In the pantheon of casual wear, the denim jacket occupies an especially revered corner. It’s the go-anywhere, do-anything jacket, equally at home on the red carpet sporting a designer label as it is flapping in the wind on a motorcyclist’s back. In other words, it’s both a great leveller and a measure of designer sensibility, and there aren’t many garments you can say that about.

While the denim jacket has been a staple of youths’ wardrobes from the 1950s, it did fade slightly as a fashion item during the 1980s, to be replaced by a leather jacket or a smarter New Romantic look (although it never disappeared completely). It was probably the Indie scene of the nineties and noughties that rehabilitated the denim as a jacket to look cool in. Most of the successful bands of the time, such as Sleeper, Oasis and Blur, were rocking denim jackets and managed to make them look vital again. The period ironically witnessed something of a dip in the popularity of jeans, with the surfer, combat and cargo trousers being hugely popular, although this did mean the curse of double denim ceased to be an issue for a while.

Once of the most style-friendly aspects of the denim jacket is that they are so low maintenance you’d wish you could befriend them. Not only do they not need ironing, they actually look better if they’re not ironed, as the just-fitting shape has exactly the right amount of inherent give in it. In fact, should you one day turn up at a friend’s home to find them ironing a denim jacket, make your excuses and leave, and never see them again. (But make absolutely sure they’re not applying an iron-on Harley Davidson badge first, because you might have nearly walked out on someone quite special.)

So how do you wear a denim jacket? This is simple – you wear it however you want. But basically there are four routes to coolness. First, there’s the full buttoned-up look. You’re essentially wearing your jacket as a heavy shirt, so it requires a bit of forethought, most notably in your choice of trousers. Second, it can be completely undone, great for showing off just a tease of that band tee shirt or something designer. But in between these two extremes are the V and A arrangements. Button up the bottom few in the cardigan arrangement and you’ve got a cardy shirt jacket mash up of epic proportions. And if that’s your thang, go for it.

But for the denim jacket look that will never die, corset in your chest and undo the bottom two or three buttons. It sounds counter-intuitive to some, and it might not suit every body (let’s just say it could have maternity undertones), but master this look and you’ll have mastered being a lifelong hipster.

So there we have it. An easy to own, simple to wear, versatile and functional item of vintage clothing that gives away next to nothing about the person inside it. It’s a hero of the modern wardrobe.

Writing about fashion and youth culture, Chris Hake has seen trends in mens denim jackets remain popular, as do the requests for womens vintage denim jackets in all styles.

Writing about fashion and youth culture, Chris Hake has seen trends in denim jeckets at http://www.rokit.co.uk/ remain popular throughout all decades and show no sign of fading even now.

Author Bio: Writing about fashion and youth culture, Chris Hake has seen trends in mens denim jackets remain popular, as do the requests for womens vintage denim jackets in all styles.

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