No One I know Likes to Shop for Blue Jeans!

Shopping for jeans usually ranks right up there with shopping for bathing suits. As women, most of us hate it! Often times, if we find a pair of jeans we love, perhaps they fit but they don't really flatter. More often than that so many pairs just don't fit. There are so many to choose from it's overwhelming. Finding the perfect pair can take on the feel of a full time job.

Now there's a web site with a tool that can help you find your perfect jeans, www.zafu.com. You simply answer a few easy questions about your body and how you like your jeans to fit, and up come several options. (If you'd like some tips about building a jeans wardrobe, check out my May e-Style Tip, where I've already raved about zafu.com.)

Even as wonderful as Zafu is, there are still a couple of problems. (Don't get me wrong, I love it, but unless you're buying on line, there are a couple of problems.) First, when your jeans come up, they all have a name. When you're shopping in the store, you can't always find the name on the jeans. If you can find a good salesperson, they can often show you the jeans even if the name isn't in plain sight. The other thing is that while Zafu has tons of jeans, they don't have every jean on the face of the earth in their system. Basically, what all of this means is that while you can arm yourself with your Zafu list, you may still have to try on a good number of jeans.

Or in my case, you might rush out the door without consulting your list like I did last Saturday. I had a client in the morning, and having used Zafu to help a client find a pair of jeans, I was inspired and decided to shop for some jeans for myself after I was done with my morning client. Not being a morning person, I didn't even give Zaful a thought before I left the house. However, I was determined to find some jeans that day.

Really, even just answering the Zafu questions can help you be aware of your body type and how to ask a salesperson to help you.

My first stop was Nordstrom. They have a large selection of David Kahn jeans. I have clients and friends who love these jeans, and since there are quite a few styles, I thought surely I could find a pair to fit. Wrong! One thing I've learned is that because I have a short waist and an undefined waist, I need extra low rise jeans. All of the David Kahn's were a hair too high waisted. Next, I tried Kut From the Cloth jeans in a couple of styles and even some good old Calvin Kleins. None of them worked. This wasn't even a fraction of the jeans they had at Nordies, but I was really looking for some kick around jeans and didn't want to spend over $100, so I decided to forge on into the mall.

I was heading down to Macy's since I had a coupon to use and had found some cute jeans for a client there when I saw the Levi's store and went it. The guy there was pretty helpful, and I might have stuck around longer to try a few more pairs, but I was so hungry I thought I was going to pass out! And since Wetzel's Pretzel's, my favorite shopping snack, was right by Macy's, I went back to plan A.

Once nourished albeit a little discouraged, I headed into Macy's. (That is so usually not me. I was kicking myself for forgetting the Zafu list!) As I was passing the Junior department, I thought why not! I've bought a couple of pairs of junior sized jeans in the past, but I thought they were flukes. Nevertheless, I picked up a couple pairs of American Rag jeans and headed up to Missy jeans.

I was dismayed that I couldn't find any "popular priced" jeans in a long length. Do the buyers think that when a woman reaches the age where junior sizes don't fit, she has suddenly gotten shorter? I determined that this must be why I see so many women wearing pants that are too short. I tried on an entire stack of jeans, and they were all too short.

Then I tried on the Juniors. OMG, they were amazing! Actually, extremely comfortable, but hard to believe a little too big. I was about to head back downstairs to find a size down when I decided to take a look at the department that sells Paige, (my favorite,) Seven's, Citizen's of Humanity and the like. These jeans are always long enough. They should be, they're crazy expensive!! At this point I didn't really care about the price. I wanted some jeans!

Then another shock happened! I met the nicest salesperson, Kayla, who offered to find me a fitting room and even went downstairs to find the junior jeans. (I was totally convinced a smaller size wasn't going to work.) The American Rag junior jeans fit and since I was so proud of myself for enduring and finding such a good price ($39), I also treated myself * to a pair of Citizen for Humanity jeans. I believe the style is the Ingrid. (*I had coupons and I don't want to go jeans shopping again for a really long time.)

For what might seem like a lot of rambling, there are several morals to this story.

• Don't leave home for a jean shopping trip without consulting zafu.com.
• Make sure to have a snack when you're hungry and feeling a little down.
• Be open minded.
• Like toilet paper, if you can afford it, buy a couple pairs of jeans at a time and save yourself the hassle of another trip.

Where do you shop?

If you live anywhere in Colorado, and you're updating your wardrobe for a season and want to have the very best selection of clothing, you need to visit Cherry Creek Mall or Park Meadows Mall. Forget about convenience! I live closest to Westminster mall, but they don't have the stores I like, and because the chain stores there are considered 'C' stores, they have very little merchandise. On the other hand, if you're looking for a bargain, perhaps something you've seen at one of the larger stores and now it's on sale and gone, you might try one of these outlying stores.

Ann Taylor at Cherry Creek by far has the most merchandise. They get the best selection and a lot of it. I was at this store on Friday with a client. There was a ton to choose from and they had my client's size in everything! I popped in the Ann Taylor in Park Meadows on Saturday and saw several things I'd seen at CC, but I was astounded at much less they had. (In their defense, it appeared they'd had a busy day and probably had sold a lot.) One more tip I should share about A.Taylor is that many times they mark items down, but the pieces don't automatically go on the sale rack. If you typically head for the sale racks, slow down and look through the whole store. You're missing bargains!

Dillard's at Park Meadows mall has more suits and suiting separates than I've seen anywhere else. A sales associate told me they're the Antonio Melani store, meaning you'll find the whole line there and most likely only clearance items at their other stores.

I've also found that Park Meadows as a whole seems to be a "suit mall." Macy's has a lot of suits also...far more than Cherry Creek.

Last but not least...Nordstrom! Although I love the new Cherry Creek store and have been there several times already, I for the most part prefer Park Meadows. Park Meadows is a much bigger store, and like the rest of the mall, they have a lot of suiting and other professional clothing. On the other hand, what makes Cherry Creek's Nordstrom special is the they have many designers that aren't in their other stores. One department I've got my eye on is called Via C. It's an area with up and coming designers such as Vince and Philip Lim.