Our favorite Danish fashion brand Libertine-Libertine and our own Dutch denim store Tenue de Nîmes have joined hands. Taking the best of both worlds (fashion and denim) naturally meant co-creating a limited edition denim shirt based on the Libertine-Libertine design Hobo, which refers to a homeless traveler. Inspired by the Jack Kerouac masterpiece ‘On the Road’ the denim shirt symbolizes mobility and the warmth that new and unexpected experiences provide. The shirt contains numerous hidden treasures like the check-lined collar and cuffs and the subtle white Tenue de Nîmes cross embroidery on the right front of each garment. The Hobo shirt is exclusively available at Tenue de Nîmes. More pictures after the click >

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Edwin just released its Spring Summer 2011 catalogue with some really nice photography. The Edwin team and photographer Benjamin Robinson were ‘invited to friends homes and places they felt were important to them. The photographs were not retouched, leaving the imperfections of life and dust present. The sun shon, then hid behind clouds, spring showers would open up on us and finally the sun would shine again. In essence, a true representation of a spring-summer season and capturing images of real people in their city.’ Lovely!
Download the catalogue here >

Naked and Famous published a new brand video on their website. On request of Tenue de Nîmes they shared it on Vimeo so we could show it to you. Enjoy the show.

An amazing video from Takayuki Akachi documenting a girl wearing denim whilst travelling across 50 different countries in two years.
Via the Edwin Blog

San Francisco based denim label Tellason and Dutch denim store Tenue de Nîmes have joined hands. Tellason have produced an exclusive run of 24 hand-numbered pairs of jeans made from the legendary selvedge -White Oak- Cone denim. The leather patch, made by Tanner goods in Portland, shows the Tellason logo connected to the Tenue de Nîmes cross. It symbolizes the shared passion for high quality and well-crafted denim. This limited edition Tellason x Tenue de Nîmes denim is available for €199,90 at Tenue de Nîmes in Amsterdam as from today.

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I wrote about Koen Tossijn before because I was impressed and inspired by his denim label Moos Tailored Basics. When you can’t pay his lovely raw denim, or have something better than money, you can make a trade with him. The Dutch DJ Aardvarck made a special mix for Koen, in return for a denim.

13-04-2010 Aardvarck-Moos:
“with your mix you set me completely free. I go deeper and deeper into the essence of beauty.
The content is very heavy, begins with classical, jazz, etc. ..
Is this ok?”

13-04-2010 Moos-Aardvarck:
“It can’t go deep enough!!!!”

It’s amazing! Go listen and download the mix here >

Last January we were honored to met the brothers behind Naked and Famous at (capsule) Paris and we fell in love immediately! Now, a few months later, we received our first raw denim and I must say, I’m not wearing anything else anymore. Together with Menno & Rene (Tenue de Nîmes) we started this as a little project to see how this beautiful Japanese broken twill denim will fade until we are Naked and Famous. To be continued…

Just received an email from the Amsterdam born Koen Tossijn a.k.a. Moos, Tailored Basics, to introduce his made to measure jeans. Started with the dream to make something for the people around him he create the ‘tailored basics’ all from a 14 oz selvage natural dyed indigo denim from the Kuroki mill in Okayama, Japan. At this moment he is working on two outfits based on post war essentials, a men and a woman. What is more beautiful than real, small and engaged craftsmanship?! And the best thing? You can simply buy an item with money, or make something which you believe is of equal value… (PS. Be sure you’ll check his picture blog as well)

Denim Legends is one of these books I thought I wont buy because it’s good, but not worth the full 800 euro’s. So I’m very happy to see that the best part of it, the first half of the book which is filled with the vintage stuff before 1980, is shot by one photographer, Michael Wells, who shared it online in his portfolio. Well, not everything, but enough for me to re-consider buying the book anyway…

Edwin just launched their second EDZINE, a monochromatic visual and written journal of cultural ephemera from the darker recesses of the minds at and associated with … Edwin. Strange, dark and beautiful…

I guess all of us denim admirers are in desperate need of some proper jeans literature after books like Denim design, The Denim bible by Sportswear United, and Denim: From Cowboys to Catwalks. Recently the limited title ‘Denim Legends’ did all of our hearts stop for a second, but the price makes it a book that one has to save some money for every month. Luckily there are people like the Selvedge Yard that share their passionate words online. Last October JP published his view on the revelation of denim. After reading the following personal opinion we knew that our philosophy on the greatness of jeans has a lot of similarities with his:

“It may sound strange, but denim represents all that I consider to be good and of value in the world. It’s pure, honest, unpretentious, reliable, hard-working, American tradition that gets better with age.”

