G-Star Raw has gotten heady with its latest collaboration.
The Dutch denim brand has teamed with British milliner Stephen Jones for a collection of denim headwear consisting of five haute couture designs and two limited edition ready-to-wear hats.
Each oversized hat was fashioned from Cradle to Cradle Gold Certified denim fabric and is inspired by the designer’s earlier work. The ready-to-wear hats, a unisex double bucket and a winged baseball cap, will be available on G-Star’s website on Dec. 1. and retail for $220-$240. They are produced in a millinery that Jones frequently uses.
The couture pieces are not for sale but are available on loan.
“Everybody around the world knows what denim is and what denim signifies. I took denim out of its comfort zone and made it what it wasn’t. G-Star gave me complete carte blanche,” said Jones, who has been part of London’s fashion scene since the late 1970s when he studied design at Central Saint Martins during the day and made a name for himself at night as a fixture in the club world.
Utilizing his background in women’s wear design, Jones thinks of a hat within a whole outfit. Jones has done work for houses such as Christian Dior, Vivienne Westwood and Marc Jacobs and his creations have been worn over the years by Rihanna, Mick Jagger, Lady Gaga and Diana, Princess of Wales.
To promote the collection, G-Star shot a short documentary, viewable on YouTube, that gives insight into his creative process, atelier and his rebellious life.
Denim has increasingly been an important fabric in the haute couture runway collections in Paris. For both Fall 2021 and Fall 2022 Balenciaga, Jean Paul Gaultier and Schiaparelli were among those that used it to create luxury show pieces.
In a separate initiative, G-Star has also been running an ongoing “The Art of Raw” project since May 2022 when it started working with various creatives to use upcycled denim in art pieces. The participating artists have created a lamp, items of furniture and a quilt from denim waste for the initiative.
“There will be various collaborative projects utilizing the material at G-Star’s core—denim,” the brand stated. “Over the coming year, multiple artistic avenues will be explored such as sculpture and fine art.”