THE BOOTS

Image from Fashion Gone Rogue

SHIRT

From the new Boss Orange campaign, courtesy of Denimology.

THE NEW DENIM

Ha! Who do I think I am? Perhaps to make up for my recent lack of industry I am taking to sweeping pronouncements on the future. The new denim. Well I think it's clear there is a shift from the fit promise of women's premium denim being the only reason to buy a pair of jeans for women (although it's still a pretty strong reason), and more cool, edgy denim claiming back some territory. Or just joining the 'denim wardrobe' to the extent that you now need jeans that make you look slim, and other denim things that make you look cool. It's a combination of edgy finishing, early 1990's styling, and a way of reclaiming jeans from Macys. Not all the above is denim, but I think the shapes, silhouettes and detailing are relevant, and all from Fashion Toast.

If you needed a further reason to get behind the cut-off denim jacket. It's a far cry from The Outsiders.
Garance Dore.

CHAMBRAY SHIRTS AT J.CREW

So I had the good fortune of seeing the men's version of this shirt up close when I was in New York last week, and I can attest to it's beauty. It's a selvedge chambray, slightly textured, and totally great. The women's one is online only, which was devastating. But the men's versions seem a touch better; for a start there are two, and one has those vintage Sunset chambray shirt styling details, like the extended collar tab and little triangles inserted at the side seam scoops. I encountered the shirt at the new J.Crew men's store on Broadway, and it's pretty cool. Like a walking version of The Selvedge Yard or A Continuous Lean. Steve McQueen picture books, Mister Freedom Denim Naval Peacoats, Japanese Levi's etc. Indeed ACL has some photos here. Anyway, although what I really want is a decent denim shirt for women, I'd take this chambray one in the short term. Women's shirt on the J.Crew site & Men's shirts on the J.Crew site

CROPPED TOPS

The tops, they are cropped.
Source: OakNYC

PIMPING

...or whatever the equivalent is that you do in a leather biker jacket. Someone recently asked me if I get lots of free stuff sent to me courtesy of blogging. The answer is not enough / should I sully my integrity in this way / what would I want if someone was going to send me free stuff?

Well, what I would like, Mr. VF EU, is this Lee leather biker jacket, which I've seen recently on asos. And while we're at it, I'd like a lifetime asos discount voucher for all the mentions. And now you see the dilemma; once you start, where does it end?

COWBOY BOOTS

I don't know what's wrong with me. Cowboy boots used to epitomise all that I could hold in certain hatred... Golden Goose through Kate Boutique.

SEQUINS FOR ME

All this studding, zips and rips demands a softer side of shine, a counterpoint, for when the fetish and bondage looks just aren't going to cut it. Slightly deco, geometric and all-over flapper-style sequinning make bleached, tie-dyed and marbled jeans a bit more easily accessible. Pixie Market Leopard Sequin bomber jacket Siwy sequin jeans Ksubi sequin tank dress Never Denim jeans

ALEXANDER WANG/VENA CAVA FOR GAP

So I'm not much interested in the ins and outs of why or how these collaborations come about. In England, there's a collaboration every 17 seconds, and everyone in retail is desperately hoping that Matthew Williamson will save our souls, which... no. But it's a good thing in general - accessible, affordable design, bringing a whole range of aesthetics to the fore; diversity, choice, availability, all good things.

The second part of the story of the collaboration between Gap and award-nominated designers is what they choose to work with, and currently the plan is to re-imagine icons. Last year, they chose the white shirt to revamp, and the icon they are re-inventing this year is khaki. Whether these things are American icons, fashion icons, or just Gap icons is unclear, but neat going to claim such style icons as your own, Gap.

I feel like Khaki falls under my remit, as it's made by many of the same mills as denim, and it's trousers, and all the cool kids are doing it these days - Acne is so preppy I'm surprised they haven't re-invented the letterman sweater, and Band of Outsiders is like the Rotary Club come to life. So I've winkled out the pictures of the Khaki collection that's getting everyone so excited and I have edited above for your delectation. (The hat and the dress are for me - not relevant to denim & street inspiration!)

Pleats & biker jackets. Good. Exciting. I've said before how much I love a pleat. The shorts look super cute. The black details on the straight leg chinos scare me. However, perhaps if you bought them baggy, cut them off at the knee and roughly cuffed them they'd look pretty cool. Hi Gap. Call me. We'd be great together. I'd move to San Francisco (I know your design offices are in New York but come on, I think you need to be designing your denims on the West Coast, and truthfully, I'd prefer to live in SF). Your jeans would fit great. We'd make them even cooler. Add a button here, an eyelet there, possibly a small cuff, perhaps a rip - I don't want to go to far, I too have classic taste, but a little edge maybe wouldn't hurt?

Source: Racked

LEVI'S FENOM CHAMBRAY WESTERN SHIRT

Soft, loose, gently shaped yoke, subtle mitres on pocket flaps, everything shaped in a more understated, workwear way.
Source: Levi's Japan

RETRO GEO/90's HI-TECH

Seams and panels. Diagonals and cut outs. Cut outs and seams. Seams and Diagonals. Oh, I could go on. Seams and denim together are made in heaven, no other fabric behaves in the same way when stitched to itself. The seam movement and indigo fading... In a previous incarnation, the brand I worked with actually washed the panels of denim before cutting and sewing, to try and get a super clean finish in amazing traditional tailored pieces made out of denim. Not many factories would do it, and the wastage, well, let's just close our eyes to that. This styling should achieve the exact opposite; a kind of retro futuristic geometric feel, it's denim as fashion rather than denim as heritage. Panelled jeans: Indie Cult Vintage
Lightening bolt jeans: Never Denim Cutout dresses: stylestalker Panelled denim skirt: Current Elliott

BLEACH BIKER

Cute acid wash denim biker. Pixie Market.

DENIM SHIRTS: 1907 SUNSET CHAMBRAY SHIRT

Levi's Vintage Clothing have remade 3 early 20th Century workshirts for SS09. There is a 1907 Sunset workshirt with a shrunken left chest pocket and pullover/henley 1/2 button through front. There's also a 1902 Sunset striped shirt - the original was found in a mine in the West. Made in a soft, striped brushed cotton fabric, with a hidden button down collar. It also has the small left chest pocket that was used by several brands at that time. Finally a reproduction of a Levi's Make, 1910 Chambray shirt. Repeattofade says the original was found in a bunkhouse in Sierra Nevada. It had started out black, now it was worn, faded and torn. It has a hidden button-down collar and is kept in style by a Levi's arcuate on the back yoke. The original vintage shirt picture is from e-workers, as are the detail shots of the chambray shirt, which suggest that the original shirt that LVC have recreated had authentic wash scratching on the elbows, fraying at the seams, and some printing on the back.
They all have the strange mini pocket on the left chest, and the pattern image, from Unsung Sewing Patterns, is from the 1920's, so the mini pocket was clearly quite the thing for the dashing scout-about-town. I particularly love the collar stand with the button across fastening on the Levi's shirts. And of course the box! It's a piece that looks definitively vintage, harder to wear than a western denim shirt I would think, as it's slightly smock-like.