This bracket is where the volume is and it is almost all Citizens of Humanity, which tells you something about who owns the contemporary denim price point. The Marlow Vintage Short at $168 is the cheapest item in the edit. The Palma Straight at $248, the Charlotte High Rise Straight at $258 and the Ayla Baggy at $258 cover the three fits most people are actually buying right now, and the Miro Full Length Deck Pant at $288 is the wide, flat-fronted option. Grlfrnd's Graham Low Rise Straight with the twisted seam at $239 is the one piece in the group with a real design detail. Slvrlake's Kendra Straight Leg at $289 and Frame's Bubble Jeans at $298 close the bracket. For a straightforward pair of well-cut jeans, nothing above this tier is necessary.

The middle bracket is where denim stops being just jeans. Three of the eight pieces are jackets or skirts rather than trousers: the Haikure Cherry Denim Jacket at $398, the Alexander Wang Glazed Denim Mini Skirt at $395 and the Alexander Wang Glazed Denim Jacket at $595, plus the Matthew Bruch Denim Chore Jacket at the same price. On trousers, Frame's Off Duty Loose at $348 and Crossover Loose at $358 are the two relaxed fits, and the Haikure Chewy Flare Leg at $343 is the only flare in the edit. Re/Done's 70s Indigo Straight Leg at $450 is the vintage-reproduction entry and the most historically specific pair here. This is the bracket to shop if you already own jeans you like and want a denim jacket or skirt to go with them.

The top bracket is the European houses and the fits get more particular. Khaite's Kerrie Straight Leg at $640 and Dane Wide Leg at $680 are the two cleanest cuts and the most likely to still look right in five years. Mugler's Low Waist Straight Leg at $810 and JW Anderson's Twisted Straight Leg at $910 are both doing something structural to a familiar shape. Rick Owens' Geth Wide Leg at $1,068 is the most extreme silhouette in the edit. Saint Laurent supplies both the most expensive trouser, the Authentic Straight Leg at $1,180, and the most expensive item overall, the Denim 70's Trucker Jacket at $1,780. The Cult Gaia Anice Dress at $698 in carbon wash is the one denim dress here, and we have linked it to Cult Gaia directly rather than through FWRD.

Denim is the category where the relationship between price and quality breaks down fastest, and this edit shows it. A $258 pair of Citizens of Humanity jeans and a $1,180 pair from Saint Laurent are made from broadly comparable cloth, and the difference you are paying for is cut and label rather than durability. What the top bracket genuinely buys you is an unusual silhouette, which is a real thing to want but not the same as a better pair of jeans. The most defensible spend in the whole edit is the middle bracket, because a good denim jacket lasts far longer than any pair of trousers and the ones here are properly made. If you take one thing away, buy your jeans under $300 and put the difference into a jacket.