These Cropped Levi’s 501s Are 30 Percent Off
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I’ve been wearingthese relaxed-fit black jeansfromB Sidespretty much exclusively for the past five years. The Pleins, which I also own in blue, have a relaxed, almost wide-leg cut and a very high rise. Last year, I added the brand’sSlim Lasso, a barrel style, into the rotation. I love all of them, but sometimes it’s too much jean. Sometimes, you simply need a classic straight-leg jean.
But I couldn’t find any I liked. I’m five-foot-two with curvy hips and thighs and wanted non-stretch jeans that were straight but not too slim or too wide, with a finished hem in a length that hit right below my ankles. I somehow thought they only existed secondhand, so I trawled Etsy and eBay for the perfect vintage pair. They were always too long on me. (The exception would bethese magical 17501sI got at Front General Store last year.) Then I had a head-slappingduhmoment when architecture critic and fellow petite person Alexandra Lange posted a screenshot of ankle-length 501s. It hadn’t occurred to me until then that I could just buy new Levi’s — and that the company offered shorter lengths.
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Lange’s preferred pair are the’90s Ankle 501, which have a looser, boxy straight fit and a length that actually comes up to the ankles. I tried them, but they were a little too baggy and short on me. I wanted something slimmer and went for the 501 Originals in the cropped length. They ended up being the one. Fitted through the hip and thigh, the 501 Cropped Originals have a high-ish rise, the classic straight-leg cut, and two inseam options, 26-inch and 28-inch. On me, a 28-inch inseam is regular length, where the hem stops short of the tops of my feet. It comes in both 100 percent cotton and low-stretch options in several colors. I went with no-stretch in the “worn in medium” wash and they just about look like the platonic ideal of blue jeans, because, well, they are.
B Sides are my “fashion” jeans while the 501s are my throw-them-on-for-whatever-situation jeans. (I save my 17501s, which were designed specifically for women and have an even more flattering silhouette, for dinners out and special occasions.) I can wear them to preschool drop-off, or on the weekends with sneakers, or to the office with a nicebutton-up shirtandballet flats. Turns out new 501s are just as good as (or at least easier and more affordable to source than) vintage 501s. Truly versatile, who knew? And in a few years, I’ll have worn them so much that they’ll turn vintage on their own.
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