Reading my morning roster of blogs today, I came across a simple photograph of Garance Doré casually crossing a street. Wearing a light wash denim jacket paired with a nude bandage skirt she looks, at once, completely nonchalant and impeccable. Her hair is modest, quite understated in fact, parted in the middle and pulled back in a low bun. Though she generally works behind the lens, her expression and posture convince me that she is just as comfortable as the subject, a candid model in transit. My explanation hardly does justice to the kind of arresting presence Doré commands in the photo, but there is something altogether mesmerizing about the moment captured. Perhaps it’s the ease with which she navigates the cobblestone street on wedged heels, or the way her camera strap is wrapped casually around her wrist like an accessory.

The photograph is entitled, “Parisians Do It Better,” and I must concede, Doré has that certain je ne sais quoi – but it frustrates me to think that Parisians are the only ones who do it better. What is it anyway? (Okay okay, I’m getting cheeky now, I know what it is).

Yes, the French have got it down pat (more than pat, really) when it comes to fashion, but certainly there’s something that Canadians do right. To begin with, I work with a team of lovely ladies who could intimidate the pants off any respectable fashion connoisseur. And for the sake of Worn and all the Wornettes working tirelessly each year to make this fashion journal, I have to believe there is a style niche so characteristically Canadian.

In doubt I looked to my closet for answers, and while staring into the sea of indigo, something came to me. Denim jackets with denim pants, denim vests with denim skirts, walk into any Village of Value and you’ll see the message I’m preaching: The Canadian Tuxedo.

I know that I’m supposed to assume a certain audience here, refrain from inundating you lovely readers with style knowledge already burned into your brain, but I want to make sure this post is accessible to everyone (Hi mom!). For the sentence I’m about to write I want to apologize in advance.

A Canadian Tuxedo is jean on jean, if you know what I mean?

Blue up top and you just don’t stop.

I couldn’t think of anything that sounds good with indigo…

In doing some quick internet research (Google image search) I realize that the rest of the world is taking note. Street stylers across the globe are trying to emulate the two-piece we made so famous, and even the Gap’s latest ad campaigns are showcasing supermodels in head-to-toe denim.

I’ve been trying to ask myself why the almighty Canadian Tuxedo is so alluring, and yet, my results are inconclusive. Perhaps the complementary shades of blue conjure images of distant tropical waters — the kind we dream of after enduring winters rife with SAD. Or maybe the success of the indigo tux is far simpler, born of practicality, durability, and comfort.

My last profound and insightful theory is that we all secretly want to be cowboys, rough and rugged herdsmen just waiting for our sartorial showdown.

-Carmen