“Denim Dudes: Street Style – Vintage – Workwear – Obsession” by Amy Leverton (available March 2015) is a visual feast of men who love their denim deeply. Passionately. Contagiously. As a reader, it’s hard not to get inspired by these 90+ dudes from all around the world.
(Above, featured) Greg Chapman, creative director of H.W. Carter & Sons. Location: Brooklyn, New York. Photo by Adam Katz Sinding.
I am feeling really inspired by Amy Leverton, who is on a worldwide quest to learn everything about denim and jeans. In the process of never-ending yet addictive journey of learning and crazy schedules, she somehow was able put together this book Denim Dudes, which will be out very soon on March 2015.
The book is a visual marvel for denim admirers of all levels; the dudes featured in this book are from all around the world: New York, L.A., San Francisco, Paris, London, Stockholm, Berlin, Amsterdam, Tokyo, Sydney, and Melbourne. Each have their own personal style take and inner obsession about wearing denim (daily in most cases), and yet they have thematic similarities depending on their regions. It’s fascinating.
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There are 2 – 6 photos dedicated to each of the 90+ men in Denim Dudes, and each of them has a snippet of text detailing their name, title, shooting location, as well as a short love story of each men’s obsession with denim. Many of them are denim designers, co-founders, and store owners, however Ms. Leverton does a good job of balancing the seasoned ones with denim newbies.
If you’re looking for a more textual context of each persons (many of them are denim heavy-weights who have contributed a great deal to the current denim industry landscape), you will perhaps be disappointed. Instead, this book is filled with rich visual cues as surrounding context to the concise snippets that accompany each denim dudes. While textual context would be much welcomed, I believe this book achieves its objective in providing aesthetic inspirations and sparking deeper interest in all things denim.
Moreover, Ms. Leverton noted in the book’s introduction that she barely scratched the surface. Despite gathering the materials from all around, there are many places yet to be represented, such as Hong Kong, Copenhagen, Osaka, among others. Perhaps recognizing this fact itself will trigger the second volume of Denim Dudes…or even the denim dudettes, as she also acknowledged in the introduction.
Regardless of what’s to come, I am really enjoying the many styles of these denim dudes!
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Olu Alege, co-founder of Street Level Culture. Location: New York.
Photo by Adam Katz Sinding.
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Jonathan Lukacek, founder of the Bandanna Almanac, Osaka. Location: Denim Bruin, San Francisco.
Photo by Ulysses Ortega.
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Carl Malmgren, head of denim design at Cheap Monday. Location: Stockholm.
Photo by Märta Thisner.
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Shaka Maidoh and Sam Lambert, co-founders of Art Comes First. Location: London.
Photo by Stephanie Sian-Smith.
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François Girbaud, designer. Location: Denim by Premiere Vision in Paris.
Photo by Valentina Frugiuele.
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Shuji Ohashi, denim designer at Kapital. Location: Tokyo.
Photo by Takuya Shima.
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Pär Lundqvist, co-founder / creative director of Neuw. Location: Melbourne.
Photo by Albert Comper.
One more thing I’d like to mention is the details. Many of these photos are so inspiring to me as a DIYer. Things like patchwork-fusion shirt (like the one sported by Jonathan Lukacek above), a heart-shaped button on a pair of jeans, denim tabi shoes, and curved zipper detail on the back of a denim shirt make my eyes go wider. There are so many design inspirations from this book, and I really appreciate the time and effort spent by Ms. Leverton, the photographers, and the rest of her team.
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Jeans and shoes of Herbert Johnson, creative director of Prospective Flow, LA. Location: Liberty Trade Show, New York.
Photo by Adam Katz Sinding.
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Jeans button detail of Mark Westmoreland, owner of The One Goods. Location: Air Street, London.
Photo by Stephanie Sian-Smith.
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Philip Rudjeanski, denim designer and founder of BALAGANS.
Photo by Valentina Frugiuele. Location: Denim by Premiere Vision in Paris.
As someone who has a newly found appreciation to denim and a DIY fashion maker, I really love this book. I think many of you would enjoy this book, too. So don’t forget to add a copy of Denim Dudes in your own personal library, especially if you’re a denim lover!
Thank you for reading; until next time,
Musank
Photos courtesy of Denim Dudes via Laurence King Publishing.
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