I mentioned back in January that I purchased these jeans from fellow blogger Andrea. I had been looking for 90’s-styled “mom jeans” for a while but didn’t know where to start. But I love how mom jeans look on Andrea so when she decided to sell her Agolde 90’s Mid Rise Loose Fit Jeans because they were too big for her, I jumped at the chance. She was kindly worried that they would be too big on me, but knowing my pandemic weight gain I was more worried they would be too small haha. Well they are tight but fit! I also love that I can look back at her blog to see how she styled these exact jeans (here and here).
So first a note on sizing. Since they are meant to be loose and a bit baggy, they run slightly larger. I used to be a 28 but I’m pretty sure I’m a 29 now so I find that these size 27 jeans fit (but they are tight). I think a 28 would be a more comfortable on me, especially since these jeans are 100% cotton so have zero stretch. When I button up the fly, the jeans feel a bit like a lower body corset lol, and forget about sitting in them comfortably. I’m keeping them for now since I really love experimenting with this mom jeans look but I might have to cave and go up a size if I want to wear them out of the house for an extended period of time and be able to sit in them without having to undo the top button lol. I should note that even though I have a long-ish torso, I find the mid rise to be actually quite high. The rise on these size 27 jeans is 13”. Also because I have short legs (for reference I’m 5’4”) I have to cuff them up or else they would be way too long. On Andrea (who I think is 5’8”?), you can see they graze the top of her shoes. I cuff them a bit high so that they are ankle length but that’s because I still love ankle length jeans and can’t seem to give it up.
And a note on styling these mom jeans. As you can see I’ve tried a several different tops with these jeans (and I’m currently working my way through my closet to combine every single top I own with these jeans lol). And I find that the slightly cropped tops or tees tucked in work best with this high-waisted style like in the first two pictures (wearing a black ALC Kati puff sleeve tee in the first pic and a Commes de Garcons striped tee with Verlein bag in the second pic). Yet that’s not to say a big swingy top can’t work with these jeans either like in the third pic with my Olive felted tier top (but it does add a bit of bulk). I also gravitated towards my platform sandals when styling these jeans, and I wonder if that’s because these remind me of the platform sandals I used to wear in the 90’s lol. I did wear them with flats here if you want to know what that looks like. And lastly, I found Yuki’s styling tips for mom jeans to be a fun and informative read!
The one thing I wasn’t a huge fan of is the slight V at the crotch that happens when I keep my legs straight. I don’t think it’s super noticeable but I noticed it happens to pretty much everyone who wears these jeans (including the skinny models on the website). And I think it’s less noticeable on me than it is on the models, where it’s more of a baggy V. I’m not sure what causes this, so if someone could enlighten me I would be grateful lol.
Agolde 90’s mid rise in size 28
{May 2021 Update: During Shopbop’s buy more save more sale, I decided to go for it and try these 90’s Mid Rise Jeans in a larger size. Well the 28 (pictured above) fits me a lot better and I can actually sit in the jeans lol. But I do find that the baggy V problem is a lot worse the looser the jeans fit. Also you can see how long the jeans are when I don’t cuff them. I also tried these jeans in the distressed version and found the denim to be softer (as Andrea said in the comments). Unfortunately I’m not really into the distressed look so I decided to return them, even if they were a bit more comfortable than the un-distressed version.
P.S. These jeans have started a whole jeans-quest for me now. I’ve been searching for the “perfect” mom jeans for my new mom-bod. The next ones I’ve tried were the Madewell Balloon jeans and you can read the review of them here.}
Taken in March 2020, wearing the Agolde Riley Jeans and Ulla Johnson Philo top
But speaking of a baggy V at the crotch, this brings me to the Riley jeans I tried on last year. After seeing the Agolde Riley jeans on Brianna and other bloggers, I had been dying to try them out. So when Shopbop had one of their buy more, save more sales last year I decided to give them a shot. Well I didn’t like the baggy V crotch. Overall the jeans looked nothing like it did on other people, which just goes to show you really have to try some things on yourself. But at least I was able to get them off my “want” list and move on.
Oh and for reference I’m wearing a 28 here in the Riley jeans and I was probably a true 28/size 6 then. They fit at the waist but were slightly baggy everywhere else. They might have looked a tad better if I had sized down to 27. And lastly the Riley Jeans have 1% elastane in them (unlike the 100% cotton 90’s jeans) so they had some stretch in them.
Anyway having tried two Agolde jeans, I have to say I’m not quite a convert. I like the way the 90’s jeans look but the fit for me is not comfortable. And overall I’m just not a 100% cotton jeans kind of gal. I need some elastane in my jeans please lol. And with both Agolde jeans having a bit of a V-crotch problem, I’m just not 100% sold on them. In the end I think I’m still generally a Frame denim gal 🤷🏻♀️
P.S. And speaking of Andrea and Agolde jeans, Andrea just posted a review of some Agolde Jean shorts that’s super informative. Hmm maybe I’ll try the Parker shorts long for the summer…
{November 2021: So I purchased a pair of Agolde Riley jeans from the RealReal in size 29 (my new post-pandemic sizing is around 30ish) and I have to say they fit me a lot better now. I think back in March of last year when I first tried on the Rileys, I might have had a size too big and thus resulting in the puffy crotch area. I love my new Rileys (even though skinny jeans are on the way out, but at least these are still somewhat of a straight leg). And I think the best way to score Agolde jeans for a great value is to keep checking the RealReal (their current selection of Agolde jeans here).