What is a clothing fabric that is known throughout the world, and when the word is spoken, you can picture the sturdy material immediately in your mind? Denim!
Many people equate denim with blue jeans, and this is an extremely valued piece of clothing. However, denim also exists in shirts, jackets, shorts, skirts, dresses, handbags/purses, overalls, hats and even shoes! Denim is a divinely delicious garment of clothing that speaks to the masses and is revered by many! Pop culture adores their denim!
Denim is a rugged cotton twill textile, in which the weft passes under two or more warp threads. This twill weaving produces the familiar diagonal ribbing of the fabric, which distinguishes denim from cotton duck.
Here is a picture of me wearing a denim vest (I am also wearing denim jeans, not seen in this headshot photograph). My personal clothing tastes for myself tend to run a bit more elegantly than denim, but hey, I’m playing in the park!
It is characteristic of any indigo denim that only the warp threads are dyed, whereas the white weft threads remain plain white. As you can see from my picture, as a result of this warp-faced twill weaving, one side of the fabric shows the blue warp threads, and the other side shows the white weft threads. This is what makes denim’s fading characteristics unique compared to every other fabric!
There are many women’s denim jackets and tops that are extremely stylish and sporty, combined into one garment!
Interesting Trivia Fun Fact: Denim has been used in America since the late 18th century. The word comes from the name of a sturdy fabric called serge, originally made in Nimes, France, by the Andre family. At first called Serge de Nimes, the name was soon shortened to denim.
Denim was traditionally colored blue with indigo dye to make blue jeans. The use of jeans comes from the French word for Geneo, Italy (Genes), where the first denim trousers were made. In addition to blue jean pants, it has become fashionable to wear ripped, torn jeans, or to cut your long legged jeans into shorts. Daisy Duke shorts, which are made of denim and are extremely short, are a coveted pair of denim short shorts!
For a different look than hemmed denim shorts, it is fashionable and acceptable to leave fringe dangling from the ends of the short cut-offs, or to bedazzle the denim shorts with jewels, rhinestones, colorful patches of material, etc. You are free to design your own pair of denim shorts to draw out your unique, creative personality.
Some various types of denim are dry or raw denim (as opposed to washed denim), where the material is not washed after being dyed during its production. There is also selvedge denim, where the material forms a clean natural edge that doesn’t unravel.
Immensely popular denim clothing items for women are skirts and shirts!
As with all types of material, the handbag and/or purse that you are carrying speaks volumes to accessorize and spice up your outfit. This rings true with denim bags!
As I noted earlier, to personalize your denim, adding glitter, fun, colorful stitching and jewels or rhinestones to the garment lights up any clothing item!
One look with denim that I find exceptionally attractive is when you wear denim blue jeans (either straight legged or flaired) and then you dress the pants up with high heeled, fancy shoes and a feminine blouse or top. I love straight legged blue jeans worn with an angora sweater, and then a long strand of white pearls worn around the neck, hanging down over the front of the sweater. And, on the feet, high heels of course! This is one classy look!
A mixture of elan meets country!
A major denim trend is fading the denim before the clothing item is worn. Fading patterns are another way of personalizing the garment for each individual wearer.
Categories of Fading Are:
- Whiskers – Faded streaks that surround the crotch of the denim.
- Combs (Honey Combs) – Streaks of faded lines that are found behind the knee.
- Stacks – The inseam of the denim is hemmed a few inches longer than the actual length. The extra fabric stacks on top of the shoe, causing a fade to form around the ankle to calf area of the denim.
- Train Tracks – This fade pattern appears on the outseams of the denim and showcases the selvedge by forming two sets of fades that resemble train tracks.
Those are examples of the fun that you can have frillying up your denim fabric!
Another popular variance of denim is stretch denim. This denim is many times used to make skinny jeans, as the material has an elastic component that allows the fabric to cling, and then stretch and give as the wearer moves. The pants fit snuggly and tightly, yet are easy to move in and are not heavy, cumbersome or binding.
As much as denim can be worn while farming animals or enjoying a day in the pouring rain and mud, denim can also wrap your body in high end glamour girl fluff!
Another great look with denim jeans is to wear a jacket or blazer along with an ankle boot, or knee high boots with the pant legs tucked into the boots!
With denim, the sky truly is the limit. There are boundless fashionable, vogue clothing ensembles that can be put together with using denim fabric!
From simple tastes to top notch tastes, there is a place for denim in every wardrobe.
Step out divine in delicious denim duds!
You’ll be the envy of every other material in the room!
Author Nancy Mangano is the author of two novels, A Passion for Prying and Murder Can Be Messy. Nancy has interwoven her love of detective work and her lifelong allure to style into her novels. Visit Nancy on her author website at www.nancymangano.com, her author/style blog at www.passionforprying.wordpress.com, Twitter @nancymangano and her author Facebook page Nancy Mangano.
