Denim

Gap's 1969 Jeans Shop has changed its relationship status with Los Angeles from "it's complicated" to "in a relationship." Last fall, Gap debuted its 1969 Jeans Shop as a pop-up store on Robertson Boulevard, figuring an undesigned-looking boutique would showcase the retailer's renewed focus on its core denim collection. The resulting payoff from the buzz was enough for Gap to open a permanent 1969 Jeans Shop on the same stretch of Robertson on Thursday. The 1969 Jeans Shop store fills out a larger location — the nearly 2,000-square-foot former Peter Alexander space — but retains the pop-up shop's layout with a large plywood denim display table and industrial shelves for the denim bar. The larger space accommodates two new fixtures: two mini-shops that flank the entrance featuring selected apparel pairings and a worktable with chalkboard to arrange looks.

It looks like New York Fashion Week has come down with a serious case of the blues. Blue jeans that is. While the twice-yearly showcase of designer clothing has never exactly been devoid of denim, the presentation of fashion collections for fall-winter 2012, which got underway Wednesday, is serving up a noticeably robust roster. West Coast brands including Levi Strauss, Hudson Jeans, 7 for All Mankind and a relaunched Rock & Republic have joined the ranks of the luxury labels.

There is a wild side to fall clothing and accessories. On the runway, it showed up in fur (real and faux) attached to jackets, boots, clutches and even sunglasses. From high end to mass market, snakeskin and animal prints adorn bags and shoes. And even denim is getting a dose of the exotic, with leopard-spotted, python-printed and cheetah-stamped graphics — ranging from subtle to over the top — on skinny jeans and cropped straight-leg styles. "It's an evolution of the '70s trend we saw for spring and summer," says Michele Manz, creative director of premium denim purveyor 7 for All Mankind.

These are tough times for premium denim manufacturers as retailers shrink the number of brands they carry because consumers aren't spending. But for designer denim maker AG Adriano Goldschmied, the crisis came seven years ago when the Italian designer decamped. Even though the parting was civil, key customers began dropping the company's products as a series of design chiefs came and went. Now, as some other jeans makers struggle, AG appears to be back on track. Through July, sales of the company's jeans are up more than 30% from the same period last year and sales for the year are expected to reach $80 million to $90 million, AG executives say. At a time of high unemployment, the parking lot outside its 900-worker factory in South Gate doesn't even have room for visitor vehicles; employee cars have spilled out onto the sidewalk outside the gates.

The rules for wearing denim with denim are about to be broken. Though it was a major no-no in the 1990s (think Britney Spears and Justin Timberlake in their bedazzled denim ensembles complete with denim hats and accessories), today the combination of jeans with a chambray shirt or a denim vest is not only acceptable, it's current. Celebrity stylist Nicole Chavez recently wore a light-colored chambray button-down shirt with a pair of medium-blue skinny jeans and Celine's tan wedge clogs to brunch at the Soho House, a sure sign that denim on denim really works.

Rock & Republic, the fashion brand known for its pricey designer denim and other apparel, said Thursday that it had filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. The Culver City company, whose products are sold in upscale department stores such as Bloomingdale's, Neiman Marcus and Nordstrom as well as specialty retailers and its own free-standing stores, said the filing would ease pressure on its balance sheet. Day-to-day operations are expected to continue. "The Chapter 11 filing is a strategic action that will alleviate balance sheet burdens and enable us to adopt the financial and operational initiatives needed to support the brand's growth needs," said Geoffrey D. Lurie, the privately held company's newly named chief restructuring officer.

The current trend in denim may be all about the distressed look, but Madewell is keeping its focus on basics with the launch of '37s -- a line of simple, straightforward, super-skinny jeans. Named for the year the Madewell label was started, '37s come in just one skinny fit, with five different washes that range from an edgy gray-and-black tie dye to a more conservative deep indigo. The eye-catching price: $59.

L.A.-based designer John Eshaya is in a rockin' mood. The former vice president of women's wear for Ron Herman launched his swanky-jeans-and-tees collection, Jet by John Eshaya, in 2008 and has added leather and glazed denim (which resembles leather) to his stable of slim-cut jeans for fall. Popular among trend-loving celebs including Nicole Richie, Heidi Klum and Kim Kardashian, the collection is already one of the sexiest denim lines in the stratosphere, specializing in skinny looks with just the right amount of rips, tears and vintage-inspired distressing.

Fashion's symbiotic relationship with the entertainment industry came into a little clearer focus this week with the announcement that Star Avenue Capital had acquired a majority interest in Los Angeles jeans maker J Brand. Star, based in Century City, is part of a partnership that includes New York private equity firm Irving Place Capital and Century City talent agency powerhouse Creative Artists Agency. This is the first deal for Star, which was founded last year. Star will be able to provide resources to help the 5-year-old denim company grow.

If you walked the floor of the recent Magic and Project fashion industry trade shows, you probably noticed two major themes for fall 2011 casual wear: the Old West and a continuing interest in classic American work wear. The worn-in, vintage look of work wear has been extremely popular for men for several seasons, especially with the revival and hipsterization of labels such as Pendleton and Woolrich. Now that look is marching into fall for women's accessories, unisex knits and denim.

