Create & Decorate: Jeans as a Canvas

Personalisation and creativity in jeanswear has been around since mid last century.  Then it was a craft based exercise to make the garment " something more" decorated in either embroidery or appliqué. With decoration being the key aim. Now it is much more about flamboyance and statement, hand painting, pure artistry, messages, motifs, branding - all of which are much more hard hitting than as pure decoration.

Hand painted canvas applique onto the back of a 1950's denim jacket. Make your denims more unique and personal - express yourself through your clothes.

Energie hand painted jeans. Mid Western hand painted ecru jeans - real statement denim as art.

Caine Jeanswear plus hand painted items from Denim by PV 2016. Ecru hand painted jeans the authors own.

Create & Decorate: Decorative Branding

Branding is as essential a part of the jean as is the type and shade of the denim.  Branding not only positions the products but also makes those products more (or less) desirable.   Therefore it is essential that the visual appeal of the brand is as desirable as the product.  In designing the brand image creativity is a big deal.  I must love the look of the brand as much as the content. Decorative flamboyance in branding was more evident in the early days of the jean. It is less so today.

Vintage original branding tags.  Tags were used to express a significant a meaning, to empower the brand.

Leather patches were even used to portray a message. And of course the original Levi patch signified the strength of the product - two horses trying to pull apart a pair of jeans.  This remains in use today.

Create & Decorate : Vintage Decoration

Decoration has always been a part of the clothing or fashion scene and no less than in the arena of denim over a century ago.   Embroidered and appliqué motifs have a naive simplistic charm randomly positioned across a jacket.  For it was jackets that were then mainly used as vehicles for decoration. We also see examples of vintage embellishment where the stitchery has proliferated for its own sake, the jean or jacket becoming a blank canvas for colour and pattern in overworked threads. 

Embroidered motifs and applique were and still are used to decorate and make a statement - jeanswear was the clothing sector in which such personalisation proliferated.

Decorations were mostly naive imagery - almost childlike in their simplicity but jeans were also used as a canvas for political statement.

Vintage kimonos lent inspiration to western decoration.

Mexican motifs, creative leatherwork and embroidery proliferated in the 60's and 70's. Such creative stitchery looks fresh again today in 2016.

Trend Direction: FESTIVAL

Wear It - Festival

Decorate with braids and beads, badges and bows.

Wear chunky ankle boots with frayed cut offs to emphasise your calves. 

Embroidery in primary brights give your old denims a folksy flavour. 

Mixed patterns and mixed fabrics look spontaneous and fresh.

Collage ©TheDenimEye2016. Individual images (clockwise from top) ©topshop.com, ©foxyzingaro.blogspot.co.uk, ©wildandfreejewelry.com, ©studded-hearts.com, ©drielys.com, ©bewithstyle.com, ©lelookbcn.tumblr.com/lelook.eu, ©aviewfromtheshade.blogspot.com, ©asos.com, ©chicagostreetsyle.com, ©drielys.com

Faith Connexion £625

Junya Watanabe £495

Marc Jacobs £375

Roberto Cavalli £1,630

Ripping, repairing and fraying combined with contrast fabrics and prints.  Mix, match and play with unusual combinations of denim and other fabrics.  

Trainers or boots are the preferred footwear and fringing is a must for accessories. 

Traditional Festival girlie dresses from MiH and The GREAT!

MiH £245

The GREAT $275

Fringed suede waistcoat traditionally indian inspired, combined with a gathered bottom indigo shirt.

Abercrombie £58

Zara £29.99

Valentino £960

Zara £29.99

Trend Direction: FESTIVAL

Close Up - Decoration

Folk appliqué, embroidery and delicate decoration onto dark denim. Burnt out leaf structure could be a tonal bleached print onto mid shade indigo enhancing the wash out abilities of the indigo dye.

©TheDenimEye2016

Mexicana embroidery onto worn out vintage denims.

©TheDenimEye2016

©TheDenimEye2016

Exotic printed florals onto worn out denims. giant flowers plus rough denims create a tension of opposites with added interest of weft shredding.

©TheDenimEye2016

Frieda Kahlo style Mexican florals pigment printed onto denims.  Make your own artistry using acrylic pigment paints on yesterday's denims.

Gold pigment looks more Boho than luxe when combined with scraped and worn-in areas.

Trend Direction: FESTIVAL

Free Spirit Jeanswear. New Age traveller and open air concert goer promoting personal expression of complete freedom.  Vintage denims in 3x1 and 2x1 constructions with real authentic attitude for flares and boyfriend styles, patched and pieced with up-cycled old denims to include hand crafted decoration for the personal touch.

©TheDenimEye2016

©TheDenimEye2016

©TheDenimEye2016

Frayed, faded and decorated with exotic flowers