From what condition can you wear jeans? As soon as the knees are worn out? When, after a thousand washes, the indigo blue has finally become the residue of a hint of sky blue? Or when the tears in the crotch have been patched so often that the alterations seamstress says with a shrug that there is really nothing she can do now? Some people only start to love their jeans when they are this worn out! No other material, except perhaps leather, creates such poetry from wear and tear, whereby the signs of use are often helped along with stone wash and other methods of destruction (which, from an ecological point of view, are the purest catastrophe).
That brings us to the current jeans fashions. They rely heavily on the appeal of pre-loved (i.e.: denim has already been worn but is in good condition) or handmade distress (denim is new but has been so scrapped and frayed with so much effort that you think Iggy Pop has had the pants since 1977 not undressed). There is, for example, Luis Dobbelgarten from Firmenich in the Eifel. The 22-year-old designer is experiencing quite a hype with his label No/Faith Studios, also because stars like Kylie Jenner are ordering from him.
Very noisy overall
Dobbelgarten pieces his pants together with denim patches, super flared legs and that pre-worn look. They are decorated with umpteen patch pockets, which only have the function that even more faded fringes can hang out of their seams. bathroom button? Dobbelgarten cleverly combines the aesthetics of luxury trash à la Balmain and 90s Dolce & Gabbana with the trumpet pants/parachute pants silhouette of Gabba Kids – quasi: Dolce & Gabba. A pinch of the Xtina look from its “Stripped” days is also included. Very noisy overall.
The designs by Lutz Huelle and Bless are comparatively unobtrusive. In contrast to No/Faith Studios, both work with real vintage denim. Huelle tailors its “Shadow Denim Pants” from two pieces cut in half, one lighter and one darker, so that there is a nicely spiraled color contrast from the thighs to the back of the calves. Bless, who are currently celebrating their 25th anniversary, make so-called “jean heels” out of well-preserved Levi’s, which means they put espadrille pumps under wide denim cuffs, which are made from parts of the jeans that would otherwise be hot pants. Fun! It looks like you’ve dropped your pants and are sitting on the toilet.
This column first appeared in the Musikexpress issue 11/2022.