Something that I have carried along with me throughout my journey through clothing and style is my love of burgundy. Ever since I started caring about the clothes I wear, I have owned at least one pair of dark red or burgundy trousers. While not a totally uncommon color in more mainstream styles of clothing and fashion, it is far from common in the raw denim world. In the past, I have mentioned the lack of creativity in terms of dressing in this niche community and it is something that I will likely never stop discussing. Indigo is treated by denim heads the way graphic t shirts with stupid sayings are treated by most gamers- they think that you don’t need to wear anything else.*
I am here to disagree with this quite strongly and argue that variation is a very important part of a denim head’s wardrobe, even if you think doing so will result in you being forsaken by the denim deities. To preface, I will admit that I am close to the extreme opposite of the spectrum to most when it comes to denim. On several occasions I have admitted that jeans are the least important part of my wardrobe and I own and consistently wear 7 pairs of trousers that are not blue in color so feel free to take my words with a PUBG serving of salt. With that said, I do feel quite strongly about this and I think that most denim heads could benefit with adding a splash of color to their pantheon of pants.
Red and blue go together very well
My abnormal color of choice is burgundy/dark red. This is not only because it is one of my favorite colors for clothing, but also because it fits so well into the wardrobe of a denim head. Aside from an un-dye-ing love of indigo and rarity of fabric, it seems that the biggest reason most denim and work wear enthusiasts do not opt for clothing in this color is because they think it is very ‘out there’ and does not fit with the rest of their wardrobe. While habit is understandable and the issue of availability is quite apparent and will be addressed later in this article, the idea of this color being too ‘out there’ or being difficult to fit into a denim and work wear centered wardrobe slightly baffles me.
For starters, if you own black boots or chucks and a black denim or leather jacket, you can stop reading this article right now and go buy a pair or dark red jeans because you will already look a million times cooler than I do in my red jeans. Black and red go together like wine and cheese. Each is already great on its own merits, but they complement each other so well that they become greater than the sum of their parts when combined. There is a reason why so many dark and edgy fictional characters follow the black and red theme. It just looks cool.
Ruby Rose and many other creatures and characters from Rooster Teeth’s RWBY follow the red and black color scheme
Darth Maul’s body was red and black! And if you didn’t already know, he wasn’t killed by Obi Wan on Naboo because reasons
Edward Elric from Fullmetal Alchemist in black and red
This is the REAL Harley Quinn from Batman The Animated Series and she wore red and black. Get that suicide squad garbage out of here.
The overly-edgy hedgehog himself was black and red
You thought I was going to try to be funny by saying something in the manner of Ryan Reynolds’ Deadpool. Nope. I’m just going to point out that he looks like a boss in red and black.
Not all these characters are necessarily ‘cool.’ The point is that the red and black color combination is used very often because of how good it looks.
Even with the handicap of not currently owning a black jacket of any kind, I still am able to wear my Viapiana jeans with the vast majority of my wardrobe. This is because red goes very well with dark brown, white, and blue. What colors do most denim heads have an abundance of? Oh yeah, these exact colors. The only other color that is as popular as those is olive green which also goes extremely well with red if you can get over the Christmas implications.* As such, the many white t shirts and button downs that I own all look amazing with these jeans. Blue and red also balance each other out extremely well which means that denim jackets, navy and indigo t shirts, denim shirts, and blue chambray shirts all match excellently with this color of denim. In fact, red, white, and blue specifically match well together. Individually, they are the most popular national flag colors and together, they make up 20 different national flags, including those of America, Great Britain, France, Russia, Thailand, and Australia to name just a few.
Red, grey, black, and blue all work well together
Thanks to the fact that grey goes with pretty much everything that isn’t tan, it also pairs very well with burgundy. Think of this as a variation on black and red. In addition, dark brown pairs extremely well. My lighter brown leather jackets may not work perfectly, but my very dark Real McCoy’s A2 looks killer with these jeans. It’s definitely a warmer look without any cooler blues or greens to balance it out, but I still think they play off of each other wonderfully. After wearing this outfit for this review, I have fallen in love with it and will definitely be using it and variations of it more in the future.
Dark brown, red, and off white look even better together than I thought they would
If red is specifically not your thing, there are other unique colors out there to try. There are quite a few pairs of white and off white denim jeans and trousers out there. While unique for a pair of bottoms, the fact that white and off white go with everything means that you can pair them with anything and look amazing. Other unique colors include pale blues, grey, and dark/forest green. Grey is extremely versatile and pale blue may be lighter than our normal dark indigo, but will still basically go with everything that our favorite jeans go with. Forest green is a little more unique, but is still quite versatile. As @ruggedworkwear shows, a dark forest green matches extremely well with dark brown boots and a duck chore coat. While he has gone the extra mile matching his laces, socks, and even his shirt to a degree, the way the green goes with the browns shows the surprising versatility of this rarely seen color.
As you can see from @ruggedworkwear, dark green looks incredible with browns!
Obviously, not everyone is going to want a pair of uniquely-colored denim or trousers in their wardrobe. However, I hope this article and pictures show that these colors can work very well in our denim wardrobes and in fact, should not be considered that strange at all. If I was suggesting wearing pink or bright yellow pants, that would be weird, but dark green and burgundy are fairly standard colors. Burgundy especially is a common color for shirts, so why not wear it as a pair of jeans? This series is meant to make denim heads think a little bit more about what they do or do not wear and I hope some who have read this have at least considered branching outside their comfort zone a little. Personally, I adore wearing these jeans and tend to get a fair amount of compliments from denim heads and non-denim heads alike. Most importantly, I think they look great and that is what matters most.
Black and red look great together, especially when your black boots have red stitching!
Grey and red also look amazing together
If you are interested in rocking a more unique color pair of pants, you will likely have to do some digging to find them. Fortunately, I do have three quite reliable sources for colorful jeans. My highest recommendation has to go to Ben Viapiana. He made the stunning pair that I am wearing in this article and offers a completely custom experience with quality to match. Another options that comes with good reviews from others that I know is Companion Denim. They are not a one man brand like Viapiana is, but they do have quite a few fabrics to choose from and are also a custom operation. Of course, one cannot mention abnormal jeans without mentioning Naked and Famous. They have a mixed reputation, but they do make a solid product even if the detailing is not to Japanese levels. However, the prices are also usually a little lower so they should make it easier to swallow such an experimental pill.
Check out Viapiana here: http://www.viapiana.ca/material/
Companion can be found here: http://www.companiondenim.com/custom-jeans/
Naked and famous is available at many stores, but the widest selection is here: https://tateandyoko.com/collections/naked-and-famous
Also, a big thanks to @ruggedworkwear for helping out with this feature. Make sure to follow him on Instagram here: https://www.instagram.com/ruggedworkwear/
*Not trying to hate on gamers, I am one myself and I watch esports religiously
*Oh, sorry. I forgot that it was 2018 and that discussing actual holidays is offensive. I meant to say that green and red have HOLIDAY implications.
