From Tiny Acorns Mighty Oak Trees Grow

From Tiny Acorns Mighty Oak Trees Grow..

Kate Moss was recently quoted as saying "nothing tastes as good as skinny feels". Had she attended the Oak Jeans fashion show at Whisky Mist a few weeks ago she'd probably have said "nothing tastes as good as Oak Jeans feel". Launched in 2006 by British designer Scott Rogers, the label has slowly gained cult status in a heavily saturated market via the patronage of A-List stars and style leaders such as Kirsten Dunst. Kirsten was spotted on the street wearing her Oak Jeans with the supermodels' favourite brands, Marc Jacobs and Christian Louboutin. The word on the street is that her Oaks had made their way into her wardrobe via an editorial shoot - she nabbed them from the shoot's stylist because she loved them so much. Given that she invariably rocks Chanel Couture on the red carpet, Scott's obviously doing something right. So what is it about Oak Jeans that knocks other popular brands such as J Brand, Seven For All Mankind, Ksubi, Acne, Nudie and Cheap Monday out of the water? For a start, Scott's jeans are priced very competitively. Averaging at £45 a pair - but with hot styles such as the Bristol Grey Acid Wash coming in at a wallet-friendly £40, it's no wonder hipsters the world over are making Oak Jeans their denim brand of choice. The one thing that elevates good jeans to great jeans is undoubtedly the fit. Scott designs all the patterns himself and as a fashion expert, I'm all too aware of the time and effort involved in creating garments with a superb fit. A successfully fitted garment is partly down to an ingenious cut - but a great cut is nothing without the right textiles. Scott painstakingly sources the best textiles from around the world. Many designers manufacture in China, partly due to the cheaper costs and partly due to the seemingly limitless choice of Chinese textiles. The Chinese have a great knack for being able to create (or re-create) virtually any garment, fabric or finish - and all at minimal costs. During my tenure at The Arcadia Group, it was common place for the brands' designers to go on buying trips to the hottest fashion destinations around the world and purchase the cream of the crop of the world's design talent (for inspiration naturally). These carefully sourced garments would then find themselves on a rack, with carefully cut out squares, which in turn found their way to the brands' manufacturers in China, where the Chinese would be instructed to recreate the sampled textiles at a fraction of the cost of the original designer garment. Thankfully, Scott doesn't resort to such low-level tactics when creating his own designs. In every sense, he is a designer's designer, he relies on nothing more than his own innate skill, creativity and resourcefulness. Furthermore, in the interest of bolstering the brand's British heritage, he has actively been seeking out UK textile suppliers and manufacturers, which in turn supports the UK economy. It is these qualities that will undoubtedly see Oak Jeans continue to gain prominence on the fashion stage worldwide. When I asked Scott who his ideal muse would be for an Oak Jeans ad campaign, he replied with the less than obvious response of "Zooey Deschanel", adding that "there's something about her eyes". LA's reigning queen of kook was born into a Hollywood family (her father was a cinematographer) and had a quirky and nomadic lifestyle, growing up in locations as varied as the Seychelles and Yugoslavia. With so many experiences to draw upon, it's no wonder she's carved a niche for herself in the acting world with interesting supporting roles in indie classics such as Cameron Crowe's Almost Famous. Kirsten Dunst is already a fan Scott, so I've no doubt that Zooey will be rocking her Oaks in no time at all. As the saying goes "from tiny acorns mighty oak trees grow".

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