As I sit here and type this article in my own pair of Cheap Monday jeans, I can’t help but love this video. I think as a brand Cheap Monday is absolutely brilliant in all aspects of the word. Cheap Monday’s main man Orjan Andersson himself is draped in his designs, and that destroyed denim shirt he is wearing throughout the video has stirred up more envy than you could imagine within me.

Here’s our running list of denim brands that we love, based on quality, fit, wash variety, and overall fashion-ness:

1. Naked and Famous- Rare and unique fabrics from Japan, high quality and satire play on our celebrity obsessed culture. Win.

2. April 77- Known for their attitude and underground influence, not wallet-breaking price. Made in France.

3. Cheap Monday- Tons of crazy prints and colored washes. Made in Sweden.

4. Replay-Great skinny and ‘boyfriend’ style, in a bunch of interesting washes. Made in Italy.

5. Acne- A ton of variety in mens’ fits, and repeat winner of ‘Designer of the Year’ by Swedish Elle.  Made in Sweden.

6. K(T)subi- Formerly Tsubi, currently Ksubi, this brand invented themselves based on fit, and has continued to outfit surfers in super, super jeans ever since. Made in Australia.

7. Nudie- Made from the best Italian, Turkish, American, and Japanese qualities using the best techniques. Made in Italy, with the only con being they don’t have a women’s line (yet?).

8. Diesel- I know people that swear by Diesel, mostly skinny guys who can never find sizes small enough for their 26 inch waists and still long enough for their 6′0 tall frames.  Diesel has always been known for their high-quality and long lasting denim. I may be impartial because I love everything Diesel makes, not just their jeans. Made in Italy.

9. Levis- After coming out with the 510 and 511, Levis seemed to have redeemed themselves as every hipster and musician’s best friend. Made in the US!

10. G Star- ‘Raw’ denim. Prides themselves in being about nothing more than the product itself, keeping it fashionable and well-fit. Made in the Netherlands.

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Think we missed any?  Do you have one ‘go-to’ brand for jeans?

When you’re producing products like this, it’s no suprise that all I buy is Cheap Monday. I love the looks, and I can’t wait to get me hands on some of the amazing pieces.

Gallery: Cheap Monday: Spring 2010 Collection

via Men’s Rag

Urban Outfitters is in for a trendy, American grunge treat with Ann-Sofie Back’s first line for denim label, Cheap Monday. As the newest creative director for the Stockholm based brand, Back has infused her staple gothic-trash vibe in a series of dresses, tanks, shorts and denim pieces, produced by Orjan Andersson. I can see the holed pull-over, stringy skirt and cut-out boots flying out of stores in a matter of minutes! 

GALLERY: RUNWAY RUNDOWN: Ann-Sofie Back for Cheap Monday, Spring 2010

Thanks Fashionologie!

Cheap Monday’s Spring/Summer collection is a DIY lovers dream: ripped shirts, bleached jeans and tape as an accessory. 

SOURCE: Coute Que Coute

By far my favorite company in the industry right now, Cheap Monday, has a collection set for this Winter that is even cheaper than normal. The pieces are mostly basics, but as we all know with Cheap Monday, the quality if not refelcted by the cheap prices. If anything the quality is far greater than anything else at this price point. I love the brand, and if I could arrange a sponsorship somehow that would be great.

Gallery: Cheap Monday: Fall 2009 Flash Collection

via Men’s Rag

With all the hype about Ann-Sofie Back becoming the creative director of the Urban Outfitters famous label, Cheap Monday, I decided to do a little digging on some of Back’s previous collections. But anything earlier than her Fall 2009 collection (which is only two 2008 collections)  is a bit, well, amateur. Obviously Back is a newer designer, but many of her Spring 2009 pieces are comparable to a first year design student’s. It seems as if Back relied on safety pins, obnoxious draping, asymmetrical ruffles and enormous blazers to create a collection for her. I’ll admit that I’ve used safety pins to create draping in some of my dresses, but that’s me, a girl who has never sketched a design a day in my life, let alone picked up a needle and thread. To make  matters worse, many of Back’s dresses, with the haulter-neck and revolting black stripes, reminded me of high-school homecoming dresses gone wrong. For the sake of Cheap Monday, let’s hope this collection was a mere blip on the radar. 

GALLERY: RUNWAY RUNDOWN: Ann-Sofie Back Spring 2009

Thanks NY Mag!

Damn Paul Smith came to play for Spring 2009! The latest Paul Smith Jeans collection is insane! Purple lace ups, green boat shoes, and Cheap Monday looking polka dot pants have this collection looking not only unique, but trendy as all hell. I’ve always been impressed by Paul Smith’s use of color, and this collection doesn’t let me down (or make me look dumb). The collection does look a bit Marc Jacobs-ish, but that isn’t necesarily a bad thing.

