First of all, our preferred price for jean shorts is FREE. They come not from the store, but from the back of the closet, refashioned from those jeans that were forgotten, or destroyed by snow-salt, or whatever. They should not cost $72, Madewell—but we do love your length. Too many of the new jean shorts, in our opinion, are either too expensive (man alive, True Religion: $172 is too much for cut-off jeans!)…. (See below.)
True Religion Bobby cut-off denim shorts, $172
or a ridiculous length: Well, we’re biased because we’re short, but we like a jean short that concludes upper thigh, rather than mid-thigh.
This is actually the most egregious example we could find of it—but let us say that anything below mid-thigh is not what we’re looking for. Forever 21 denim shorts, $24.80
We will actually, respectfully, disagree on the length issue. We are a little taller than your regularly scheduled writer (maybe 4″ or so), and we SWEAR by jean shorts that hit right above the knee. Of course, all of our jeans are insanely snug – so they end up looking pretty similar to the F21 pair shown. We also would never pay for a pair of jean cut-offs, since the best ones come from jeans long forgotten, living in the back of the closet.
We say, experiment! You can always cut them shorter if knee length is unflattering.
This is somewhat embarrassing, but my two pairs of cut-offs come from Abercromie… also at least 4 years old, but I love them! perfect length and fit (I like them on the looser side), very similar to the Madewell examples.
Also, as a fellow shortie, anything that hits below upper thigh is incredibly unflattering on me – haha, I shudder at the thought of my body in that last pair.
xo Caitlin
http://pourlamourdefashion.blogspot.com/
I actually found a great pair of jean shorts from Gap. They were “relaxed” fit or something and not too terribly expensive. I mean, they have to be the only good thing Gap has going for it right now, as you previously mentioned.