Denim is back in style, but how should you wear it now?

We all knew denim would be back. You can’t keep a good utility fabric down. And this time there’s something chic about it, which is clever, because it’s also looking more rugged than it has for ages. It’s the contrast between functionality and classic ready-to-wear details such as high, contoured waists, fancy zips, crisp white topstitching that made the loose denim boiler suits at Dior– where deluxe utility kicked off – so appealing, so soft, so androgynous, so different from skinny jeans and boyfriend cuts of ye olde denim days. I was sorely tempted. But sensibleness saved me.

Washed black ladder hem,  ￡36, Topshop  ; Florence Blackstone jeans, ￡153, DL1961 

A denim boiler suit, for all its easy air, can be quite a faff. Not just getting in and out of it, but finding the right jacket or coat to go with it. I went for M.i.H’s Caron jeans instead, which, with their high, shaped waist and wide 7/8th legs, give me the same silhouette as the boiler suit when worn with a shirt tucked in and, like that Dior number, are smart enough for work, with a nice touch of that utility vibe.

The thing about the Carons is that, on me, they don’t work with flats. For that I needed a straighter, longer length, and while I didn’t expect to be back in skinnies, when I tried on a black, lovingly frayed-hemmed pair from DL1961 – which work with kitten heels, but also look good tucked into some tractor-soled boots – I knew I’d hit on a winter staple. And so began a new capsule edit of denim.

Caron jeans, ￡245, MiH Jeans; Re/Done straight leg jeans, ￡240, matchesfashion.com

I’m not alone in doing this. Jeans are back big time, but in a multiplicity of shapes, washes and lengths. Unlike the last denim gold rush in the early noughties, there are a bunch of eco-aware brands to choose from, such as Stella McCartney, Re/Done, Hiut Denim and DL1961, which has reduced water, dye and energy use by 50 per cent. This is important. Denim has traditionally been an environmental vandal masquerading as an earthy back-to-nature type. It’s cleaning up its ways, finally. Time to get honest.