JP shares his first Levi’s experience in the article and then takes icons from the past to share some unique denim anecdotes. On the picture you see Bing Crosby, one of the main characters of the article as published on SY. Read the full story here.

On Friday 20 November our denim inspired boutique Tenue de Nîmes celebrates its 1 year anniversary with the launch of an exhibition called ‘Under Water Indigo’ by Thomas Tukker. All the images of the exhibition have been shot under water and refer to the authentic indigo bath. By combining the pureness of this classic colouring method with the beauty of the female body in work wear, the photographer refers to the paradoxical identity of the denim cloth. By emphasizing this paradox the exposition embraces the most important starting point of the Tenue de Nîmes store: the beauty, but also the diversity of denim. More soon…

Our friend and denim devotee Samuel finally put online his blog/gallery on Denim and the Good Things that go well with it called Cotton Duck.
A beautiful mix of Mister Freedom, vintage bags and accessories and everything in between…

Our new Journal de Nîmes is finally there. We are very proud to show you a glimpse online here.  If you wish to get a paper copy please step by the Tenue de Nîmes store next week. Soon the Journal will be available in the anothershop.

Our friends at Denim Demon will host an extraordinary photo exhibition called ‘Gilmehte Jeansa’ at Tenue de Nîmes from Juy 24th untill October 15th. “Gilmehte Jeansa” means frozen jeans. It refers to Project Ware Outs by denim brand Denim Demon in which the founders discover the origin of the Samí people. The Samí live in the entire North of Scandinavia with reindeer herding as most important trade. Photographer Sebastian Skarp made a stunning report on the life of one of the largest etnic indigenous groups of the world. Read more.

Last week Menno and I went to Berlin, to the Bread & Butter and Premium. After one day BB we can say it is all quite the same. Sure, every brand got its own details, but 95% of the show is about the great classic revival and it didn’t inspired me. What was inspiring was the tiny place with Nigel Cabourn, Filson and Red Wing Shoes, and off course the unforgettable Moma boat shoes (displayed above). Later that day we went to Premium, to our friends at Denim Demon, Whyzeck and newcomer Libertine-Libertine. And I must say, Denim Demon is going to rock hard! The result of the Project Ware Outs is breath taking and the new sping/summer ‘10 collections of Whyszeck and Denim Demon are fantastic! Later this month we’ll have an exhibition with the wear out project at Tenue de Nîmes and the Modefabriek… Stay tuned for that one.

The second day in Berlin we visited 14oz, do you read me?!, Acne, Andreas Murkudis, 51 Things to buy at little nippn world, APC, ending our trip at Burg & Schild. Berlin is rocking!

Check the Tenue de Nîmes website for more images >

Nick Maggio from a time to get did a special feature on Mr Freedom, the best vintage dealer of the world… ‘When I walk in, the smell of a-couple-hundred-thousand-years of collective history tickles my nose and draws my mouth into a smile. I have arrived. If the pieces on the floor could tell stories of their travels, there would be no need for film or books. People would simply come to Mister Freedom, huddle in a circle around a 1944 Army Issue fleece, and listen to tales of where they’ve been and what they’ve seen.’ Continue reading >

Beautifull still photography by Patricia Schwoerer

Denim Demon. In short: indigo quality, fantastic details (like a tiny white selvage), and roots in the beautiful Sami culture. Check their blog/project about the ‘washing’ of the denim in Lappland, lovely! Now I’m wearing one myself I feel like starting a reindeer farm somewhere in the far north… ;-)
Soon available at TdN

Keep an eye on Petronio Associates, formerly known as Work in Progress and publishers of Self Service magazine. great work!