Jane Birkin Jeans

Is it even a denim newsletter without a bow to the Jean Queen?

Jane Herman

Jul 22, 2023

I was in London on July 16 when it was announced that Jane Birkin, the British actress, singer, and pop culture icon, had passed away. That night, watching the floodgates of tribute posts fly open online, I marveled for the millionth time at how splendidly Jane wore jeans. She really was famous for it.

I have always loved that Jane and I share a name. But her jeans actually made me feel close to her. Made everyone feel close to her, perhaps. Jane, barefoot on a park wall in a simple white t-shirt and patchwork bells – the same ones she wore paddle-boating on the French Riviera and in countless other photographs (below) – made personal style feel personal. It wasn’t the novelty of her jeans that made them chic (though that was something). It was Jane. It was her affection for odd, home-sewn bellbottoms. Her commitment to them. A girl who wears the same pair of jeans over and over again is someone everyone can understand. Did this not make her easy to love?

Jane Birkin in her beloved patchwork bellbottoms. Bottom Photo: AFP

Of course, these are not the only jeans Jane wore. They’re simply the ones that stand out to me at this moment. Yes, plenty of brands have attempted to re-interpret Jane’s bellbottoms (and all the others), but my tip to getting her look is this: Find a quality, one-of-one jean that speaks to you and wear it as if it’s the only pair in the world that matters. Personal style, so often, is about consistency. And doing what’s right for you. In honor of Jane, try dressing like that.

So, was it a coincidence or kismet that the morning after Jane’s death I met Anna Foster, the designer who staked her sustainable clothing company E.L.V. (East London Vintage) on patchwork Frankenstein five-pockets? (Frankenstein, btw, is a term used to describe jeans that are, like Jane’s above, pieced together with the parts of different pairs.) There, in a studio in London’s Stoke Newington neighborhood, were the kinds of jeans I was just talking about: Patchwork bellbottoms and boyfriends lovingly made from carefully repurposed vintage. I couldn’t have scripted it better.

Designer Anna Foster with the post-consumer waste denim she uses to make E.L.V.’s upcycled jeans. She wears the Light Mid Blue Contrast Flare.

Anna, a former fashion stylist and magazine editor, started E.L.V. in order to address some of the environmental offenses of the denim industry – waste and water consumption, specifically. Buying discarded jeans in bulk, meticulously sorting them by color, and then deconstructing and reconstructing them into completely new pieces is, for Anna, “a matter of common sense. Rigid denim is so beautiful and hard-working. Why should it go to waste?” Everything in her collection, which now includes skirts, dresses, and shirting (see my last letter for the Gabriela Hearst x E.L.V. take on a classic Western), is sewn within a 5-mile radius of her studio. Anna is obsessed with quality, and it shows. Nothing looks “used.” It all reads: Luxury.

The Frankie Skirt (left; coming soon) is made of almost-matching pieces of upcycled indigo. The Denim Dress (right), is available now in three different shades of blue.

The E.L.V. style I chose is the The High Rise Boyfriend in a mid/dark blue wash combination. (U.S. readers, they are currently available at Bergdorf Goodman in almost all sizes.) I sized down (I’m typically a 25, these are a 24), and the length – a step-hem created by joining two jeans while preserving their respective, properly-weathered ends – is ideal: Breaks at the foot; doesn’t drag on the floor.

My sustainable summer uniform: E.L.V. Boyfriend jeans and a Bode shirt cut from vintage fabric. Shop one-of-a-kind Bode here.

And so, with these jeans and one of E.L.V.’s Striped Diana shirts in my suitcase, I returned to L.A. If you follow me on Instagram, you may have seen my trip. It’s nice to be home.

P.S. In Brooklyn, a line called Wildrootz is doing handmade-to-order patchwork jeans that look completely different. How exciting to see a single concept executed in such creative extremes.

Finally, for those who may be new here, Welcome! In addition to writing this letter, I design The Only Jane, an independent clothing company based in Los Angeles. I love hearing about the jeans you’re wearing, you can reply to this email to tell me their story. Thank you for reading, shopping, sharing, and subscribing – you support is everything.

Jane