Six of the best: denim-inspired looks for the home

Real denim is back. Fashion editors across the board are heralding a ‘real-denim revolution’ and a return to an authentic look. Where fashion goes, interiors follow.

Denim never really walks away, it simmers then, an array of new, denim-inspired fabrics and furnishings hurl it right back under the spotlight, whether deepest indigo or pale stonewash, from catwalk to couch, blue is the colour.

If you’ve already had it with pastels then denim is the look for you, offering a unisex, harder-edged antidote to all the blush tones that are currently storming the market...although, if you can’t get over pink, it goes well with denim.

1. Vostra chair in Replay denim: try it at home

An edgy denim look comes from a new collaboration between German furniture company Walter Knoll and the denim label Replay, for which the former covered some of its chairs in Replay denim – pockets, rivets and all – for display in store. The look could easily be copied, using one of the latest denim interior fabrics and a pair of your old jeans.

2. Chivasso fabrics: the patchwork-effect Doozy

The obvious choice is Chivasso’s Denim Loft collection at JAB Anstoetz, with five designs, including the patchwork-effect Doozy, created from upcycled jeans. Others have chevron and ombré patterns, ranging in tone from deep indigo to stonewash and pale grey (from £36.50 a metre).

As to how to use them, ‘Go full on or use in a subtler way, it’s an ideal fabric for bringing colour and texture into the home,’ says JAB’s Angela Whittaker. ‘It pairs well with linens, wood, crisp whites and neutral tones. It also works layered with other shades of blue to create tonal depth.’

3. NBB Design: robust denim

London-based interior designers Maurizio Pellizzoni and Niloufar Bakhtiar-Bakhtiari are both fans. ‘Denim is strong and robust with a “manly” feel,’ says Bakhtiari, who suggests pairing it with soft, soft brown leather and taupes.

Pellizzoni, on the other hand, teamed an Andrew Martin denim with bright red cushions to create a clubby ambience in a Scottish retreat he recently worked on (Andrew Martin’s Oliver in 14 is similar; £40.70 a metre).

4. Fermoie: pairing denim and old classics

Tom Helme, creative director of fabric and paint company Fermoie, again favours pairing denim blue with ‘the old classics, red and white, beige to play safe and yellow for a bright contrast.’

High-end interior-design collective 1508 has done at a recent project installing a denim-effect linen wallcovering (Muralin by Vescom, £64.02 a metre) in the cloakroom of a Belgravia apartment. According to 1508’s Louise Wicksteed, ‘With denim you can throw in dark rich woods with accents of brass and copper and the whole look feels modern and considered.’

5. Ralph Lauren Home: washed blues and antique whites

The Elizabeth Street collection uses stripes, patchworks and prints in a palette of washed blues and whites. Available from £86 per metre.

Italian fabric house Rubelli uses denim in the Dominique Kieffer collection by Paola Navone with the beautifully soft Touche de Lin (£136 a metre) and the camo-esque Tache Toile (£99 a metre); and Fritz Hansen, whose Egg chair by Arne Jacobsen is available from Heal’s in indigo blue (£4,724).

6. Stepevi's Harvest rug: denim patchwork

Stepevi has several rugs that reference the denim patchwork look, including Harvest (from £1,350); while Hay’s Eclectic collection, using fabrics by Raf Simons for Kvadrat, includes a denim cushion (£59, from Monologue).