Recycle your denim, not your denim mistakes

I've always felt like denim is a weak spot in my wardrobe. Yes, of course I own plenty of jeans in various washes and cuts, and I even have a favorite pair that makes me feel skinnier (although that pair is quickly starting to fall apart--I should put a visit to Denim Therapy on my To Do list). But my jeans selection is so weak that in my mind, they're a step up from yoga pants. You know, what I wear when it's more important to be comfortable than hot.

So for a while I've been thinking I should invest in jeans that make me feel as hot as when I'm wearing a little black dress, and yesterday I walked by the Gap. On the windows, they had the words "Recycle your blues"--bring in an old pair of jeans from October 6th to 20th, and they'll recycle it into building insulation for families in need.  Plus, you then get 30% off a new pair of Gap's 1969 jeans. So I thought, "Oh, that's perfect! I can get rid of all those old pairs I never wear!" But then I looked past the words and saw what the mannequins were wearing:

STIRRUP JEANS. If this isn't a sign of the apocalypse, I don't know what is. I wanted to march right into that store, demand that they get Patrick Robinson on the phone, and say, "STIRRUP JEANS ARE A PUNCHLINE. Unless you're an equestrian rider or a kindergartner (yes, wee little Julia York loved purple Land's End leggings...18 years ago), you should never, ever even think about wearing stirrup pants. You, Mr. Fancypants Designer, are turning the Gap into a joke and someone needs to stop you."

When I'm shopping, I like to take a moment to think, "Five years from now, am I going to see photographs of this outfit and think, 'Jesus, what was I wearing!? Damn, the 10's were a rough time for fashion." This is probably symptomatic of my issues with living in the moment (and part of me thinks, if I look cute and feel good this year, who cares about what future Julia will think?), but it has also prevented me from investing in shortlived trends. For example, when Mariah Carey wore jeans with the waistband cut off in her "Heartbreak (Remix)" video, I, along with the rest of the world, thought, "Oh shit, that looks so sexy!"(And it's funny to see the video now and realize how high-rise those jeans were, comparatively.)
 

But don't even get me started on Gap's acid wash jeans and huge mistake of a new logo.