Gallery: Paul Smith Jeans: Spring 2009 Collection

via The Fashionisto

Saddle up indies because we are headed down the wonderful road of Swedish fashion! MTWTFSS Weekday has definitely caught my eye, and I can see this brand easily becoming the new school Cheap Monday. Whil eon the Cheap Monday topic, MTWTFSS uses a lot of Cheap Monday in their shoot. Incase you haven’t noticed denim jackets are the jump off right now, and MTWTFSS has an amazing white denim jacket. I can’t keep typing about this though or else I’m going to talk myself into buying more stuff than I can afford! Check the pics though and see what fits you best!

Gallery: DESIGNER TO KNOW: MTWTFSS WEEKDAY

via Men’s Rag

British Gothic designer, Ann-Sofie Back, is slated to join the Cheap Monday deign team as their newest Creative Director. Cheap Monday, a basic denim and apparel company, commonly seen at Urban Outfitters, has a cartoonish skull as their logo, and who better than Back to infuse her morbidity and make that logo a bit more literal! Like they say, good things come to those who wait, so come Spring of 2011, we can anticipate some really knockout pieces for the Swedish label. Until then, next year’s Spring previews will have to suffice! 

Thanks Catwalk Queen and NY Mag!

Let me start out by stating that I am not normally a superstitious person: I don’t throw salt over my shoulder when I spill some, I don’t think twice about walking under ladders and my only chagrin about breaking a mirror is that I have one less surface in which to admire myself.  After this week though, I must say that I absolutely believe in omens, especially when delivered in the form of clothing.

Fashion is my religion so it shouldn’t come as much of a surprise that it was a pair of pants that decided the fate of my uneventful week.  It was with great excitement that I broke my recession shopping rule and purchased a pair of Cheap Monday dark navy pants with bright red polka dots (size 25 inch waist!) from Inven.tory.  In anticipation for the Topshop opening party, I knew that I needed something funky and fun as I would be competing with some major celebrity wattage for my Patrick McMullan photo credit.

When Tuesday night came around, I could no longer contain my enthusiasm for the pants and decided to give them a test run at Nylon Magazine’s 10^th Birthday Party.  Held at the Shang Restaurant in the “it” hotel of the moment, the Thompson LES, I thought they would be the perfect statement for a downtown, hipster party.

Alexandra and I had somehow confused the time, arriving half an hour before the party was scheduled to start so after making friends with the publicists at the door, we went across the street to a little French bistro to kill time.  As fifteen minutes turned into an hour, a veritable throng of bodies in furs, leather jackets and high heeled pumps had formed a line around the block.

Finally refusing to wait any longer, we pushed our way to the front and immediately entered thanks to our earlier brown nosing.  Thinking we’d walk upstairs to a nearly empty room as we still hadn’t seen anyone else coming through the door, we were shocked when the entire restaurant was packed with the who’s who of the downtown scene.

I was disappointed to see that there was only one photographer in front of a meager step and repeat.  “I brought out the polka dot pants for this?” I whispered to Alexandra incredulously as we posed for pictures.  After pushing to get a drink at the besieged bar, we moved into the back room where we ran into Richie Rich hanging on the arm of singer Kat DeLuna.

We were quickly tiring of the pushing and shoving around us so as soon as we overheard that there was a VIP gifting suite on the 7^th floor, we ditched the frenetic main room and made our way to the promise land (so we thought).  It turned out that the joke was on us as the alcohol had run dry upstairs and the most ‘famous’ person was a castmate from The Real World: Brooklyn.

Slightly befuddled, we made our way back downstairs where things had started improving.  The crowd had thinned out but the ratio of celebrities to commoners had increased.  I ran into my friend, America’s Next Top Model Winner Jaslene Gonzalez, who was hanging out with club impresario Matt Levine.

In the other room was a dour-looking Taylor Momson, party hopping from the private Topshop dinner at Balthazar.  Inexplicably, Alexis Bledel (Gilmore Girls) was hanging out and looking rather out of place among the slightly grungy hipster set.  Definitely non-hipster, though, was Lydia Hearst, back from her charity work in Africa and wearing a custom silver corset by The Blondes—the same one Britney wore in her Circus album.

There was something slightly unfulfilling about the night and lack of press so Alexandra and I were out of commission for the next evening, vowing to come back strong for the Topshop party on Thursday.

When Thursday arrived, I once again donned the polka dot pants, determined to get them the press they deserved.  Our intel had told us that the Topshop party was in the store at 7PM.  I thought this was rather strange as the store had opened for business that day and it seemed unlikely that the place would be cleared and cleaned up for such an early party.

My suspicions were confirmed when the line snaking outside the store was filled with shoppers instead of socials.  After some urgent texting, we discovered that the party was actually at 9PM at The Box.  Already dressed to impress, we decided we’d do a “filler” event before Topshop to kill time and get a buzz rolling.  This was to be our downfall.

We bounced around from no-list to no-list event, the worst of which was the Marc Ecko store ‘party’ where a massive man straight out of a Suge Knight video was actually walking around with a pimp cane and hat.  The last time I felt that out of place was on 2^nd grade picture day when all the boys and girls were in their Sunday best and my mother had irreverently put me in a LA Laker’s jersey because she didn’t want to buy the photos anyway.

