cropped pairs out of desperation — one by Madewell and one by Frame.

Madwell in 2016. Click for original post.

The Madewell jeans didn’t hold up well at all — they got weirdly discolored in an oily-looking way — so this month, I cut them into shorts. (Three years is way too brief a run for a pair of jeans for me, so I was determined to keep them in service.) I did like the Frame jeans in the “Le High” higher rise style, so I went back to that brand hoping to find something that wasn’t skinny or cropped. I found a style called “Le Palazzo,” took it to the fitting room, and went through my personal “Never is the next new thing™” thought process: “These are hideous! Take them off! Ha ha, this is funny. Wait, can I wear them? Oh, I love these.” I wore them for the first time on Friday night.

What Wendy Wore
Jacket: Alexander McQueen (purchased in 2003 at Bergdorfs, seen here in 2010)
T-shirt: Splendid (ancient, I can’t find this style anymore)
Wide-leg jeans: Frame (2019)
Unseen boots: Celine (pre-2007)
Hair: Natural texture, not loving it. Makes the mullet harder to see, no?
Expression: “I LOVE THESE JEANS”
Doggo: Edward, totally not interested in what’s going on

I got another Frame pair in the brand’s “Le High Flare” cut — I haven’t worn those yet. All three styles of Frame jeans are very soft and stretchy, so if you like the comfort of leggings without actually wearing leggings, you might want to try these out. One note on the fit: The non-cropped styles have all been very long, so you tall wimmins should definitely try these. Anyone my height (5’4″-ish) or shorter should expect to hem theirs, meaning you don’t get the instant gratification of buying and wearing the same day. You can see the extra length in this dressing room photo that I shared on Instagram.

I was glad I posted that picture because it inspired numerous people to message me a couple of days later when Diane Keaton shared a photo of herself in her new favorite wide-leg jeans.

At first, I thought Keaton loved these jeans SO MUCH that she was using all capital letters in her caption in order to shout her happiness from the rooftops, but it turns out she always uses all caps on IG. She later identified her jeans as being from Margiela.

Now you’ve got two brands to try if you want to find yourself some wide legs. Someone alert the celebrities who were asking Keaton!

P.S. This is not sponsored by Frame! I bought my jeans myself.