Last week I was in Amsterdam for the latest Hackett shop opening and at the party to celebrate the occasion I was chatting to a journalist who mentioned that Amsterdam is considered the capital of denim so much so that there is course available to study denim. I supposed that once you had completed the course you would be awarded a degree in Jeaniology.
Wandering around Amsterdam I was struck by how many famous jean brands had set up shop in the city from Pepe Jeans to Levi's. I remember when I was around 14 buying my first pair of shrink to fit Levi's and sitting in the bath as they shrunk. I then moved on to a pair of bell bottom Levi's, it was the 70s and in the early 80s I was barely out of Levi's 501s. To this day I still wear Levi's, my preferred fit being 505s which I buy from a little shop called Cinch off Carnaby St, they are narrow but not skinny, there now I've said it, the Jeanie's out of the bottle.
I often read articles written by fashion pundits that men should not wear jeans after the age of thirty, advice that is widely ignored by the vast majority myself included. At Hackett, our five pocket jeans regularly top the list of best sellers and looking at recent fashion pages it seems that denim is enjoying a revival in the guise of double denim, although I'm sure for many people it never went away. Passing the smart French shoemaker Corthay in well heeled Belgravia I spotted in their window a pair of properly made shoes with dark denim uppers which I thought would look great once they are beaten up a bit but wearing them with jeans might be taking double denim a step to far.
Jeremy Hackett
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