Editor’s note: After finding out about the new Levi’s® brand jean, the Ex-Girlfriend, we had to hear “the back story” from the designers themselves. Here it is, from Casey Egan and JeWon Yu, pictured above:
We were backstage at an SXSW concert in Austin — styling an edgy rock band. As the front man looked at the choices we had, he zeroed in on a pair of girl’s floral-print skinny jeans. He was hooked.
That was the moment we both knew we had to make the Ex-Girlfriend jean.
It has never been a secret in the denim design world that guys looking to make a statement with an extra-skinny pair of jeans…go straight to the girl’s section.
We’d been thinking about creating a pair of jeans with a rock ‘n roll aesthetic for some time. Watching 75 percent of the guys at SXSW perform in these super-tight jeans only validated our idea.
We thought – hey, we can make a pair of women’s jeans for men with a tailored and proper fit.
So, we designed this outrageous pair of skinny jeans using women’s denim and finishing.
When these guys had been wearing low-rise girl’s jeans, they tended to slouch them low on their hips, so we made the top block a bit higher.
We also left a little more room through the hip and thigh, so the jean wasn’t saran-wrap tight. It’s not a corset for men.
The fit is masculine and man-appropriate.
The name, Ex-Girlfriend, is a playful take on the gender ‘talk’ popular in fashion today. Women have been dressing in Boyfriend blazers and Boyfriend 501®jeans for quite some time.
The name also appeals to men seeking that severely skinny silhouette who are currently shopping in the women’s section.
The Ex-Girlfriend jean is a style we really believe in, and we wanted to push the design to the extreme.
Even the hang tags were fun to make. They say, “These jeans are tight.”
