Today is the first day of winter, and when it's as cold as it is here in Gothenburg at the moment, -10C, it's always good to look back and remember the care-free days of summer.
Days when you throw on your favourite jeans, a pair of converse and a T-shirt and then sit out and enjoy the sun.
At the moment I have 4 pairs of raw denim jeans that are still unwashed. In age they range from 13 months to 3 months. It's the new ones that are the worst at the moment, especially the Red Selvage Ormonds, that still leave blue marks on everything. Even my laptop bag. I've warned everyone about this before, but even with the warnings and being aware, there's not much you can do. It's part of choosing to wear raw denim jeans.
A word of warning, when you buy your first pair of raw denim jeans, watch out for the blue. There's a lot of excess indigo dye in raw denim. It gets everywhere. If you wear white underwear they'll be blue afterwards. A white couch is the worst if you sit on it. Your hands will be blue after a day, and especially white shoes. So watch out with them. After a while, especially after the first wash, it gets better.
Today I have on another new pair of Dr.Denim Jeans. They're called Stanley, and is a very heavy selvage denim, with built in suspenders. For now they're hard and heavy. I need to have them on a bit before they will start fitting and feeling softer and a bit more comfortable. But here again, how to keep them dry when it's raining all the time?
According to Dr.Denim's tag on my Selvage jeans, Selvage denim is woven on old, slow and rare 30" shuttle looms. Combined with high quality long fiber cotton, the looms give you a grat historic fabric through which you will eventually get your own story told.
Here's an article I wrote on Day 163 about Selvage denim and another on Day 108 about Chain Stitching, in case you're interested. Along with two articles on Wikipedia about Selvage denim and Selvage.
Yesterday I got my first pair of salvage jeans from Dr.Denim, a pair of Ormonds Red Salvage Raw jeans. The same problem exists as what I had with my first pair of Harris Blue Black Raw jeans, how to keep them dry in a country that has so many rainy days. Getting them wet prematurely ensures definite shrinking, which isn't the idea with raw denim.
The 2011 Spring/Summer runway show for Men was a lot different to the Autumn/Winter show I attended last year. A lot tougher, straighter lines and very nice fabrics.
To view all the images, click here.
Dr.Denim Jeans has recently held their Spring/Summer runway show for 2011. Below is the women's collection. This year the collection consisted neatly of 50% men and 50% women's clothing. The ladies collection was very sensual, mature with great fabrics and textures.
To view all the images, click here.
Yesterday I attended the Dr.Denim runway show in Stockholm, as part of the Berns Fashion Week. The collection for Spring/Summer 2011 is in a word, solid. I asked Morton before the show about the colection, and he said that this year it was split 50/50 between men and women. And it was true. Such sensual and mature lines on the women's collection and very interesting use of textures. For the men there were also some fantastic textures and straighter lines. In their own words, "Slim fits remain strong while a more relaxed, tapered silhouette gains ground".
Dr.Denim's News Release (2010-08-18)
Spring/Summer 2011 "Cultural art nerd in a denim mill"
Dr.Denim's spring 2011 collection blends a modern take on denim history with a fashion range conveying a sense of intellectual simplicity built on modern classic looks.
I'll be publishing my own set of runway photos later on today, as well as some directly from Dr.Denim. Here's a post on the Dr.Denim blog about the show.
This day had to come. It's one month short of 2 years since I bought this pair of Dr.Denim jeans and started this blog. In that time I've worn this pair of Harris BlueBlack Raw jeans a lot. Really a lot. They're by far my favourite pair, but with all things in life they're starting to show some wear and tear. Now mind you not all wear and tear marks will be fixed. Just the things I think need to, to keep them from falling apart at the seams so to speak. With that I thought it was time to fix the thread that got loose on one of the back pockets. Simple fix and looking good again.
I used extra strong cotton thread, in blue, then simply wove the gold thread back in place. There's some other places on this specific pair of jeans that'll need some attention soon too.
The United Nations started an Environment Program (www.unep.org). The aim is to provide leadership and encourage partnership in caring for the environment by inspiring, informing, and enabling nations and peoples to improve their quality of life without compromising that of future generations.
It's a excellent idea, because the savings in the end are enormous for the environment. Saving water and saving electricity.
Below is the video they did to get people to not wash their jeans as often as they do. I take it they assumed eveyone washes their jeans after each wear. Now they encourage them to not only wash them after wearing them three times, but to also not dry them in the drier. Don't really know anyone who will tumble dry their jeans, but apparently they are out there. I think most following this blog washes their jeans twice a year, I know my original Dr.Denim Harris pair has now been washed twice in 20 months. Oops, that reminds me, I need to publish the photos from the last wash.
Thanks to Anonymous for posting the link to this article in the comments and dgleyze for posting a working version on YouTube. Here's the link to the United Nations Environment program regarding this video.
Today was a good day. I received my clothing I ordered from Dr.Denim. A box of shirts and jeans. Over the next few days I'll post some photos of it all.
Below I'm wearing a shirt called Laurence the Third and the jeans are Ormond grey washed. As I said at the start of this blog, Dr.Denim make clothing that just seem to fit me. Skinny and slim.
Today is the first day of winter, and when it's as cold as it is here in Gothenburg at the moment, -10C, it's always good to look back and remember the care-free days of summer.
