These days, music festivals have turned into some of the best street fashion shows. Lollapalooza Music Festival in Chicago is one of our favorite events of the summer to steal new fashion and outfit inspiration. This past weekend Coco Rocha was spotted wearing a pair of HABITUAL Ultra High Rise Thalia Shorts in Abyss at the festival. She paired the shorts with one of her husband’s T-shirts, vintage boots and aviators to make the perfect laid-back music festival look. She topped the outfit off with one fancy mustache! Scroll through Coco’s Lolla weekend fun in her photo diary on Elle.com.

Out on the town in our Alice Skinny coated jeans in Dark Feather, Emily VanCamp was spotted wearing HABITUAL with boyfriend and Revenge co-star, Joshua Bowman, at the Playhouse Club in Los Angeles. Emily paired her Alice Skinny coated jeans with a black blouse and stylish boots. The Dark Feather denim is the perfect fit with her ‘revenge’ driven character as the stunning lead in Revenge. We love to see that this young star is starting a new habit.

What color is sure to always make a statement? Red. From our earliest Alice in Vermillion that got us hooked on how the color pops on denim to one of our new fall favorites Amalia in Vermillion, we think that the brilliant red orange color vermillion denim is the perfect combination of statement and class. In its naturally occurring form, vermilion is actually mercuric sulfide, a toxic compound also known as “cinnabar,” luckily for us the dyes and paints of today are non-toxic. Take a look back and read about the origins of the eye catching color.

As our design team continued to experiment with and discover new shades of red, it resulted in one of our summer favorites Almas Hi Rise Skinny in Acid Red and this fall’s stunning Alice Skinny in Devil Red. We continue to create and come up with new combinations of red denim; ever wonder where our design team finds inspiration for all of these different shades of red? Take a look at our Pinterest page for an in-depth look at our design team’s “Color Inspiration: Red” board.

One of our favorite things about working out of LA is finding those little pockets of creativity that exist in and around the city. That’s a safe description for the ocean-view studio we used for our Fall Winter 2012 Shoot yesterday in Pacific Palisades. The hilltop space allowed tons of natural light, great acoustics for music to keep everyone excited, and a cool air from the ocean. That it sits adjacent to the custom music studio of a major Hollywood composer (and his endless collection of design books and film posters) helped open up everyone’s creativity.

The new collection is full of luxe details and finishes, signature prints, new styles and colors for coated, and beautiful silhouettes, so we chose the set and styling to emphasize the design: clean, solid tees and shirts and simple heels matched a neutral backdrop and the occasional piece of furniture.  A clean face with a blackened red lip and a tight ponytail was just the right amount of effortless chic and interest for our repeat look book model Angelika.

We’re already picking selects for the look book and it will head off to the printers in a couple weeks. Look for an online version here on The Habit soon afterwards!

As the trend for pant rise continues to climb, we have released our super high-waisted Harrison Ultra Hi-Rise Flare, which hugs the hips almost up to the belly button. The Harrison is a brand new body style in the HABITUAL line, and also happens to be on the inside cover of our Spring 2012 look book. To style pants like this, you don’t need to over-do it – let the pants do most of the talking. Try an airy top in a solid color like coral with minimal jewelry. You also won’t need to worry about having the perfect shoes, because the pants will cover them, but make sure they are the right height so the hem doesn’t drag on the ground.

Tops: J.Crew Silk pintuck blouse in neon rose (left), Chloe Pussy-bow silk crepe de chine blouse (right)
Jeans: HABITUAL Harrison Ultra Hi-Rise Flare in Serene at DNA Las Vegas or Chicago, or at Fred Segal Girl.
Bracelet: Kenneth Jay Lane alligator bracelet
Shoes: See By Chloe leather and wood sandal in Nude

It’s Veteran’s Day. Don’t forget to thank the members of our Armed forces for their service today.

While today’s military uniforms are mostly made of hi-tech synthetic fabrics to maximize durability, breathability, comfort and camouflage, there was a time when denim was the fabric of choice for military garments. Blue denim work clothing was adopted as the standard for the U.S. Army in 1919, and thousands of servicemen in the Army and Navy wore jackets, shirts, coveralls, pants, hats and packs made from the material from the 1920’s up through WWII.

