Let’s be clear – I am not a street style star (my friend Eva Chen is) and the jeans I am wearing, which Current/Elliott calls the Flip Flop, do not, as their name suggests, need to be worn with sandals, obviously, or I wouldn’t have worn them during New York Fashion Week, one of the coldest on record. I know it’s hard to see my jeans through my coat, but there are so many things in this picture that I love in addition to the Flip Flop, I felt it fitting for this Jean of the Week.

First, there’s Eva, who I have known since we were both assistants at Elle, and whose style I admire tremendously because it is so colorful and completely the opposite of mine (can you tell?)! Her jeans, from DKNY, are a pair she coveted and claimed last summer. Everything else she is wearing, including the faux-fur canary-yellow coat by Vanessa Hong (the blogger behind The Haute Pursuit), will soon be available on Lucky Shops, Eva’s very exciting new venture. The other thing I love is that this picture was taken by Phil Oh, aka Mr. Street Peeper, for vogue.com, my alma mater. Phil is loaded with talent, and it was in the Vogue offices that I saw Current/Elliott jeans for the first time; I’ll never forget it, it was love at first sight! I’m smiling in this photo because I just witnessed the Rodarte show, which I loved, and because, well, what’s not to love about my jobs (plural; I’m having so much fun at Travel + Leisure, too). To top it all off, I love that the ineffable Mister Mickey makes a cameo in this pic, even if he does look like maybe he’s jealous of Eva’s jeans…to be honest, so am I.

If we wear our denim during the best of times, this was one of them. Now, every time I wear my Flip Flops, I’ll think of Eva and Phil, and the dazzling Rodarte dresses that took my breath away that day. Putting these jeans on with a pair of single-strap slides on a hot summer day, I might even miss the cold (maybe). Though the Flip Flop, with its frayed hemline and belled bottom, hits the trend button, no doubt, it’s the things I do in them that sticks, and makes me want to wear them forever.

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Related: Eva Chen on Joining the Club