Denim Autumn-Winter 23-24: Multifaceted fashion fantasy The 12 May 2022 - Autumn-Winter 23-24 - Denim - Fabrics - Accessories

Clean-washed denims evoke bare concrete walls embellished with graphic elements. Designed in an endless series of constructions and deconstructions, they bring a touch of fun and optimism.

In an upcycling spirit, the patchwork technique is used in geometric patterns. Triangles and rectangles blend together, interlocking to allude to the urban elements of our daily lives. Forms of different sizes, materials and patterns overlap. The pockets are designed on different scales, as if from fabric offcuts, and multiply endlessly to imitate the frenetic pace of our ordinary lives.

A nod to street art also gives rise to a strong need for expression. On jeans, slogans accumulate in XXL-format, with lettering and patches assembled spontaneously on multicoloured backgrounds. Dévoré and laser printing techniques are used on dark denims.

Nature, omnipresent this season, also imbues the creative trends of denim: a way of bringing the poetry of plants into our worlds.

Exuberant and mysterious leaves, in the form of jacquard, powerfully enliven the surface of the jeans. In a more Tachist spirit, the jacquards form abstract plant camouflages as they play with materials – the wefts are layered, and the enhanced tones combine into a palette. At times, they are enriched with discreet lurex threads. This refined nature materialises through almost transparent, ultra-lightweight cotton voile, which is embroidered with indigo thread representing realistic tone-on-tone flowers.

We’re talking worn, holey, damaged, even ripped denim. Fringed yokes anarchically placed like patches, part of an upcycling initiative. The jeans are enhanced using a laser technique: the surfaces are emphatically modified, rasped and rubbed. Random grey and black washes are in, and are incongruously placed for emphasis on the clothing. Intense waxy appearances imitate engine oil stains spreading over the surface, while matt coatings are reminiscent of authentic leathers. The surfaces are rusted in certain areas and intermingle with more yellowed parts, as if aged. Accessories are also based on this aesthetic. Rivets show a rusted appearance while labels sport forms deteriorated by time.

This extravagance is also reflected by an exuberant penchant for fraying. Fringed effects, more or less hirsute, like crazy hair, are woven into the denim or extricate themselves from it as if setting themselves free. On raw denims, multicolour and sparse threads evoke balding crests thus decorating the surfaces with an offbeat touch. In tone-on-tone, the eccentric long- and thick-haired manes call strange animals to mind.