''A WOMAN'S GUIDE TO MEN'S JEANS''

A pair of jeans can define a man, even more than his watch or mobile. But it’s all too easy to get denim wrong. Our fashion editor Mary Fellowes gives her dos and don’ts ...

Why aren't men's jeans straightforward? They should be. They're practical, hard-wearing, comfortable--and yet they're a minefield of style accidents waiting to happen. Too short, too wide, too tight in one place, too baggy in another... look down any street and you'll see otherwise innocent men committing serious crimes against denim. A friend once went on a date with a man who turned up in baggy jeans so violently tapered that they shortened him by six inches, and with the waist hoisted so high that from behind he looked like an overweight mother at school sports day. Call her fickle, but she walked out.

From where women are standing, jeans define a man more than his watch, car, mobile or any other expensive gadget the male psyche uses to express its virility. Almost everyone wears them, and yet stitched into their warp and weft are a host of hidden indicators, exact barometers--to a beady female eye--of his taste and self-image.

Some men wear jeans with an almost indecent ease. From the Ramones via the blokes in Blondie to any of Kate Moss's more recent boyfriends, punk and post-punk musicians have been adept at combining anti-bourgeois attitude, unkempt hair and skinny-fit denims. James Dean always gave good jean: dark, uncomplicated, flattering without being narcissistic, and set off by his crisp white t-shirt. And older Italians and Frenchmen choose jeans with clean lines and a slightly tight fit, worn with grown-up leather shoes and continentally well-cut jackets. But English men seldom manage this casual distinction, choosing looser jeans in an attempt to be laid-back, then counter-attacking their own strategy by adding a badly fitting jacket, or a shirt that's either too preppy, too tight or--most unfortunate of all--short-sleeved.

It doesn't have to be this way. Some tailors will make jeans to measure. (Why shouldn't a man take the cut of his denim as seriously as his suit? He'd make a lot of women happier if he did.) And if, as is likely, you carry on buying off the peg, the sheer number of brands might seem bewildering--but it does mean that somewhere there's a style that will suit you. A few of the best are listed below, along with the following golden rules to help make buying easier......