JEANS SOPHISTICATE

I am something of a fan of Justine Picardie's 'The Closet Thinker' column in Sunday's Stella magazine. Real issues written about (solved) with intelligence and panache. This week she picked a universally 'pet' topic - the perfect jeans. She makes some (welcome) reflections on the need for more grown up looks -- tailored, dark and suited to specific body type. More importantly she hones in on some key requirements -- contoured waistbands (higher at the back), flattening (flattering) pocket-less fronts. Thank you Justine for focusing our minds.

We'd like to add 1 other key element to her list -- 'butt-enhancement'. And point you in the direction of Starr Dailey-Webb's AOKI jeans which she emphasizes have this effect (contoured waistbands come as standard).

Below a few of our favourites that we now view with renewed respect.

Wide leg, high waist Traci
or, skinny, mid-waist Mandy
And as we're on the topic, tummy-flattening and waist contoured can't be done better than by Undesigned's Kick Flare bamboo denim jean.

SHALOM HARLOWE IN AOKI AND DEVIDOLL ON MONGOLIA

Canadian born model Shalom likes her fashion green. And we like that. We also like the idea of Bokashi composting (perfect for city-living) that she drew our attention to.

She's wearing AOKI's Traci jean here and though you can't see the 2 mini front-pockets and high waist you can see the rich denim colour and fantastic flare.

Also on her favourites list is mongolian cashmere by Stewart & Brown. Mongolian cashmere is an interesting export from an otherwise sort of forgotten country (I mean apart from Genghis Khan, what comes to mind??). The extremely fine quality of cashmere is produced by nomadic herdsmen for whom this is a traditional way of life and only real skill set. Mongolia's move from a socialist to a capitalist economy and related attempts to integrate with the globalized cashmere market have created problems for these nomadic producers. Chief among these is the destabilizing effects from moving cashmere processing outside of Mongolia. Add to this historic poverty and natural desertification and you get a pretty bleak picture. Read about this whole issue in more detail here.

Stewart&Brown know their mongolian herding suppliers and keep all aspects of production in Mongolia so as to ensure the herdspeople are part of a sustainability cycle. As far as DeviDoll is concerned this makes their cashmere truly cozy, warming and alluring.

JEANS JEANS JEANS AND WHAT IT ALL MEANS

So here we are – DeviDoll’s first blog entry. If you don’t know us yet please visit us here. If you do know us then a big big Thank You for all the support.







What to talk about first?

How to introduce ourselves best? What to say that will be relevant to you and representative of us? I've decided the best thing is to keep it simple: talk about JEANS. We all love them, wear them, need them and buy them. About as democratic as fashion can be (want to know more about the history and sociology of jeans?).


At DeviDoll we L-O-V-E jeans (not least because most of us here are inveterate ‘dress them up-dress them down-but wear ‘em 24 hours’ types) and, much to our relief, it looks like every kind of jean is ‘in’ pretty much all the time.
Sure, the skinny shot into focus for the longest time, then high waisted usurped some airtime and the kick flare is having a moment too, but hey, Kate Moss steps out in whatever moves her on the day (high waisted at the end of summer and then skinny greys in Grazia this week) and if that’s not a signal, then we don’t know what is: ladies, wear the jeans you like, when you like. You’ll be fine.

For the skinny lover check out AOKI’s Riley or Mandy, for the ‘boyfriend cut’ nothing beats the Billy. Need your high waisted '70s fix? The Traci is your only port of call. But if you’re into flares but no extremist,check out Carol Young’s bamboo denim C-Flip jeans. Sweet.

A slew of jeans to fit every body and preference...without harming anything/one. In case you don't get what I mean, watch a few clips from China Blue and you will understand why buying ethically produced jeans makes a difference and to whom.

China Blue goes behind the scenes at Chinese factories that produce jeans for the biggest names in the Western market. And its not pretty. One of the most poignant bits is seeing how Jasmine and her colleagues keep up with the gruelling hours and relentless deadlines. Clothes pins are used to keep tired eyes open through shifts and naps are caught when possible. This movie is no tear jerker nor is it a anti-capitalism/globalization tirade. It’s a stark dose of reality that asks every individual consumer to face the truth.



At DeviDoll we’ve decided we simply can’t kid ourselves any more.