Indigo Kimono Style Denim Jacket 'Konpeki'

Washed indigo denim cut to a kimono pattern, with cords instead of buttons

Two of the most dependable things in a wardrobe, the jean jacket and the kimono jacket, turn out to share a shape. Both are short, both are square through the shoulder, both are happiest worn open. This piece admits it. The cloth is a mid-weight indigo denim, washed to a soft blue with the seams a shade lighter, and the pattern is the kimono one: a flat edge down both fronts, wide sleeves that stop at the elbow, a hem at the hip.

Instead of buttons there are cord ties, one pair at the chest and one at the hem, indigo like the cloth, which you can knot to hold the front together or leave hanging like the drawstrings of a happi coat. Two patch pockets sit low on the front, squared off, with a short line of embroidered text along the top of each. The topstitching is visible and even, the way it should be on denim. That is the whole list of details, and the jacket does not need a longer one.

The name, Konpeki, is the Japanese word for a deep, clear blue, the blue of the sea in the shade of a cliff, and it is the right word for this wash: not raw, not bleached, but the blue that denim reaches after a year of honest wear, arrived at early.

The cloth is denim, which puts it apart from the rest of the collection: heavier than the printed pieces, with the structure to hold a pocket flat and the give to fall open. It softens with washing, as denim does, and it fades along the folds and the pocket edges first, which is how the second year will look.

Worn open over a white tee, it is the easiest outfit in the range: blue, white, and whatever trousers you were already wearing. Over a black tee it reads darker and more considered. It goes with black trousers, with grey, with cream in summer, and with raw denim if you can carry two blues at once, which most people can.

This is the kimono jacket for people who are not sure they want a kimono jacket. It looks like a jean jacket from across the road and like something better up close, and it will take more days out than anything printed.

Sizes run from M to 5XL. It is cut to Asian sizing and runs small, so take one size up from your usual. Between two sizes, take the larger, because denim needs room before it will drape.