Levi’s is steadily shifting upmarket. While it develops bespoke services, the American denim giant unveiled in Paris, during Haute Couture Week, a collection of around 10 ultra-high-end pieces. For this, the Levi’s teams enlisted one of the finest guides: Christelle Kocher. The French designer’s expertise- a passionate advocate of artisanal craftsmanship who also serves as creative director at Lemarié, chanel‘s Metiers d’Art division- joined forces with the teams at Levi’s California studio, with Karyn Hillman, the chief product officer, at the helm. The result: the designer explored the possibilities of the 501 and the Type II jacket, infusing her “Couture-à-Porter” concept into the heart of American denim culture.
“We started talking about this project over 18 months ago. I was able to work with the Levi’s teams in San Francisco on the brand’s iconic pieces. We explored optimal fabric weights, chose the shades and colourways, and established a dialogue with the teams in France,” the designer told. FashionNetwork.com. “The dialogue was fairly fluid. I have extensive expertise in couture and craftsmanship, and I think the central challenge of the collaboration was finding the right approach, the right angle—whether in terms of silhouettes, embroidery, and so on. Ultimately, applying this couture approach to these workwear-inspired pieces is very refreshing. It results in much more contemporary pieces.”
Indeed, Levi’s has long explored collaborations with renowned designers at Paris Fashion Weekas seen in recent hybrid catwalk shows with Japanese house sacai and its reworking of the bootcut jean with Valentino. With Kocher, however, the brand ventures into entirely new territory by transposing its icons into the realm of artisanal craft for the first time. This image-led collection seeks to showcase both the Levi’s universe and its ambitions.
“This also aligns with our goals of moving upmarket and increasing our visibility beyond just jeans,” explains Mathilde Vaucheret, Levi’s vice president of marketing for Europe, to FashionNetwork.com, highlighting a project led by the American giant’s European teams with global appeal. For now, the pieces are not available to buy, but following this experiment, the denim giant has hinted at the possibility of creating commercial versions of select silhouettes.
The outcome is a technical showcase developed in close collaboration with Levi’s Eureka Lab: raw materials are transformed with feather finishes, intricate embroidery, pleating, lace, and resin treatments. The designer drew on Lognon’s expertise for reimagined bell-bottom jeans detailed with a strip of lightweight pleated fabric running down the sides, and on Lemarié’s delicate treatment of ostrich feathers at the hem of a black dress, dipped in indigo. Denim serves both as a base fabric and as a medium to be transformed: denim flowers in various shades create a corolla, while tiny rectangles in different tones of blue are heat-bonded and alternated with crystals to embellish the dresses. The collection spans a brick-red jacket-and-jeans ensemble incorporating embroidery and hundreds of tiny black feathers; evening gowns draped in black denim; abstract floral bustiers; and monumental headpieces. Each piece demanded hours of work from the Levi’s teams and artisanal craftspeople.
This first official collaboration around couture is inspiring the denim giant as the brand looks to develop its categories beyond its iconic jeans, particularly in womenswear. Such a creative and aesthetic collaboration is also designed to catch the eye of a new female clientele.
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