Denim Defender Diary Pt1 - Beach Break Live

11pm - its dark and the drive from London to Pembry country park Wales had taken its toll, the sheer volume of festival necessities pouring out of the Land Rover was already putting a strain on the cabin. Too late now, we just have to press on to the park and ride. 

Eventually we reach the mammoth queue, along the way discarding various heavy objects we no longer needed. Boredom struck as soon as we hit the thousand-deep people wall. Praise be to Red Bull who saved the day, pulling up alongside the knackered crowd with an events vehicle kitted out with DJ decks and a ludicrously loud sound system. Inject a few Pepe Jeans beach balls into the crowd and the party is started.

2am - Finally the park and ride bus pulled into the camping ground, our torments are over.

3am - Finding a spot to camp is harder than we thought, eventually after grappling with weird tenting technology in a pitch black field we settle down for our first night's sleep in the Beach Break world. Buzzing just thinking about the awesome festival ahead of us.

Every act was great. Beardy Man, Dan Le Sac vs Scrubious Pip, The Correspondents and Chase and Status, pictured above with headliner Vampire Weekend, were a few of our favourites. 

Everyday was full-on and packed with things to do, the Beach Break tribe (some of whom are pictured above and below with the season's must-have Pepe Jeans beach-ball), were friendly and the festival food was yummy. The only let-down were the relentless queues, but it's a minor gripe given what was an incredible few days.

 The vibe on the last day was electric but do remember to pack a ridiculous fancy dress costume if you come next year. A definite recommendation from the Denim Defender team.

P.S Thanks Red Bull for the great VIP party, with Example providing a heart-pounding set. 

Defending denim, Pepe style

As you can imagine there was plenty of excitement a few weeks ago at Pepe HQ in London's Notting Hill when our gorgeous Denim Defender finally arrived.

We'd been waiting for months for the Land Rover team to kit out the all terrain vehicle and now it's on the road, spanning the length and breadth of the country spreading the Pepe gospel at a roll-call of summer events.

The Denim Defender premise is fiendishly simple. With Pepe people Bradley (pictured left) and Georgina (pictured right) in the cockpit we're visiting campuses and cities, beaches and festivals, helping to get the party started with Pepe giveaways and a myriad of Pepe parties. There are discount vouchers for the faithful and sample sales for the as-yet uninitiated.

We'll be covering each leg of the Denim Defender tour here on the blog as well as on our Twitter and Facebook sites.

Pictured from top you can see Ana from the Pepe team posing alongside the Denim Defender, and retail supremo Jo taking a closer inspection at the upholstery with all-round Pepe whizzkid Ollie.

Red Bull's Mark Weber shakes off crash with win at Silverstone

The Pepe Jeans sponsored Red Bull F1 car streaked to victory on its British home turf on Sunday. Aussie driver Mark Webber proved his mettle after a horrific crash in the last leg of the season which many critics claimed would shatter Webber's track confidence.
In a two-finger salute to his detractors Webber pulled off a faultless display in front of a crowd of 115,000. After narrowly missing another collision with team-mate Sebastien Vettel in the first corner Webber went on to take his fifth podium of the season. Come on Red Bull!

Pepe Jeans Vs Suzuki

London's Clothes Show Live exhibition provided the springboard for Pepe Jeans' collaboration with Suzuki.

It was at the show in Earls Court that one lucky visitor walked away with the keys to this super-cute Pepe Jeans Suzuki Alto. With an interior decked out in hard-wearing 14oz denim and a crisp white exterior with subtle Pepe Jeans London livery the hot-hatch stole the spotlight at Clothes Show Live.
Suzuki also had top fashion blog What Katie Wore on its stand snapping pics of the hottest girls in the hippest outfits at the show. To take a look at some of the best looks at the show log on to What Katie Wore.

Pepe Jeans reveals new autumn 2010 campaign featuring Alexa Chung and Jon Kortajarena

Back for her second season as the face of Pepe Jeans London, celebrity TV presenter and fashion-forward model Alexa Chung gets to grips with the Autumn 2010 collection with a little help from the hottest property in male modeling, Jon Kortajarena.

