Dark Denim to Present Third Collection at DFW, Elevating Signature Designs

This article was published with 303 Magazine.

“I haven’t even created the collection yet, I’m a mess. Full transparency man, I’m one of those ‘pressure makes diamonds’ kind of designer,” AldoElCreator, designer of Dark Denim admitted to me, laughing during our interview in Mid-October — less than a month away from his collection for Denver Fashion Week’s Streetwear night on Nov. 12. 

But, Aldo isn’t putting off the collection by any means, this is simply part of his process. He describes that all of the designs have been drawn up, but that a few weeks before the event, is when the sewing starts for him. 

Originally hailing from Michoacán Mexico, Aldo moved to Denver when he was five years old and considers himself a native. His roots planted in Colorado are a subtle inspiration for this upcoming collection, blending sportier elements with this traditional “Dark Denim” style. The silhouettes and styles are set to be elevated through “simplified clothing” and high-quality textiles such as ribbed fabrics.

“I want to skew away from the whole patchwork look like I can sit here and patch pants, all crazy, but like, what other brand isn’t doing that?” Aldo said. “I feel like the last 10 years, I’ve put a good staple on that. So when people see it, they’re always like, ‘Oh, that’s Dark Denim.’ So I’m kind of going for another style.”

Aldo has been designing his own clothes since high school, selling them on street corners and consistently progressing from there. That is until 2019 when his brand was sued for copyright infringement for repurposing Louis Vuitton clothing pieces. 

In 2020, AldoElCreator’s design work was revitalized under the moniker, Dark Denim. Think black leather jackets with New York style graffiti, distressed and embellished denim, patchwork with visible zig-zag stitching. The brand is completed and personified by a frowning, hooded skeleton named Bones, visually reminiscent of a grim reaper. 

Dark Denim mainly consists of reworked, one-of-one, commissioned garments, including customs for the likes of influencers, Jake and Logan Paul, Trippie Redd, Natanael Cano, and most recently, DNA Picasso who graced the cover of Denver Westword wearing the brand. 

“It’s what keeps my inspiration going, just because everyone is different, and this is how I kind of create the brand, or I think about the brand and users behind it,” Aldo said. “It’s just like everyone’s as unique as a snowflake. We all have different DNA and different aspects, different stuff going on, and I essentially just want to represent that in whatever piece I’m doing for them.”

From a red denim patchwork jacket posed to perfectly showcase the designer logo on a magazine cover, to a fully embellished white coat with a studded collar, worn by Cano in both his Amor Tumbado music video and at the Latin American Music Awards, Dark Denim has gone international in its reach through its customer base. 

Despite his love for the commission work, Aldo is excited to explore more personal projects and pieces for Denver Fashion Week. The self-taught, alternative-leaning brand will be emphasizing the construction of the looks and engineering functional art pieces for the runway.   

“When people think of Dark Denim, they think a lot of my old work. I feel like that’s the biggest thing behind an artist — once you’re known for something, it’s always hard to kind of skew away from it,” Aldo explained. “I want to show them that I’m expanding into other realms of the fashion industry, I’m trying to grow in design, in my company.”

Although the Dark Denim brand can embody many personalities and consumers, Aldo described one of his biggest inspirations as Roger Ballen, an American Artist and Photographer who focuses on nonconventional work to dig into the human psyche,bordering the line between fantasy and reality. 

When retelling the design process, Aldo’s fantasy and reality seem to interweave similarly.

He recounts how he’ll have the visual of a pattern etched in his mind, but as he begins the sewing process, new techniques, ideas and concepts may come to mind to make a piece even better. It’s a pull and push, ebb and flow of revising and making a garment the best and most authentically “Dark” that it can be. 

“In the end, it’s still Dark [Denim], if that makes sense. It’s like that cohesiveness of a mess, like the creative chaos behind my design, that’s essentially what makes Dark Denim, and I think that’s why people like to work with me,” Aldo said. 

This will be the third Dark Denim collection for DFW, a feat for the Los Angeles-based fashion designer. On top of recently becoming a father, traveling the world for clients and creating pieces that resonate with him and his consumers, Aldo is ready to expand his brand and showcase the multi-faceted levels of the “ballenistic-couture” brand. 

“Essentially, I’ll still be the same crazy guy, I just want to be able to dress more of the mass public with my work, not just a certain demographic. I feel like everyone deserves a little bit of Dark Denim,” Aldo said. “That’s essentially what this collection will bring is just change, a little bit of change is always good.”

His ultimate goal for the runway? Shock. 

His ultimate goal for the business? Creation. Art, simply for the sake of art.

“This company is self funded. I’m just one guy, and a lot of people have tried to take it down, but we’re still going,” Aldo said. “I’m just trying to make some art — full transparency, I don’t care about any of the money, I don’t care about the clout, I’m just trying to make some art so eventually my daughter could be like, ‘Yo, that’s my dad!’”