After forty miserable minutes, we left to attend the Complex Magazine party at Anchor Bar celebrating the Kanye West cover.  Once again, we had arrived early and were told to wait, something for which I have no patience.  When fifteen minutes passed and we were still on the wrong side of the velvet rope, I had had enough.  The last straw was when the flack outside told me they weren’t letting anyone inside as he opened the rope for a group of five to come inside.

I had such a bad taste in my mouth from the night that I refused to prolong my pain by going over to The Box.  Such was my week.  If you disapprove of the dearth of excitement, don’t blame me—blame the pants.

Adrien Field

Adrien@AdrienField.com

Well these were available at Oak two days ago but have since disappeared. As soon as I get more information I will have it posted for you!

With the changing of seasons and the tight economic times, comes a time to step back and really evaluate your look before going out and spending money on items you’ll hate in a couple weeks. So instead of doing one massive post about all the upcoming Spring trends, I figured I’d break it up and introduce to you a cool little installment called Spring Fling: Trends To Fall In Love With This Spring. I know money is tight, so I’ll do my best to provide some cheap alternatives for all you indies forced to pinch pennies this Spring.

By far my favorite look for this upcoming Spring. The hype has been building around this trend since September’s Fashion Week season, and I’m finally ready to see it flow into the masses. The drop crotch trouser is something that can be done very well with relative ease. User beware, if you don’t get the right size you may look like you’re rockin’ hammer pants and nobody wants that. The cool part about these pants is the versatility for the weather. If it’s warm, crop them up like the you see in some of these images. If it’s cold, drop crotch looks great on a full length pant as well.

Don’t have the couple hundred dollars to spend on some of the options I have listed here? No worries, I didn’t either when I got my pair. Here is an easy way to sort of DIY at a low cost. Find a pair of extremely high wasted jeans/pants from Cheap Monday ($65 always!) and just simply wear them like you would normally wear pants rather than high waisted. The stretch material that Cheap Monday uses still allows you to move freely. ***Be sure to try them on though, the waist tends to run  bit smaller because they are intended for a natural waist!

So here’s a simple moto to remember while out Spring shopping this season, ” Drop the crotch not the dough!”

CM

juma black kurta pants via Oak; $162

Endovanera Short Jon in Black via Revolve; $143

I am so excited for the new Cheap Monday Fall collection. I am the biggest Cheap Monday whack job, and I get excited every year, because it seems like they come out with more and more cut and sewn pieces on top of all their jeans. This collection looks amazing and really fits in well with some of the couture Swedish designers. Did I mention they still have the best pricing ever? Can’t wait to start buying this collection.

Gallery: Cheap Monday: Fall 2009 Collection

Courtesy of: The Fashionisto

Ah yes! Stockholm Fashion Week, one of my favorites. Showing this year, as always, was Cheap Monday. The collection featured their usual simple styled looks, but they always have something about them that make them look great. This year you could almost feel how effortless putting together these great looks was, and that’s why they have always been on of my favorite brands out there. The collection features some pretty cool destroyed jeans as well.

Gallery: RUNWAY RUNDOWN: Cheap Monday Fall 2009 Collection

Courtesy of: Fashion Week by Berns 

Huge fan of this Cheap Monday tube scarf. It looks a little tight in the picture, but if you put your foot in one end and stretch it out it can do a ton of really cool things for the winter, besides keep you warm. The best part is, it’s only $35! Head over to Welcome Hunters to pick it up!

Hit up The Brooklyn Circus‘ Black Friday Sale or 50-70% off brands like Cheap Monday, Adidas, Staple, Umbro, Onie Denim, Rich Yung, Nudie Jeans, and more.

The Brooklyn Circus (NYC)
150 Nevins Street
Brooklyn, NY11217
Tel: 718.858.0919
9AM – 7PM

The Brooklyn Circus (SF)
1525 Fillmore St.
San Francisco, CA 94115
Tel: 415.359.1999

The Brooklyn Circus (Chicago @ Solemates)
2708 N. Halsted.
Chicago, IL 60614
Tel: 773.327.7782

The new trend to watch in the spring is the growing amount of sweatshirt material high-fashion pieces hitting stores. So basically, you can look like a model when you hit the gym. As if I need more distractions while attempting to pump out super sets on weekdays. WWD featured a couple of the coolest pieces to watch for from Alternative Orange, Alice McCall, Slow and Steady Wins the Race, WKND by Cheap Monday, Jeremy Scott for Originals by Original, and True Religion.

(DISCLAIMER: Daniel Saynt doesn’t actually “pump out super sets on weekdays”. That would require him to get his ass of his computer, which rarely happens since he’s addicted to fashionindie.com and Google searching his own name.)

My favorite denim provider Cheap Monday has revealed their Spring collection, and there is no surprise that I want it now. However the only difference between this desire to own compared to my other rants and raves about having something, I can actually afford this one. Isn’t fashion the best when you can actually afford it? 

Thanks to The Fashionisto for the images