Can you wear jeans to a black-tie affair? You can now… at least in Paris.
That’s because renowned French designer Christelle Kocher just launched a collection of jeans ahead of Haute Couture week in partnership with Levi’s — oui, the same brand where you got a pair of $21.99 cutoffs at Walmart while shopping for a ceiling fan.
Of course, these jeans aren’t the type you can score for the cost of a Heineken 12-pack. While this Levi’s collaboration hasn’t been priced out yet, a typical pair of “casual” denim pants from a haute couture collection can cost from $10,000 to $30,000, according to a former VIP at Christian Dior.
Kocher is best known as the secret weapon behind Chanel’s intricate embroidery and appliqués (think: Carrie Bradshaw’s famous designer flower pins, but on steroids). She’s also got her own in-the-know label, Koché, as seen on Beyoncé and Alicia Keys.
But this week in Paris, the designer turned up with an 11-piece collection that mixed her signature hand-sewn chiffon and beaded French lace with bejeweled carpenter pants, see-through black bellbottoms, and a pair of white skater jeans. Kocher told Vogue that the look was “a flower bomb of denim and feathers.”
Levi’s executive vice president and chief product officer, Karyn Hillman, says they chose Kocher because “she has the rare ability to take something familiar and make it feel completely new,” calling the collection “a canvas for fashion expression.” It’s also a callout to Haute Couture history — Jean Paul Gaultier caused a scandal when he first showed handcrafted jeans on the runway 30 years ago.
Recently, Balenciaga and Mugler put denim on their couture runways; supermodel Kaia Gerber even sported a pair of bedazzled slouchers for Valentino, which an internal source put at around $40,000. Meanwhile in 2021, Levi’s tested the high-fashion waters with a petite collaboration with Miu Miu, the Paris runway brand beloved by Gigi Hadid and Kylie Jenner.
Levi’s couldn’t tell The Post how much their new couture denim will cost — they said it “could be available for special order” down the line — but it’s a safe bet that it could match the average American’s mortgage payment.
Still, thanks to this new fashion development, if you grab a pair of $25 Levi’s from the epic J.C. Penney sale, you can claim you’re at least couture-adjacent.
Merci, Levi’s.
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