Daka

I am looking to make jeans look "dressier", instead of just machine washing them has anyone had them cleaned and pressed or washed and starched?

Jinn

I think you'll find that no matter how you treat jeans, you aren't going to make non-dressy jeans look more professional, stylish or 'dressy'. Dress jeans have a much different fit, and you'll also notice that the seaming on fancier jeans is on the inside. Compare a set of 7 or Lucky Jeans against a normal Levi, and you'll see. The wash also makes a big difference, with the darker being (generally speaking) more dressy. Go for dark to medium-dark blues, but avoid black unless you can pull it off - most people can't.

They're pricy, but if you dropped $300 on three pairs between the upper-end denim (7, Lucky, etc.) in medium to dark washes you'll have all you ever need. They don't even really need to be pressed and they look great.

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Manic_Skafe

I'm in total agreement with Jinn and I'll add that 7 jeans are worth every penny. You might cringe at shelling out almost $200 on a pair of pants - jeans at that - but just as they don't sell luxury cars at compact prices, you won't find jeans cut and dyed that well at The Gap.

As a general rule for caring for your jeans, machine wash cold and dry low and slow. Washing separately is always a good ideas as well.

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Willravel

Hey, Daka. Jinn is right that generally more formal jeans have a slightly different cut than casual jeans. Mine are all a bit more narrow at the waist, and taper a bit after the knee, unlike most of my other jeans which relax a bit after the knee.

To wash, turn the jeans inside out and put into a cool, gentle wash with Woolite. When they're done, you need to hang-dry. And don't wash them often. I only wash my dress jeans a few times a year.

MSD

Levis 501s are up to par with jeans that cost 3 times as much, and I'd considermy dark wash 501s dressier than and pair of Luckys I have. Size down 2" in the waist and up 2" if your inseam is under 28" or under and up 4" for 30" or higher.

To shrink them as to really fit you perfectly, toss them in the tub with the water as hot as it goes, once it cools down to the point that you won't get scalded, put them on and shrink while wearing for 45 minutes, adding hot water as needed to keep it as hot as is bearable. Stand up, drip for a few minutes, take them off (your legs will be dyed blue, don't be alarmed) and hang them from the shower rod. By the next morning, they'll probably be able to stand up on their own.

If they get visibly dirty, machine wash cold if you really need to but hand wash is preferable. If you put jeans that you bought anywhere nicer than Old Navy in the dryer I will send the fashion police after you to ticket you for abuse of denim.

Daka

I'm going to have one pair of fairly new jeans dry cleaned and pressed as an experiment...
I did look at the 7, Lucky other $200 jeans and did not think they were great...just expensive ( what fools we be to spend big $$ for these LABELS)
Why doesn't some manufacturer get the idea to make jeans like dress pants...there certainly are so many different ones...
Oh, and jeans with "worn" areas for $$$$ NUTZ

MSD

Since when are Lucky $200 jeans? I picked up my pairs at Marshalls or TJ Maxx for $20 each and I'm pretty sure the MSRP on the tag wasn't more than $85