An often overlooked alternative to white jeans is bleached denim, which was the norm 20 years ago but is trying to make a comeback for those wanting high-fashion but denim a bit different than the over processed or dark rinse jeans everyone else is wearing. When done right, bleached denim can offer something different from what everyone else is doing, yet oddly familiar to those familiar with denims history.

These days bleached denim will be a lot lighter and more comfortable than it had been in years past. Though bleached denim was associated with blue the last time around white and grey offer a more sophisticated approach than what the best of the eighties offered. The few blue pairs we will mention are definitely worth having in your wardrobe though. The first pair of jeans we’ll look at are these great jeans by Christian Dior.

Dior Homme Bleached Denim Jean 19cm

If you look closely there are subtle blue streaks in the denim. These are also low rise, at only 9 3/4 cm.

An even subtler approach to bleached denim is to go with the color grey instead of white. For example, Cambio Nuria has a great pair of jeans that are also slim-fit, yet bleached just right with elastene to add the right amount of stretch.

Cambio Nuria Slim-Fit Jeans – GREY BLEACHED, 36/6

Tobi, a relatively new website that offers a completely different shopping experience. Offers a completely different take on bleached denim for men. The wash is a very, very subtle grey and you would almost pass them off as a great pair of grey jeans that weren’t bleached at all.

Nudie Jeans Slim Jim Skinny Jeans in Sun Bleach Grey

I love that classic stitching on the back pockets. At 10 inches the rise if very generous and they are slim without being skinny, more of a classic fit.

Dolce and Gabbana brings their expertise with these great fashion forward “COOL” jeans. What’s nice about them is the generous mix of elastine and polyester that keeps the look right for years to come and the boot cut bottom that guarantees the right look with a nice pair of heels.

Chip and Pepper offers a nice bleached denim jean in a very, very, light blue that stands as a more transitional approach to bleached denim than white or grey bleached denim would. Yet the great fit of Chip and Pepper jeans sort of throws convention out of the window, the cut of these jeans is very flattering, a lower inseam but a higher rise.

Chip & Pepper Walk Of Shame in Bella Coola

Why they call these “Walk Of Shame” is beyond me, but I like it. That means a lot of things; but regardless of what you did the night before, these jeans look great, and people will soon forget about all of that, hopefully …

True Religion has a number of pairs of bleached denim jeans. These jeans look white but if you check out the stitching you’ll see that they’re actually bleached.

True Religion Candice in Bleached

As you can see here, bleached denim offers a look that isn’t as predictable as solid denim with a bit of depth that the cut alone can provide. It’s a more refined look when approached subtly, and a definitively more aggressive, unapologetic approach to denim when the bleaching is more obvious. This time around though, with better materials and the addition of materials to make the denim stretch and breathe more it should actually look a lot better than it did in the eighties.