The latest Pepe Jeans London campaign finds the Brit-born denim brand returning to Notting Hill’s Portobello Road, the birthplace of the brand, with a photo story which celebrates the brand’s British roots.

Joining super-chic trendsetter Alexa Chung in front of the camera are 21 year-old French model Gaspard Menier and fashion’s most in-demand male model, 25-year old Jon Kortajarena.

Since being discovered eight years ago sitting on the spectator side of the runway by a scout at Spanish Fashion Week, Kortajarena has been at the centre of a fashion whirlwind since first leaving his home in Bilbao aged just 17.

Likened in looks to French actor Anthony Delon, Kortajarena is the only male model to have appeared across 200 pages of the same issue of bi-annual French fashion bible L’Officiel Hommes. Later that year in 2008 Kortajarena was the face of five major fashion campaigns at a single time. His career took a stella turn last year, when he appeared in Tom Ford’s critically acclaimed directorial film debut A Single Man, alongside Colin Firth who won the BAFTA Award for Best Actor for his role in the movie.

Set against the backdrop of Portobello’s streets, cafes and record stores, the Autumn 2010 Pepe Jeans London shoot brings together a creative team made up almost exclusively of British talent. Directing the models is creative director Tom Hingston. Famed for his high-gloss advertising work with fashion brands as well as his graphics-led cover art for music stars including Robbie Williams and Massive Attack, Hingston swaps his ultra-polished trademark style for the realist aesthetic which informs the latest Pepe Jeans London shoot.

When it came to selecting the right photographer to capture the group shots, London photographer Josh Olins was drafted in. Renowned for his slick compositions of traditionally tricky group shots, Olins delivered a clean, retro-tinged theme set against an urban backdrop.

Styling duties were given to another Londoner, Clare Richardson, whose name has become synonymous with edgy editorial-led fashion stories, and whose resumé includes styling gigs with V Man, WWD,Mixte and Man About Town, among others.

Webber survives horrific crash but Vettel wins in Valencia

What a day for Red Bull at the European Formula 1 Grand Prix in Valencia in Spain. An amazing victory for our driver Sebastian Vettel who bounced himself back into contention for the world championship with an easy win in Valencia.

Mark Webber suffered a spectacular accident as he ran on the back of Lotus´s Kovalainen in the early laps. His Red Bull car somersaulted backwards through 180 degrees and landed upside down, flipped back on to its wheels, and then speared headfirst into the tyre wall at very high speed. Fortunately he is absolutely fine, no injuries but his accident underlined not only the dangers of Formula 1 but also the incredible safety technology within each car.

Sebastian Vettel who brilliantly obtained the pole position on Saturday in an exciting qualifying session, led from the beginning and defended his position strongly during the whole race. After some bad luck recently, this victory should be a boost for this confidence.

It was an exciting day in Valencia. With everyone on the Pepe Jeans and Red Bull teams ecstatic over Vettel´s victory and relieved that Webber is fine after his accident.  We look forward now to Silverstone and the UK Grand Prix in just two weeks. Bring it on.

Old look for new Heritage showroom

One of the hottest projects which our design team is working on right now is Heritage by Pepe Jeans London.

Rooted in vintage Americana, the Heritage collection is inspired by iconic military and workwear styles from the last 150 years. The beautifully crafted pre-collection includes authentically aged selvedge denims, chinos, shirts, and jackets. With its Americana emphasis our Amsterdam design team has been plundering the history books, finding inspiration in jeans first worn by prospectors in the great American Gold Rush, alongside pleat-fronted denim trucker jackets, 1960s field coats, and chambray shirting.

The Heritage capsule collection has been developed to whet the appetites of buyers before we unveil a full Heritage collection at the spring 2011 edition of Berlin trade show, Bread & Butter.

A couple of weeks ago the London team created a mercantile era look for the Notting Hill showroom, a wall of which can be seen in the main picture.

The pre-collection is now available to buy and wholesale prices range from £28 to £54. We'll report back soon with an in-depth look at each and every style available in the Heritage range.

For more information contact 020 7313 3800 or visit www.pepejeanslondon.com, or www.pepejeanslondon.blogspot.com.