I have a confession. I hate the 1980s.
Born in the middle of the decade I’m too young to remember any of its culture, instead preferring endless memories of Thomas The Tank Engine. That may be a lie actually, I do remember part of the culture. I remember perms. I remember mullets. I remember a plethora of crimes committed against my young eyes by baby boomers who should have known better (though that generation aren’t exactly known for getting anything right). And amongst those heinous crimes which aided the development of my acute sense of loathing all things 80s is double denim.
Which brings me to some terrible news dear readers: double denim is back.

But there’s hope. There’s hope that we’ve caught it soon enough. There’s hope that we can show people the error of their ways before double denim spreads. And Fashionising.com is going to lead the charge: normally fully behind the majority of fashion trends and micro-trends, we’re labelling the double denim fashion trend the major faux pas amongst all of 2009′s fashion trends and 2010′s fashion trends.
Who Has Designed It For 2009/2010
The biggest culprit to date has been William Rast’s Autumn (Fall)/Winter 2009/2010 catwalk, but given we’re only a quarter of the way through the 2009/2010 fashion week season we’re sure to encounter more.
People To Mock
Mock is a nasty word, but this is the nastiest fashion trend we’ve seen on women’s 2009 and 2010 catwalk and already there are plenty of people wearing it.
Amongst them are the likes of Kanye West who has paired the look with his afro-mullet hair style. We’ve also spotted double denim in a number of street style pictures recently.
More double-denim examples
Sigrid Agren: hotter than Baywatch (10 Jun 2011)
If ever denim did look this good...
All decked out in denim: making it work
Abbey Lee for Moussy: it's Vegas, baby
Denim bikini for Marie Claire Italia
Frida Gustavsson in Numero's no no
Denim rules courtesy of Sigrid Agren
Sessilee Lopez great hair, bad denim
Catherine McNeil denim to excess
Shalom Harlow wears double denim
Could it be... stylish double denim?
D&G women's Spring 2010 collection; MFW
Amber Valletta looks great, despite double denim
D&G Men's S/S 2010 approves of Double Denim
Heidi Klum in double-denim. Possibly.
Pete Wentz does it with Double Denim
Reasons To Avoid This Trend
- You’ll look dull. Look at William Rast’s Autumn (Fall)/Winter 2009/2010 collection above (the three models, centre to right, in the top picture).
- First double denim and then what? The return of the perm? The popularisation of the neo-mullet? I’d mention killer shoulder pads but Marc Jacobs has already destroyed that part of humanity. Read ‘Beyond Double Denim’ below to learn of other things which may make a come-back as a result.
- A plethora of bad photos of you will be taken. They’ll end up in our street style coverage oron Facebook, said photos will then proceed to spread around the world. In a few years you’ll mock yourself for wearing it. In 2050 your grandchildren will still be mocking you. Your great-grandchildren will deny your existence.
- It’ll bring about Armageddon (note: completely unfounded fact, but do you want to risk it?)
- Thus you’ll regret it.
- Did I mention you’ll regret it?
Beyond Double Denim
If our eyes were to suddenly cease working and we accepted the return of double denim, it’s easy to follow through to its natural conclusion.

That’s right: perms, acid wash denim, and hammer pants.
Is there hope?
There’s always hope, but stopping double denim becoming a fashion trend is going to mean stopping all those people who used to think trucker caps were cool from rediscovering it.
And that, my dear readers, is akin to charity work.













