Nicole and Michael Colovos have a long history with denim. 17 years long, to be precise. Their first label, Habitual, preceded the designer denim boom in 2001, and they spent nearly a decade as co–creative directors of Helmut Lang after that. So it isn’t surprising to hear that jeans are among the best sellers in their new Colovos collections. They have the wear-every-day appeal you expect from jeans, but with special details like topstitching, split seams, and low-slung pockets. Nicole describes them as “easy and comfortable, but with a little more finesse.”
When retailers and fans kept asking for more, she and Michael delivered (and then some!): They didn’t just whip up a few pairs of jeans and jackets; they made an entire capsule of denim trenchcoats, denim button-downs, and denim dresses, plus a few signature Colovos pieces reimagined in denim, like a button-front wrap skirt and a slouchy blazer. “We see it as a ready-to-wear collection, just made in denim,” Michael said.
Like their “actual” ready-to-wear collections, each piece has a refined yet relaxed feeling. “I like things that are elevated, but can still work downtown,” he added, pointing out the raw edges of a crisp olive and cream trench. Other examples of that uptown-downtown equilibrium: a drop-shoulder denim blazer with clever ties in the back, so you can cinch it at the waist or leave it slouchy; dark-rinse jeans with black denim pockets and (super-flattering) darts at the hips; and chambray button-downs with XL contrast pockets. They’re simple but singularly cool. The Colovoses’ take on colorful denim checked that box, too: a brick red jean jacket with generous sleeves, plus matching ivory and red color-blocked jeans.
All of those pieces will be available this month. While other designers are combining their Resort and Spring collections, the Colovoses see pre-collections as an ideal opportunity for capsules and experiments like this. “It doesn’t feel modern to us to make huge collections anymore,” Nicole said. “We always wanted to keep things small and spend more time on [fewer pieces], rather than just making a big collection because it’s Spring or Fall. We felt ourselves getting pulled back into that situation, but we’d rather just focus on what people are really responding to and wearing.”
That also gives them room to think about their sustainability goals. Michael sourced the 100-percent cotton denim from a small mill in Japan, for starters, and he’s working on a new natural resin to make chemical-free washes. More than that, though, he and Nicole are committed to high-quality pieces that are built to last, so you don’t have to participate in fast fashion’s nonstop accumulation cycle (and consequent waste). “This isn’t throwaway fashion,” Michael said. Nicole added: “People tend to hold onto their denim, or they’ll pass it down. It holds up, so it’s quite sustainable in that way.”
