I Only Wear Two Pairs of Pants Now and They're Both Under $100
One pair of black trousers, one pair of jeans. This is enough to base a wardrobe around.
It takes self-awareness to admit when one has an ego. When Stoic writer Ryan Holiday published Ego is the Enemy in 2016, he used modern-day anecdotes to illustrate Stoic principles about shedding the ego and why it holds us back. I, my friends have an ego. The first step is admitting it, the second step is learning to drop it. So why am I coming forward with this honest and vulnerable revelation? Because through ego, I’ve stopped wearing clothes from “certain brands” that I have a “frayed relationship” with. I’ll spare you the boring details, but I put some pants from some major brands in a box and put them under my home. My fragile male ego will prevent me from wearing these brands for a mighty long time.
So what comes next? I needed to find new pants lmao. I have no shortage of pants in my closet and was lucky enough to rediscover a pair of Uniqlo wide-fit trousers in black. Skinny pants are dead, and slim-fit pants are on the operating table. The end is near, at least for the time being until they are back again. If you’re not rocking straight, relaxed, and wide fit, what are you doing?!
These Uniqlo wide-fit pants do have a semi-elastic waist and elegantly drape the legs, gently stacking on top of my footwear. I brought them to NYC last month and found myself wearing them more than any other clothing item I brought. All it took was one walk through lower Manhattan to see that every model-type, in-the-know-fashion-girl was wearing a similar pant. I presume a lot of them got their pants at brands \like Aritzia and Abercrombie if not some higher-end brands like Theory instead of Uniqlo, but simple black trousers all feel the same regardless of the name on the tag. I’ve said before that I think women are innately more stylish than men. If stylish women are doing it, I tend to believe it.
I felt terrific in my wide-leg trousers. I wore them with t-shirts, dress shirts, cardigans, hoodies, loafers, and sneakers. They felt like real do-it-all pants and they only cost $60. I wore them around NYC with everything and I wore them just last week to a wedding with a shirt, tie, and jacket. The possibilities feel infinite.
All is fine and well with the trousers. I can dress them up or down, but a good pair of denim is also in order. I only wear 100% cotton denim because they’re sturdy, feel higher quality, and will not decay over time. One of the current trends that I don’t love about the fashion industry is all of the synthetic fabric in clothing that allows for jeans to stretch. Sure, it makes the jeans more comfortable from the first wear, but these jeans aren’t going to last as long as 100% cotton jeans, and they cannot be recycled, making them worse for the environment. 100% cotton may be more rigid and uncomfortable at first, but once they break in they feel like a second skin.
Jeans that are totally cotton can feel like a luxury because, in theory, they’re harder to produce. In my research, I stumbled upon Wrangler 100% cotton relaxed fit jeans online for only $30! I’m not going to Christopher Columbus this and act like I sailed the Mayflower to the New World and discovered Wrangler jeans available for the taking. Wrangler is a classic jeans brand that has been around since 1947 and has been a favorite of the modern-day cowboy.
The relaxed-fit jeans were a bit stiff at first, but when I bought my first pair, I wore them around for two straight days just to break them in. Once you get to break them in they feel like an old best friend. There’s something nostalgic and romantic in returning to the same pair of jeans over and over again. They are your jeans.
I’ve been wearing the black pair around so much over the last month that bought another pair in blue. With a price point so low and quality so high, these feel like a no-brainer. I know other brands are arguably hotter in the grand scheme of the current fashion scene, but this may be the best value proposition I’ve found.
That’s it. That’s my current day-to-day pants rotation. A pair of wide-legged trousers that I can dress up or down and a pair of relaxed-fit jeans that are slowly becoming my favorite jeans. Both pairs of jeans cost less than a G-Shock and they each feel like they’ll last for years. Sure I have other pairs of pants. In fact, I am a bit of a pants-aholic. The best thing about them? They’re affordable to the point where I may just buy an extra pair to keep on ice, just in case something happens to my pairs that are already in rotation.
One of the biggest themes of this blog is that great style doesn’t need to break the bank. I have some expensive items and some affordable items. I love a high-low combination. These days, I prefer to be understated. These pants are just that. They’re understated, yet stylish at the same time. I can throw either of them on with anything and leave the house feeling like my best self. At the end of the day, isn’t that what it all boils down to?
Peace and Love