Jean editing

Has the democratisation of denim reached its peak? DIVYA VENKATARAMAN speaks to designers who want to challenge what you know of this beloved weave

- DIVYA VENKATARAMAN

When Ritwik Khanna gets started on the topic of denim, not even a crackling transatlantic phone connection can mask the clarity of his passion: “It’s magic, you know? It can be anything. And it’s built to last. What more can you ask for?”

Khanna, who founded his label Rkive City in 2021, works with his team to manipulate denim through patchworking, traditional embroidery and avant-garde tailoring techniques at his Delhi atelier, injecting allure into a workman’s staple while still letting its natural patina shine through. The result? A medley of innovative design and sustainability (the brand aims to create no waste and uses only post-consumer materials). And Rkive City is just one among the rising tide of designers transforming the humble weave—most commonly associated with old-school Americana or used as a barometer of the generational trend cycle—in all kinds of unexpected ways.

Not many fashion staples of the 19th century have followed us into the 21st. Denim was first used to create utilitarian garments for the working class in the 1860s, and it remained in this niche until 1950s counterculture came knocking. James Dean and Marilyn Monroe bestowed it icon status and the fashion world followed suit. Denim historian and lecturer Mohsin Sajid explains that the fabric has always had rebellious connotations, so it’s no wonder younger designers are using it as a playground for experimentation. “Denim has always been a way to bend the rules, to break with the status quo,” he says. “It has such an identity within itself and brings up all kinds of associations—labourers, music icons, film stars.” Which other material can you say the same for?