The 2009 launch of the Pendleton Meets Opening Ceremony collection introduced the nostalgic wool brand to the fashion crowd and inspired the creation of this season's Portland Collection. Boutique retailer Opening Ceremony, with locations in Soho, Los Angeles and Tokyo, has collaborated with dozens of brands since opening its doors in 2002. It launched its own Opening Ceremony collection, which is also sold in stores such as Barneys New York and Saks. Co-founders Carol Lim and Humberto Leon have become such influential tastemakers that in July they were named the new creative directors for the Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton-owned French fashion label Kenzo.

Looking at a pair of premium denim jeans (you know, the kind that cost upward of $120 and are generally found in department stores and specialty boutiques), it can be easy to miss some of the tiny details, deliberate nicks and distressing that go into the design. The process of transforming a garment with origins in sturdy, utilitarian work wear into something pricey, fashion-forward and sometimes sexy requires lengthy design sessions, an intricate fit process and hours at a wash house where denim is treated like a science experiment-meets-an-artisan-workshop rather than a mass-produced basic churned out by the thousands in a factory.

There is a wild side to fall clothing and accessories. On the runway, it showed up in fur (real and faux) attached to jackets, boots, clutches and even sunglasses. From high end to mass market, snakeskin and animal prints adorn bags and shoes. And even denim is getting a dose of the exotic, with leopard-spotted, python-printed and cheetah-stamped graphics — ranging from subtle to over the top — on skinny jeans and cropped straight-leg styles. "It's an evolution of the '70s trend we saw for spring and summer," says Michele Manz, creative director of premium denim purveyor 7 for All Mankind.

L.A.-based designer John Eshaya is in a rockin' mood. The former vice president of women's wear for Ron Herman launched his swanky-jeans-and-tees collection, Jet by John Eshaya, in 2008 and has added leather and glazed denim (which resembles leather) to his stable of slim-cut jeans for fall. Popular among trend-loving celebs including Nicole Richie, Heidi Klum and Kim Kardashian, the collection is already one of the sexiest denim lines in the stratosphere, specializing in skinny looks with just the right amount of rips, tears and vintage-inspired distressing.

Celebrities gathered en masse on the lawn of Veterans Affairs campus for "A Time for Heroes," a June 12 benefit for the Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation. As the day's heroes, the stars, including Ashlee Simpson, Ashley Tisdale, Olivia Munn, Laila Ali, Mira Sorvino, Eva La Rue, Angus T. Jones, Melissa Rivers and Zachary Levi, mingled among guests and manned carnival-style booths. Chad Michael Murray of "One Tree Hill" supervised a rock-climbing wall, while Tatyana Ali of "The Young and the Restless" helped youngsters string beads.

Bum's the word when it comes to denim. If you're going to push your tush into a brand-new pair of jeans, might as well know how they look, right? But checking out your own rear can be a neck-craning, imprecise affair. That's where having a camera in a dressing room may be a good thing. In the World Denim Bar sections of its Los Angeles and Newport Beach stores, retailer American Rag Cie has installed such all-seeing eyes at booty level in its fitting stalls. The camera sends a streaming view of a customer's derriere on a closed-circuit loop to a screen embedded in the dressing room's mirror.

Sarah Smallwood of Tustin is perplexed by her best-dressed title. "I think dressing nice--not grungy--is important," the 18-year-old says. "I guess I get compliments on my clothes. I certainly don't make fashion a priority in my life." But even on a day that she's wearing an outfit she considers "no big deal," Sarah looks put-together in a cropped denim vest and flirty black and white dress. "I like dresses. I think they're comfortable, and I like to feel feminine." She loves sun dresses, though lately she's favored short "Brady Bunch" dresses with colored tights.

These are tough times for premium denim manufacturers as retailers shrink the number of brands they carry because consumers aren't spending. But for designer denim maker AG Adriano Goldschmied, the crisis came seven years ago when the Italian designer decamped. Even though the parting was civil, key customers began dropping the company's products as a series of design chiefs came and went. Now, as some other jeans makers struggle, AG appears to be back on track. Through July, sales of the company's jeans are up more than 30% from the same period last year and sales for the year are expected to reach $80 million to $90 million, AG executives say. At a time of high unemployment, the parking lot outside its 900-worker factory in South Gate doesn't even have room for visitor vehicles; employee cars have spilled out onto the sidewalk outside the gates.

Spring merchandise has officially hit the stores, and one trend should be immediately noticeable: bright colors. They were everywhere on the spring-summer 2011 runways, including at the Jil Sander show, where candy colors managed to look minimal when shown with crisp white shirts or layered with sleek black coats, and at Rachel Roy and Burberry, where various tones of shocking aqua and cobalt were paired for a cool (and somehow punchy) look. Color blocking, as seen on the Marni runway, is another major trend.

If you walked the floor of the recent Magic and Project fashion industry trade shows, you probably noticed two major themes for fall 2011 casual wear: the Old West and a continuing interest in classic American work wear. The worn-in, vintage look of work wear has been extremely popular for men for several seasons, especially with the revival and hipsterization of labels such as Pendleton and Woolrich. Now that look is marching into fall for women's accessories, unisex knits and denim.