DISINTEGRATION

I feel like ripped jeans are turning into an episode of 'When good jeans go bad', where the rips go feral and take over the whole jean, leaving only the seams holding out against the rabid warp threads that are attacking the defenceless weft, to leave only the skeleton of the jean behind. Ah, denim humour.
Anyway, I think these jeans below look pretty good, and below that is an amazingly explicit tutorial from Park & Cube on how to achieve the effect, d.i.y. style. Image below through Park & Cube also.

D.I.Y + SHARPIE

Done by the cool cats on BleachBlack.

D.I.Y DENIM

Some bleach and a cheese grater are what you need! Follow Nelliinan's tutorial.

D.I.Y. DIP DYED DENIM

More d.i.y. denim, this time through Nelliinan. These are made from a bleached out/acid washed pair of jeans and some dylon.

D.I.Y DENIM

Some more home-made denim inspiration, courtesy of Childhood Flames.

D.I.Y. TEE

A gorgeous and time consuming d.i.y. found on Childhood Flames, who has a step by step guide to this (I'm looking for volunteers) brought to life by Vanilla Scented. Just occasionally jersey can make you as happy as denim.
It's not the denim shirts I promised... I'm building up to them.

D.I.Y DENIM

Unbeknownst to me, there a quite a lot of people out there taking pictures of themselves in clothes and putting them online. It sounds like my worst nightmare, but it's the most inspirational and democratic thing I've found in ages. For one thing, it's clear skinny jeans aren't going anywhere anytime soon, and far more people than you'd expect wear cut-off denim shorts with tights. For another, it's consistently great to see how people take things that you haven't even considered and make them look very cool and wearable without the aid of a Vogue-style photoshoot budget. Both of the shots above are with denim that's been customised. The silver shorts on Rumi from Fashion Toast are originally TopShop, the black jeans are Rodan vs Griffith jeans customised by Mimi Jung.

I've put links to a couple of the best sites that I've found so far on the right, under D.I.Y Denim.

All jeans below customised by Mimi Jung.

BEDAZZLER

Who knew that a bedazzler could make things look so cool. I think these are pretty old images, but they surfaced recently on le fashion and they are amazing. Much like with the hardcore hardwear stuff, it seems that no denim will be complete without some serious metal action.

CUT OFFS

I feel called upon to address the new cut-off/cuffed boyfriend short after the cool vintage ones below. Yes, they're cute. I think they're infinitely cooler than the denim hotpant. But the above could be yours for S285/$178/$154 respectively. I find myself moved to get myself a pair of old Levi's and see if I can remember how a pair of scissors work.

All the above are off ShopBop.

EBAY MADNESS #5

Nice alternative to the new versions of cut-off cuffed baggy jeans that are all over the place. These look hot.
Treasure Chest Vintage, currently yours for $12.50

EBAY MADNESS #3

Back to my favourite ebay store, for more 90's grunge/sleeveless denim gilets/pale denim. It's probably worth adding that the day I try to pull off the sleeveless denim is the day someone needs to step in and save me from myself.
Treasure Chest Vintage

HARDCORE HARDWARE

Serious metalware on jeans has been around for a little while. Zips have been getting bigger (there's a great pair of Radcliffe jeans for sale on asos with large zips on the outside leg). Studs have been getting more prominent. I'm not sure if I dreamt a pair of jeans with a totally studded waistband instead of a studded belt, but I certainly can't find the picture if it exists.

It's a kind of urban/hardcore/goth/protection thing that makes us London types feel like we're living in Mad Max. I think it's only going to get more extreme, not least because it's sister trend of the pleather/ruched/shiny legging doesn't seem to be going anywhere, and we all want to feel a bit rock and roll on the tube.

The flat studded panels all the way down one leg at Superfine & TopShop look good - not so 'girl does studs' as the discreet buttons down the side of the leg of last winter, and the heavy chains & padlock in place of a key chain on the Sass & Bide jeans definitely work.

www.superfinelondon.com
www.sassandbide.com
www.topshop.com

EBAY MADNESS #2

The listing for these is still going though...

http://tinyurl.com/cfwuz9