Aside from a very condensed version of design process on Project Runway, most people aren’t familiar with all of the steps that go into creating a finished look – especially a finished denim look. As part of our series of Explained posts on The Habit, we’re going into the details of the denim design process. From wash development, to perfecting the fit, to creating a sample and finally hitting retail, there are many steps in creating a pair of jeans. But before any design can begin to take shape, a designer has to be inspired.

Gathering inspiration is a constant practice, and it can come from anywhere – great photographs, the texture of fabrics, a stylish person, artwork, music, architecture, nature – really anything that we see or feel in the world around us. Designers are required to be sponges, soaking up as much of this inspiration as possible.

When the beginning of a calendar season comes around, the design team is tasked with putting together a “collection”, a cohesive group of pieces that represents our vision for the line, yet also carries market appeal. At that point, usually more than a year in advance, we have to focus in on our favorite bits of collected inspiration to draw out major trends in fabrics, silhouettes, washes, and colors for the given season.  We check our tastes against macro trends in society, and look at what’s on the runway, what is chosen for magazine shoots, and what trend services are saying. We can then pull a series of images that support the product and design direction we’d like to go in for the line. Out of habit, we gather these images into an inspiration board, which serves as a constant reference as we start to create specific looks.

Even after we have a sense of what the product will look like for the season, inspiration continues to play a key role throughout the entire process. We are constantly looking at blogs, magazines, tumblr accounts, trend services, and the world around us to reconfirm that our inspirations for the current line are hitting the mark. When all is said and done, the goal is for the product to hit stores right as the trends are starting and never too late.

We’re beyond excited to share the newest colors of our coated denim. After debuting our Color Coated Denim with warmer hues like Luggage, Chianti, and Vermilion earlier in the year, we’re turning down the temperature a bit with a new collection in an icier palette. As we saw on the Spring 2012 runways, cooler colors like dark purple and turquoise are right on trend, and we’re bringing our tones out early. Look for the same Coated you love, now in  Dark Feather, Dark Taupe, Turquoise, Alabaster and Purple Mountain. The first shipments will hit stores in November!

Crafting a bolt of denim into a great fitting, comfortable, fashion forward pair of jeans is a form of art in itself, but London-born artist Denimu makes denim into art in a whole different way.  Initially attracted to the textures and wear patterns of denim, 27 year-old Denimu quickly discovered that working with denim was a way to breath life into garments that had passed their prime, but still carried a lot of personal meaning for people. By cutting and layering denim into different shapes and patterns, Denimu creates beautiful portraits, urbanscapes, pop art, and pretty much anything else that can be interpreted in denim. This is the type of life passion that can only come from a true denimhead. In his own words:

“I became fascinated by the rich heritage of Denim.  A story that has run alongside that of modern history. A material that abounds in dualities and meanings. A symbol of both egalitarianism and of materialism. A reflection of the world in which we live.”

We’re just hoping he is aware of the colored denim trend – that could open a whole new realm of possibilities, and we can’t wait to see the results.

Valentino, Ferrari, Alessi, Ferragamo – Italy is synonymous with a culture of design. So much so that Prada, one of the most iconic Italian labels, recently took some flack from the blogs for veering from tradition to manufacture several limited edition handbags in India. For spring, we’re pulling in a bit of that Italian design sensibility with the Almas Hi Rise Zip Skinny in Acid Red. The Almas is a skinny cut denim that shows off the legs down below, but comes together up top in a slightly higher rise, perfectly suited to the modern woman (as Refinery 29 asks, who is still buying low rise denim?). But the most exciting part of this style is the Acid Red wash, featuring a beautiful Italian “crackle coating” treatment, which draws upon the colored denim trend and updates it with a bit of extra texture – just the thing to brighten up your mood once winter’s over. And don’t worry, if red’s not quite your thing, the Almas will also come in a black crackle coating called “Night”, an easy, worn-in blue wash called “Ceremonial”, a grey wash called “Rain”, and a clean white wash called “Snowfall”.