HIGH STAKES DENIM: Flamboyance

Mens couture from Alexander McQueen demonstrates just how flamboyant high stakes denim for men can become.  Embellishment onto a simple monochrome jeans and jacket combo is cool and surprisingly masculine with delicate stitchery onto a heavy weight denim.

Designer: Alexander McQueen 

Dolce Gabbana below is also over embellishing and decorating his "not so classic" jeans and jackets.  D&G throw the kitchen sink at their flamboyant garments even for men.  They have so much embellishment that to describe it diminishes the look.

Designer: Dolce & Gabbana 

Designer: Dolce & Gabbana 

The flamboyant denim creations from Christian Dior below mixes frills with page boy studs and frayed edges and again with masses of indigo and ecru fringing plus bi shade indigo denim.  Oversizing the shapes creates a substantial silhouette as a vehicle for this overstated detailing.

Designer: Christian Dior 

We have to wind up this flamboyance with the master of the trend himself - Versace. From whose atelier everything is overdone, overworked and overstated.  The wearer needs a big personality.

HIGH STAKES DENIM: Sharp Tailoring | Clean Lines

Tailored Denim is cool clean and smart. Clever cutting and shaping with little or no washing of the denim lends a casual touch to a high styled garment.  Mixing street denim with a brand name.

Designers: Left: Marques Almeida | Right and centre: Alexander McQueen

Clever shaping from Marques Almeida with added studding for a harder edge when combined with a bleached out denim begs the question - is it high fashion or street denim?   Here we repeat again the amazing Mcqueen's multi seam shaping and multilayered styling.  He gathers in the extra fullness with such panache making the shaping of what is a tough fabric into truly glamorous tailored pieces.

 

Designers (from left to right): Dior, Dior close up, Carolina Herrera, Sacai

Dior uses blue denim with flare - cutting an oversized sharp blazer in a combination of indigo shades to restate the difference between this and a standard jacket. Combined with this indigo and ecru cotton fringed skirt is a real must have combo.   Whilst Carolina Herrera and Sacai have concentrated on the simplicity of long line super shaped dresses.

Designers: Left: Cerutti 1881 | Right: Fendi 

Raw rigid denim with red selvedge is truly the signature of couture mens denim wear. Here from Cerutti. Simple tailored suits with subtle style differences look fresh in denim with a slight lustre.   Likewise, Fendi shows their flare for feminine yet strict tailoring by emphasising the style detail with bold contrast top stitching 

Designers: Left: Tibi | Right: Nina Ricci 

Full and light weight denims are formed into oversized pant suits from Tibi whilst Nina Ricci again demonstrates her genius for sharp tailoring and top stitching.

HIGH STAKES DENIM: True Glamour

Glamour jeans have become recognised by their over embellishment.  Anna Sui is known for her over-use of embroidery, beading and braiding on what is basically a simple denim jean or jacket.

Embroidered story telling makes this shearling trimmed denim jacket from Gucci a covetable piece.  Especially when combined with a bold tweed skirt. Super youthful styling but super expensive pricing!

Versace takes his glamour and flamboyance to the extreme below.  Using basic jeanswear shapes as a vehicle to elevate the idea of denim wear.

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Western shirt shape with denim shorts. And Jeans topped with constructed denim top. All encrusted and embellished with beading, appliqué and embroidery within an old fashioned seaside theme.

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Black denim from Versace again has been given the Western Matador treatment with studded decoration and gold thread motifs.  Clearly building on a western theme both in accessories as well as decoration.

TREND ALERT - HIGH STAKES DENIM: Not so simple jeans n' jackets n' skirts

High fashion Luxe Denim is elevated above the simplicity of the daily jean as we know it.  Luxe denim may follow original vintage inspiration, remodelling fit and form and adding personalised limited edition detailing.  It is the clever cutting, higher design form, embellishment and creativity that commands the high stakes price and desirability.   Couture and Ready to Wear brands are highly sought due to their limited editions and the almost rock star status of the Designer.  It is encouraging to note the extensive use of simple denim at couture and catwalk levels.  Thereby influencing the confection of high street denims.

Designers: Left: Tibi  | Right: Fendi 

Voluminous beautifully cut Tibi man style pants suits in dark barely washed denim takes blue denim into a formal fashion conversation.  Likewise with a formal dress from Fendi in unwashed lightweight denim where the styling details are imaginative and dramatically visible. 

Designers: Left: Alexander McQueen | Right: Oscar De La Renta

Flamboyant yet super clean cutting from the atelier of Alexander McQueen. The Atelier has focussed on visible seaming, multilayering and clever shaping bottomed out with kick frills of contrast fabric.  This is flamboyant longevity to wear with pride. Oscar de La Renta is showing less flamboyance, instead moves subtly from an original Levi style cut in jacket and skirt with a difference in slits and shaping topped off with paint splashed finish.

Designers: : Left: Stella McCartney | Right: Mary Kantrantzou

Stella's signature boiler suit having a nod to its denim origins whilst being simple is flamboyant in colour and gathering detail to contain the volume.  Attention to details of seaming and top stitched cording and most importantly the high quality non denim fabric are all signatures of Stella. Mary Kantrantzou has stepped right away from denim in both her use of performance fabric and brilliant colour blocking.  The nod to the denims is in the studding and riveting.  Her pieces sit alongside denims and jeans adding the sport influence rather than emulating them. 

Designers: Left: R13 | Right: Calvin Klein 

Mixing leather, denim and plaid in jeans influenced styling is a clever combo. Topped off with cowboy boots in metallic leather. Such creativity and use of fabric has resulted in a covetable outfit from the denim brand R13.  The creative catwalk collection from R13 has raised the profile of the main brand which is likewise one of the best in the business.  Hand dyed leather from Calvin Klein helps elevate his jeans line to catwalk status

Designers: Left: Dolce and Gabbana | Center and right: Chanel

Dolce & Gabbana bring their creative and unusual flair to what essentially could be a simple jacket and jeans combo - Nothing is simple from D&G!  Chanel is more elegant.  Shaping and top stitch seaming forms the embellished denim jacket into the puffed transparent skirt below.

Designers: Left: Paul and Joe | Right: Gucci 

Super creative hand made denim fabric, fashioned from a commercial jacquard fabric hand finished with stitching and fraying from Paul & Joe in what would be originally a work style jacket.   Whilst Gucci keeps it more simple with hand drawing onto his sheering trimmed trucker jacket.

Designers (from left to right): Junya Watanabe Man, Lye Lysianne, Junya Watanabe Man A Cold Wall, John Lawrence Sullivan 

Various top designers play with denim combining it with sport fabric in simple and not so simple jacket shapes for men.  Watanabe shows off her signature jeans patching and shiny coating for her mens collection. Adding cutting edge to simple loose jeans.

Sport and jeanswear are natural bedfellows demonstrated here very well by the creative use of visible zippers to embellish khaki cargos cinched with a studded military belt from Marques Almeida.