Recently, as fashion hounds young and old were musing on the ramifications of $600 jeans, I received word that Polo Jeans was issuing a $349 limited-edition denim ball gown for spring – a dress that conjured up memories of my high school experience in the 1980s.

The cut of the dress may have inspired deja vu, but the state of its fabric certainly did not. Back in the ’80s, the must-have expensive jeans were Guess? – and my father liked to grouse that the question mark on its label stood for “who spends $50 on a pair of blue jeans?”

All of which raised the question: Just where was the trend of ultra-expensive luxury jeans, long a bane of this writer’s non-7-Jeans-wearing, butt-crack-exposure-averse existence, heading?

With its new shops and slightly older stalwarts, the Meatpacking district seemed like a good place to search for answers. Denim on my mind, I headed there.

My first stop was Buckler (13 Gansevoort St., 212-255-1596), the recently opened home to the menswear wares of British designer Andrew Buckler. “Andrew is known for his jeans,” a friendly salesman named William told me. “He has a fit for everyone.”

Most popular is the Sexy Bastard jean ($150-$200), “our trademark jean,” according to William. “They are great quality denim, and they fit extremely tight. But they are the most comfortable jeans ever. “A variation of the style is the Skinny Bastard, which, William informed me, “give everyone an ass.”

The store itself is worth noting: It is located underground with no windows but, thanks to a clever use of lighting and tiles, doesn’t feel claustrophobic. “When I was first shown the space, the guy waved around a flashlight,” said the affable Mr. Buckler, who happened to be in the shop. “All the department stores have their menswear in the basement, so I thought of it as sort of an homage.”

In addition to the jeans, the store also offers suits like the seersucker Roger Moore ($190 for the pants, $300 for the jacket). There is also a selection of shirts in varying degrees of casualness, including a deconstructed cotton collared short-sleeved shirt with an eagle print ($145) and a reversible Tshirt with the words “Sexy Bastard” on one side and “the Buckler crest” on the other ($55). “Great for one of those nights when you don’t quite make it home,” said William.

In a more formal vein, along with Buckler’s own designs, the store features custom dress shirts and tailored suits from Borrelli ($300-$350 for shirts,$3,500-$4,000 for suits).

“Our customer is a man who wants to look good but doesn’t take fashion too seriously,” William said, as a Japanese woman with a thick accent bought a pair of Sexy Bastards to give her boyfriend. “I’m not worried about the fit,” she said.

Next up was the straightforwardly named Jean Shop (14 W. 14th St., 212-366-JEAN), whose subtle storefront is just a few doors down from the Meatpacking mecca Jeffrey. Since last summer, the Jean Shop has been offering jeans for men and women with the added twist of customization. Customers choose their fit – either low- or mid-rise for women, relaxed, low-rise, or slim-legged for men – and can then customize their jeans. The base price for all styles is $240. Customization can run anywhere from an extra $60 for abrasions, holes, and fading to an additional $160 for things like distressed leather patches. In a phrase that could easily be misconstrued, a salesgirl told me that, “Some people just want us to beat them up really badly.”

“I’d say it’s a mix between people who just buy the jeans and people who go for the customization,” another salesgirl said. “It’s not really more one than the other.”

Last was An Earnest Cut and Sew (821 Washington St., 212-675-0553), home to luxury jean label Earnest Sewn. Designed by a co-founder of Paper Denim & Cloth (it seems all new luxury jean brands are designed by founders of old ones), the Earnest Sewn design principle, its press kit informed me, is “product sewn in earnest.”

I arrived to find the shop still putting on its finishing touches – the windows were “still in progress,” according to a sign – but that almost added to the store’s rough-hewn, factory-meets-general-store look.

“Everyone’s tired of the saturated jean market,” Melanie, the assistant manager told me. “Even the 7 fit model has her own label.”

Despite the-been-there-worn-that attitude towards designer denim, Melanie is, well, earnest, about Earnest Sewn jeans. “These are jeans that will pass the moment,” she said, citing the brand’s exceptionally flattering fit and attention to detail. It was time to scope the jeans.

Earnest Sewn has offerings for both men and women. The store currently stocks five different fits for women – the boot cut Hefner ($180-$190 a pair, depending on the wash), the flare-legged Garbo ($168-$176), the cigarette-legged Harlan ($198), the straight-legged Decca ($180), and the trouser-cut Viceroy ($202). Men have four fits to choose from – the straight-legged Filson ($190), the bootcut Hutch ($190-$198), the full-legged Hemingway ($190-$215), and the loose, straight-legged Rollins ($215). Non-dungaree offerings include jean skirts for women in three different shapes ($162-$180) and a men’s jean jacket with box-pleat detailing ($230).

So what are people buying? The cigarette legged Harlan is a favorite among the staff for its “fashion-forward” shape. But, no matter the preference in cut, one thing is universal. “Everyone’s over the ultra-low thing,” Melanie said. “A lot of times, the first question I get is, ‘These aren’t too low, are they?'” She told me about a middle-aged customer she had the previous day who’d bought a pair of the trouser jeans. “They’re a great cut for an older customer. They were a little lower than she would have liked – older women tend to be a little more insecure – but they looked great on her.”

Then, as if on cue, a customer who looked to be in her 40s walked into the store and said, “These jeans aren’t too low, are they?” Another salesgirl steered her toward the trouser cut, which piqued the woman’s interest. But she’d really come to learn about the store’s custom-jean option. Like the Jean Shop, Earnest Sewn allows shoppers to choose their own fit to create a jean manufactured by on-premises “artisans” in as little as two hours. Custom jeans run in the $300 range depending on one’s choices, which can be as detailed as color threads, buttons, rivets, and pockets. There is currently a week-and-a-half wait for the service.

“Everyone’s sick of walking down the street and seeing yet another girl with those 7 pockets,” Melanie said. “They’ve just become too trendy.”