Let’s travel back in time, to approximately two years ago, and eavesdrop on an argument a conversation between Jennifer and Elle…

Elle: Well, I like them.
Jennifer: I just…I can’t get down with them, Elle.  They’re…they’re…
Elle: Don’t say it.
Jennifer: They’re tapered pants.
Elle: They’re totally different. They’re not cut the same as those atrocities from the eighties.
Jennifer: They’re totally the same. Next thing you know, we’ll be wearing leggings with footie straps.
Elle: So what? You just hate every new trend that comes up.
Jennifer: …nu uh.  Just these ones.
Elle: Sure, Jen.  *eye roll*

(L to R): Alloy See Thru Soul Jeans, Apple Pocket Skinny Leg Jean, Rich & Skinny Super Skinny Jean

If you haven’t guessed it by now, we were debating the merits of skinny jeans. This trend has truly stood the test of time in the mile-a-minute fashion world, and in the process has gathered new styling, new scrutiny and new followers from around the globe.  After watching these jeans’ hemlines and waistlines rise and fall over the past couple of years, Elle and Jen are ready to give their big, fat opinions on the teeny, tiny, skinny jean.

Elle’s Thoughts: I’ve become somewhat bipolar on the whole idea of “skinny jeans”. Years ago, when Jen and I initially held that conversation (I remember exactly where I was, and what shoes I was wearing – is that weird?), I was holding strong with my argument that skinny jeans were not the tapered pants everyone had resurrected from the 80′s…

…Then I tried some. I deluded myself into thinking that they were the best things I ever put on my body. Hell, I even bought two pairs – grey and… mauve. Don’t ask, it was 2005, aka a long time ago. I hid my frustrations with the jeans because I wanted them to work so badly. The truth was that the jeans were cut improperly, the denim was too thick for such a close cut, they were too low-rise… The jeans I tried were from Old Navy, and they totally sucked. I will never step into another pair of low-rise skinny jeans again because – Hi! – I’m a curvy girl – low rise doesn’t work well for my body unless I’m entering a plumber-crack contest, wherein they are amazing.

After that mess, I decided that my body was not made for skinny jeans. Mind you, this was a time where I still absolutely loathed my body. I hated it! It didn’t look how I felt it should look, and “stupid jeans from Old Navy didn’t even fit right!”, I thought. Well, no more skinnies. Besides, they probably make you look like a sausage, or turn your body into a weird, tapered, apple shape…

…But then I got the bug again, a couple years later. I gave a different brand another go – success. I had gone out looking for everything I wished I had in the Old Navy pair: thinner fabric, higher rise, longer inseam, etc. They were amazing, and I was re-hooked. I realized that, if you believe you look like crap in something, you will.

Fortunately, these days skinny jeans come in every shape, size, rise, inseam and wash you could possibly imagine… It is so important to seek out jeans based on your specific attributes – otherwise you’ll end up hating a potentially wonderful piece of clothing, like I did.

Jennifer Nicole’s Thoughts: So, as you can see from the above conversation, I was against skinnies from the get-go.  Even when I needed a pair to tuck into calf-high boots, I bought cigarette jeans instead (a straighter leg from the knee down) and dealt with the frustration – and pain – of stuffing them into my Skechers.

Even so, I refused to spend more than twenty bucks on them, thinking that the “skinny jean” trend and anything resembling it would be gone within a season or two.

But, um, I was wrong.

I was also wrong about what the trend would become: it began to resemble less and less the eighties pleats and saggy waists (barring harem pants, which I will not even acknowledge as reality) and morphed into its own entity.  I started seeing more clean lines, body-skimming silhouettes and flattering cuts that would actually work on more than one body type…and it got tempting to try them myself.

Even so, I stuck with my trusty straight-leg jeans, buying a pair of Converse by John Varvatos as recently as June.  Last week, though, I took the plunge…and bought some real and actual and tight and…skinny…Skinnies.  (They’re quite similar to the ones above, on the left, and also from Alloy.com.)  They’re in transit – I expect them to be in my hot little hands by August – and I’m strangely excited.

So I may be a little – okay, very – late, but I’m here, and I’m willing to try the infamous “skinny jeans.”  I’ll let you know how it goes.