All the Fringe, Plus WTF Jeans

Woo! Friday! I have dinner to eat, cider to drink and games to play, so without further ado, here's today's outfit.

 It's a whole lotta fringe! I had much fun swooping and fringing about the office today.

• Duster - Design Lab by Lord & Taylor; last worn here (2nd outfit) in March for another casual Friday look
• Blouse - Banana Republic, thrifted; first worn here in June with pink
• Jeans - Levi Strauss 510, thrifted; purchased here for $22.99
• Sandals - Ecote, consignment; last seen here (6th outfit, way down) for a shopping trip with a coworker

 That's a lot fringey badassery there, my friends. I had many agog coworkers, and heard several variations of, "You're wearing JEANS!"

It has been a while. Here - in December 2013! - is the last time I wore blue denim jeans.

 I enjoyed wearing them - they did feel a little odd to me, but I've had variations on jeans (my Versace mom jeans, leopard skinny jeans, purple velvet jeans, pinstriped red/black jeans, to name a few) in my wardrobe off and on over the years. Just not blue jeans.

Here we are without the duster. I had to take it off every time I went to the bathroom, as the fringe is tricky to manage.

 Nice dark denim. But I have more things to say about the jeans in a minute.

The stuff:

 Assembling this picture made me realize how little I wear belts lately. I go in phases. I love belts! I hate belts! Bring on the belts! No more belts!

I love those fringey sandals. I struggled this morning getting them done up and had to whine at L to do it for me. I couldn't see the holes on the strap for the buckle.

Silver bling:

 My "teeth" necklace is always popular, especially with Vizzini, who likes to bite it.

• Belt - from Ruth
• Hinged cuff - thrifted
• Cage cuff - Bauxo
• Necklace - The Bay c. 2008
• Earrings - Lazy Susan's

So. The jeans. These are not your standard jeans. They have weird WTF thing about them. Witness:

 I turned them inside out to show this. It's a reinforcement of extra fabric up the back of the bum (and a little bit in the front too!). They don't look like they've been altered (the gold/original stitching on the bum seam goes over the darker stitching of the gusset), but what the heck? Why is that there?

And when I turned them inside out, I found this. I didn't even know this was there!

 What is going on here?? Why is there reflective tape inside the pant leg? Again, this looks original, not added. This boggles me. Is this supposed to show?

When I bought them, I noticed that one pocket was green.

 Again, all original, not altered. All the rivets say "LS 510" on them. They are really long pockets - I have to flatten them out or they bunch up.

And I noticed this when I bought them too. What is this for?

That's the back left of the jeans, opposite the green pocket. It's an extra piece of fabric only on that one side (!!). Am I supposed to put my handkerchief there? It's sewn down with green thread (just visible under the belt loop near my pinky, and again, that's original, not an alteration.

I did some searching around online to try to figure out the green pocket and weird back loop thing when I bought them, but adding the search of "reflective tape" paid off! They were issued by Levi Strauss in 2012 specifically for commuter cyclists! Check out this blog article here*, which explains what all this weirdness is for. Mystery solved!
*linking 'cause I love