Just when I finally feel confident that I’m walking out in the latest and most flattering pair of jeans or pants I’ve ever owned, the fashion gurus blindside us with a new and improved profile that we absolutely must buy. I like to think that I am not a slave to the latest fashion trends, but I do like to look somewhat current and stylish when I meet a girlfriend for lunch. And, yes, boomers may now be in our sixties and seventies, but back in the sixties we institutionalized the wearing of jeans, and we’ll never give them up—except, we require a different fit these days.

The cut of your jeans has an immediate effect on how you feel about yourself. If they’re a bit too loose and long, you feel frumpy. If you think that your once-loved jeggings make your legs look a bit lumpy, they land in the charity bag. The nuances of the cut and fit of jeans can be life-changing. Are they too stiff? Too bulky? Too tight (ouch!), Soft enough? Can you sit comfortably in them? If they work, you’re on top of the world; if they don’t, you’re embarrassed to be seen in public. If ten pounds can make a world of difference in how they fit, imagine the challenges for those of us who have an extra twenty, thirty, or more pounds.

My ongoing, all-time favourite brand of jeans is NYDJ (Not Your Daughters Jeans). The price point is manageable, and, apropos the name, their waistbands are generous. I own multiple pairs in dark and light shades of blue wash as well as black, gray, and white. It was an investment I’m reluctant to give up, and given that all mine are straight-leg, I should be OK—for a week or two by today’s fashion standards. A good selection of that brand is difficult to find in Canada now that The Hudson’s Bay Company is kaput, so, in future, I’m going to have to load up at Dillard’s or Nordstrom when I’m in the United States. Both retailers always have a great selection of styles and sizes, including petites and plus-sizes. Sorry, patriots, but sometimes you just gotta cross that border into hostile territory.

If I could find jeans at The Gap or Uniqlo that fit this old bod, I’d snap them up. Joe Fresh jeans never fit me quite right. Frame, Paige, and other high-end jeans are out of the question because they’re cut exclusively for waif-thin Gen Zs who are at least 5’10” tall with a 38-inch inseam. And, their prices are a bit scary. So, what’s a boomer gal to do when all the latest styles call for us to toss our old jeans and embrace the new barrel-leg, the “Dad” jeans, or wide-leg? I managed to avoid the “Boyfriend”, “Girlfriend”, and other trendy cuts by staying away from the mall. At 5’2″, I’m too short for the voluminous wide-leg styles currently being promoted, and most of the other flavour-of-the-month cuts were never designed with boomer bodies in mind.

I once swore that I would never buy a pair of dropped-crotch jersey pants because it always looked like you were carrying a “load”. In an attempt to be cool and au courant, I caved, and I must say I rather like those pants, particularly when I go to the movies and need room to expand from scarfing down all that popcorn and Diet Coke. I particularly like them with my clunky Jeffrey Campbell black patent sandals with all the silver buckles that I bought on sale when Nordstrom was still test-driving the Canadian market. It’s tricky to find the proper top to wear with them, though, because proportion calls for a slightly cropped top and I’m reluctant to expose my so-called waistline to public scrutiny. I also have a pair of barrel-leg pants in a gray and white pinstripe with a matching pop-top that I rather enjoy wearing, but that is the extent of my barrel-leg wardrobe experiment.

I recently bought a pair of wide-leg, white linen-y pants (lined, of course) on sale at Simon’s for fifty percent off, but I haven’t worn them yet because they do not feel right on me. I can’t find just the right top (proportion, again), and there’s a distinct possibility that I succumbed to buying those pants because they were on sale, not because they were particularly flattering on me.

I wore a lot of boot-cut jeans in the seventies, and while I don’t foresee doing them again with my 78-year-old boomer body, I won’t rule it out. Never say never. I’m weak that way. They also require the right boot accompaniment, which opens up another hornet’s nest because the most attractive boots are no longer feasible and wearable unless they’re soft and have industrial-strength arch supports.

Yesterday, as I pulled on my traditional NYD straight-leg jeans with the raw hem to wear to lunch with friends, I felt mighty fine—even though raw hems are already on the way out. I tend to jump on the fashion bandwagon just as it’s leaving the station. Sigh! If you’ll forgive me, I think I’ll forgo the floppy, wide-leg, dropped-waist, crossover, and other trending cuts of pants and jeans. Unless I grow another eight inches and lose about forty pounds, I’m doomed to stick with what works and straight-leg works for me, although today’s straight-leg jeans are slightly shorter and fuller.

After all those years of experimenting with trending fashions and making more than our share of mistakes, boomers have pretty much learned what works and what doesn’t—the wide-legged white linen pants gamble notwithstanding. We still slip up from time to time. If I could be sure those barrel-leg jeans would look good on me, I’d love a pair of washed black, and then, I’d need some shiny red Mary-Janes to go with them. Fortunately, we no longer have to squeeze our once-lithe boomer bodies into those stiff-as-a-board new Levis and soak in a bathtub of hot, salty water to try and soften them up. We have an endless array of choices available these days. What works for you, and have you made any big fashion blunders lately? Share in comments.