Jean Stories’ Jane Bishop Has the Best Denim Ever

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It is rumored that one does not choose the thug life but rather, the thug life chooses you. Similarly, one doesn’t set out to buy jeans for the purpose of wearing them on repeat; these jeans have a way of finding you.

For Jane Bishop, co-founder of Jean Stories and style director at Travel & Leisure, an unassuming pair with a detailed hem found their way into her rotation without any help from a GPS. (It’s usually called fate, but I’d imagine they heard of her style through the blue grapevine. She is, after all, known for her denim collection.) And after clicking through her closet full of chambray and loafers, it seems that the thug life found her just as easily: her cat is named Biggie — after Notorious.

Day 1

I started the week reorganizing my home office and all of my jeans (personal and sample stock). I wore my favorite AMO Denim Babes and an embroidered chambray shirt from Coast Wide, the best small-batch embroidered chambray shirt company that is sadly no longer.

Day 2

For a shoot I was doing in Brooklyn, I wore my custom Levi’s 501 CTs with a Velvet t-shirt, a lace overcoat from Zara, and the Prada penny loafers I took from my mom’s closet when I was 18, and still wear today. I love these shoes because the minute I put them on, no matter what I have on, it looks like something my mom would wear. They are totally transformative that way.

Day 3

My hair on days 1 and 2 was long for me, so I went to get it cut. Chelsey Pickthorn, who owns the Pickthorn salon in Bushwick, does my “hair shaping,” as she calls it. I wore my Seafarer Circe jeans, which I had tailored to hit me high above the ankle like the sailors used to wear them, and Chelsey wore patched boyfriends that she got at Forever21. Her jeans are cute, right? I thought so.

Day 4

I spent this day at the T L offices. My cat Biggie’s absolute favorite thing is chilled, cooked shrimp, so when I got home, I gave him some while hanging out on the deck with my husband Justin, who took this pic. I wore my AMO denim Babes (again), a silk top from Protagonist (notice that it is not at all wrinkled, despite my having worn it for nine hours straight; thank you, designer Kate Wendelborn, you so get working girls), and a linen blazer from Zara, which is wrinkled, by contrast, which I like.

Day 5

Off to L.A. for the weekend. I wore my AMO Denim Babes (again, yes) a cashmere sweater from 6397, and slip-ons from 6397’s collaboration with Common Projects. My luggage: Vuitton and Vivier. Both of my Clare V bags (the white denim tote, and the spotted clutch inside it) are from the collaboration that Jean Stories did with Clare for Holiday ’15. I don’t leave town without them.

Day 6

My sister Kim, who lives in L.A., took this pic of me. I am wearing my Coast Wide shirt (again) and my brand new leather criss cross espadrilles from Soludos. My jeans, vintage Levi’s, are really special, actually – I got them at the Levi’s Eureka lab in San Francisco, and they’re a pair of 701s that were made in Levi’s’ now-closed sewing facility in Murphy, North Carolina in about 1977. The denim master who works there, Bart Sights, told me this about them, and I have every reason to believe he is right. I love these jeans as much as is possible to love a piece of clothing. A lot.

Follow Jean Stories on Instagram, Twitter, and check out the Jean Stories website here. Follow Jane Bishop on Instagram and Twitter, too. For more New York Closets, click here. Love jeans and want to know what they say about you? We’ve got that covered.