WHAT denim styles will do well in the coming season? What are the popular styles this year and what may we expect next season and beyond? We may find the answers in the latest collection.

Fashion trends in general are strongly influenced by music, TV and film celebrities. Music culture and music celebrities are becoming major trend-setters, to the point that many musicians, rap and hip-hop artists have their own clothing ranges.

Influences in style generally come from an artist creating a look (sometimes simply by wearing a T-shirt brand or brand of jeans) and making the garment, hairstyle, jewellery or whatever look cool.

A look fast becoming popular is the loose/slouch fit jeans. It is loose cut through the leg, with a slight flare to add shape and mid to low-cut waist.

Investing in a pair of the sexiest, latest hip-hugging denim jeans will pay off. Jeans are not work clothes anymore but a more casual smart look.

Washes will be dark, sometimes cross-hatch weave (lines going across and down) with subtle wash or grey tones with heavy sandblasting.

Though jeans are casual wear, you must pay attention to washing them. Experts suggest washing your jeans separately and turning them inside out. Use cold or warm water with mild detergent, being careful not to pour detergent directly onto jeans. Never bleach or leave soaking. Hang separately to avoid colour transfer when damp, or tumble dry on low heat (Note: the dryer can shrink your jeans).

In fashion history, jeans and denim continue to baffle. No one truly knows the perfect answer to where jeans began. As so often happens fashions often emerge together in various parts of the world and are the result of the sudden availability of a new fabric, cloth, dye or technique.

Someone said jeans fashion success was made in the 1940s and 1950s when film stars wore them in movies and the teenagers of the day began to buy them too.

For many years jeans were only used as work clothes, but by the 1940s they were considered leisure wear in America. Once pop and film stars like Elvis Presley, James Dean, and Marlon Brando sported them they became desirable internationally and are associated with rock and roll and pop music. Later in the 1960s, jean brands old and new were worn universally in the Western world.

The 1990s saw some changes such as denim with an added percentage of Lycra to enhance fit and comfort. Jeans are most definitely here to stay as 50 per cent of those under 60 like to wear them, easily preferring them to combat trousers.

Jeans with lycra are so much more comfortable. They fit and cling around the buttocks in a way that accommodates less than perfect figures.

(Star News)