Flying Commando

When I was in college, 501s were pretty much the de rigueur jeans every young male was wearing. You wore them very broken in, very snug, and without a belt. They rode up a bit and emphasized your crotch. "Shrink to fit" were the best type of 501s, because once they were broken in, they hugged the body best.

If you were more daring, you skipped underwear and flew commando. Sometimes you could see a few stray pubes peeking out of the buttoned fly; this was before anyone even thought about trimming their fuzz down there. I didn't fly commando until probably my third year of college. I wore 501s virtually every day through the whole four years.

There's nothing quite like wearing a pair of 501s commando when the other bloke hurriedly unbuttons you to get at your stiffening goods. If you're just getting a quick blow-and-go somewhere, you might only have to unbutton the bottom few buttons.

When I gained weight, I stopped wearing 501s and segued into "relaxed" jeans. Underwear is necessary with those because your junk moves around and you can get a nasty rub or pinch. When I lost weight again, one way I celebrated was by buying some 501s -- the traditional kind that had never been washed and needed to "shrink to fit." During the shrinking phase, you pretty much have to wear underwear because they're so rough. Now I'm back to my soft, worn 501s most every day and flying commando once more.

Anthony here is wearing 501s but they're not the shrink-to-fit variety. He's wearing the ready-fit, pre-washed variety. I'm that much of a 501 connoisseur I can spot the difference in a picture like this.