Denim Gets in Touch With Its Darker Side

Dark denim has been a potent trend for more than a year among the New York fashion crowd and those youthful souls who happily dedicate time and energy to maintaining their hipster reputation.

The rise in popularity of dark denim--jeans that have not been faded, stone-washed, acid-washed, ripped, frayed, distressed or otherwise unfortunately assaulted--has occurred over nearly five years.

Austrian designer Helmut Lang put indigo denim on his runway in 1994. The pants had a hard, construction worker appeal. And the designer showed them with deep cuffs, the way Marlon Brando wore his jeans in “The Wild One” in 1954.

Lang’s work not only harked back to the ‘50s, but it also foreshadowed fashion’s fascination with the ‘70s. His look referenced the disco and break-dancing eras when folks would iron and steam a sharp crease into their jeans, or send them to the dry cleaner so as not to fade the merchandise.

Other designers such as Maurice Malone suggest that they, too, deserve some credit for the increased appeal of dark, cuffed denim. Malone was cuffing his jeans and stitching his company name into them several years ago. But it was Lang’s somber, urban collection that generated the buzz. And, like bees to honey, the industry was enticed.

Dark denim began turning up on a host of other runways. The look took off among London’s trendsetters. And New York fashion insiders took to wearing Lang’s deep-hued jeans with needlelike heels and a trim T-shirt or sweater.

The jeans, as created by Lang, were priced at about $200.

The crisp, dark denim--which has been called raw denim, bull denim and hard denim--energized the jeans industry. It had been touched by the hand of fashion. Here was something that, while not new, had not been seen in a long time. Everyone wanted to cash in.

In 1998, Levi’s began advertising its “hard denim.” The dark jeans were described, proudly, as stiff enough to saw wood. They were reminiscent of the jeans folks bought and then sent through the wash cycle dozens of times, trying to prep them for their first wearing. Now they were being worn straight off the racks.

This year, Gap introduced its 1969 jeans, referring to the year Gap was founded. The midnight blue jeans with the antiqued leather patch sell for $69.

Dana McCurry, 29, recently bought a pair of dark, boot-leg-cut jeans at Lerner for about $30.

Helmut Lang? “I have no idea who that is,” she says. “But I feel bad for him because Lerner’s is making a killing.”