One of the most frequent questions I got asked while working in retail was, “Why do the ripped jeans cost so much more?”

Well, it’s because once you enter the realm of ripped designer denim, each pair is individually stressed. As in, someone sits there with sand paper and various tools to guarantee they look as genuine as possible. But regardless of how much work goes into them, we’d never advocate buying pre-ripped denim.

Why? Natalie says the very idea makes her want to re-introduce “tool” into her vocabulary. And though I have not one but two pairs of extremely ripped jeans in my wardrobe, the holes and tears are due to my penchant for falling, not my willingness to shell out $300 for purposefully destroyed clothes. And apparently the thought of pre-distressed anything, whether it be jeans or furniture, has always been a pet peeve of Faran’s.

But the best of the denim brands - Current/Elliot, Genetic, Seven - keep making them which means that people still buy them in an attempt to emulate a rockstar-ness they think can be bought in the Meatpacking District.

Do you?

This weekend, at the nameless downtown boutique where I slave a couple days a week, I was bombarded with the question, “Are skinny jeans over?”

Our trend-obsessed buyers might have gone overboard on the wideleg trend, and they might have forgotten which season we’re in. More than one confused shopper wondered how they were supposed to tuck the massive flares into their winter boots.

I understand their frustration - while I treasure my high-waisted widelegs, and rocked them with massive platforms all summer/fall, I’ve found them impossible to transition into winter since I detest boots under jeans.

When skinny jeans hit the states, shoppers groaned that they were too unflattering to have any real staying power. But their versatility has made them more than a passing trend, leaving a gap in the market for novelty denim ideas.

Meanwhile, plenty of women seem to stick to the one style they feel works for them, buying multiple pairs of what looks and feels perfect instead of jumping onto the current denim bandwagon. It’s not exactly the most exciting shopping method, but maybe looking good does sometimes trump looking “on trend”.

Are you still wearing your skinnies? Or have you fully embraced the trendiest denim out there?