Tuesday, April 30, 2013

Denim vs. Chambray ...A fun little fashion vocab lesson.


So today I'm bringing you all a little fun life lesson.
Denim vs. Chambray.
Let's Party.

Ok, so maybe it's not that fun.  But seriously, it's something worth knowing. Seems simple enough to differentiate between denim and well, anything, but with all the cute little fashion forward chambray and denim tops and dresses available pretty much everywhere, it's worth knowing the difference.
Because if the whole denim vs. chambray topic doesn't sound super fun to you, knowing what you're talking about always is.

So differentiating between the two just by external look and feel can prove a bit tricky. Some people assume that any soft top that looks like this is "a chambray".

Not always.

Truth is, a chambray can be any color. They aren't just tops that look like denim.  Had to throw that in because I think that's where a lot of the confusion comes from.
That shirt dress is actually denim, by the way.

Anyway, a chambray is a plain weave fabric and denim is a twill woven fabric. If that still confuses you *cough* if you're like me *cough* and just want to see an easy way to tell them apart, here ya go.

Flip the fabric in question over and take a peek at the underside.


Diagonal weave= Denim
Criss-Cross weave= Chambray

Easy as pie right?
Why this is all so tricky is because in that photo above, you can tell just by looking at the underside that they are very different, while the top of the fabric looks (and feels) quite similar in this case. Denim isn't always super stiff while chambray is soft. In my example above, both fabrics are hard to differentiate just by touch. They're both super soft. But now you're in the know!

And no worries, this is just purely a little FYI post.

If you still use them interchangeably, the vocab and fashion police will not come knocking at your door.
I mean, I don't think they will.  If they do, I didn't send them.

They may however pay you a visit if you don't follow me on Instagram. Just sayin.

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