337: Anything is a Canadian tuxedo if you relax your eyes and liberate your mind

How to wear Madewell's spring denim four ways.

In fashion school I once got into a semantics spat around what constitutes a “trend.” My professor pointed to the mini skirt in the 1960s as the biggest a trend could possibly get, worn by teen girls and their mothers alike across the United States and the UK and many pockets of the world. I countered that denim was bigger. “That’s not a trend,” she said. The debate ended there, unsatisfactorily, without evidence or rationale. (I didn’t find my brief time in art school to be very inspiring.)

On a long enough arc, anything can be considered a trend. A probably bogus statistic fed to me by AI: At any given time, 50% of the world population is wearing jeans. From its roots spanning French looms and American mines (out of which dirt-caked pairs are still being pulled by the most dedicated archivists), will denim eventually, in some distant future, be held as passé? If it does, we’ll look back at 2025 as its golden era. Never before have jeans anticipated our every need and mood. Never before has denim been so mutable.

Denim from tip to toe, a.k.a. the Canadian tuxedo, conjures up a pretty specific pop-culture montage. The abridged version includes Britney and Justin, Heath and Jake. But really, a Canadian tuxedo can kind of look like anything these days.

In partnership with Madewell—what better example of the depth and breadth of contemporary denim?—I put together four all-denim looks that may or may not seem like them.

Relaxed Crop Jean Trucker Jacket, $148 / The Darted Barrel-Leg Jean, $148 / Scalloped Merino Wool-Blend Cardigan, $128 / The Handwoven Shoulder Bag, $148 / The Maycie Asymmetric T-Strap Sandal, $118

As classic a Canadian tuxedo as you can get, with all the necessary updates to situate it in the 21st century: a barrel leg, a pointelle knit, an intrecciato leather bag! The details soften and balance out the welcome but easily overwhelming ruggedness of too much blue jean in one go.

Bubble-Sleeve Jean Bomber Jacket, $138 / Superwide-Leg Jeans, $138 / Relaxed Henley Long-Sleeve Tee, $65 / The Essential Sling Crossbody Bag, $118 / The Greta Ballet Flat, $118

One, white denim is always softer. If this is a fact of life or a powerful placebo is impossible to say. We’ll likely never know! Two, it’s a great partner to dark-wash. Same-same texture throughout, but broken up into smaller bites for the scanning eye to digest. Three (a standalone point, really), the shape of this jacket. Yow.

Cinched Utility Jacket, $198 / The Dean Easy Straight Pant, $128 / (Re)generative Cotton Ribbed High V-Neck Tank, $38 / The Keeper Shoulder Bag, $148 / The Maycie Asymmetric T-Strap Sandal, $118

The denim omniverse is apparent in the J-ification of every noun. Jeggings. Joots. Jarfs. As a society, we’ve proven to ourselves the extent to which existence can be jexistenced. And now that we’ve done that, we can come back to denim-izing things that should be expressed in the textile, not merely could. A military fatigue jacket, say, or a pair of knife-sharp pleated pants with a swaggy cuff. Both in a linen-y grey that harkens back to Nîmes itself.

Denim Seamed Flare Midi Dress in Croswell Wash, $158 / Chunky Dome Cuff Bracelet, $58

Perhaps not quite the “morning dress” attire of its tails’ counterpart, but the denim dress still has a place on this list. Especially one with the proportions of a clavicle-baring, spinning-top Dior gown. Is it a Canadian cocktail dress? I’d fight tooth and nail to defend its standing here. You should know, when it comes to denim, there are many hills I’m willing to die on, even the ones from which more dedicated people than I are digging up old pairs of pants.

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