Faustine, you wore Cheap Mondays as a teen but when did your love of denim begin?

Faustine: I started working with denim when I was about 14, I was a skater, a terrible skater! So I made a skateboard in denim with a pocket that was for my pet rat. He hated skateboarding so he never went in the pocket. I think that’s the first thing I did in denim. Then I would cut up denim which is where it all really started, however, I didn’t wear denim for about six years until I started getting into the Baby Rocker scene, which is when I began to wear Cheap Monday. Baby Rocker is like a Parisian Mod, very '60s, with brogues, Cheap Monday jeans and Aviator jackets. They were called Baby Rockers because everyone was about 16 but dressed like a '60s Mod. There were a few bands in the scene and we would meet every Friday at 6.30pm in Republique in Paris, and we were all dressed in Cheap Monday. That’s how my love for denim continued. And then I went to fashion school and I started to work with denim again and never stopped.

How did the collaboration come about and what was the starting point for the collection?

Faustine: It came very naturally, because when I was doing my Masters at Central St Martins, a few of the students worked for Cheap Monday in the jewellery, accessories and womenswear departments, so they showed my work to Carl who was interested in collaborating. I then received a message on Facebook asking what I thought and it all started from there. Very natural and organic. We knew we wanted the collection to be inspired by subcultures and music. To me that’s what Cheap Monday represents – this perfect osmosis between the music scene and clothing. From there we were influenced by metal, in particular that beautiful Norwegian black metal book and documentary about the Mayhem kids.

Denim is really having a moment in fashion with brands like yourself and Vetements transforming it from wardrobe staple to luxury, directional piece. Are you concerned by how 'trendy' denim is at the moment and do you feel pressure being labelled one of the 'hottest designers du jour'?

Faustine: I don’t get scared about other brands, but I do get worried when I see it in really mainstream publications as in trend pieces like ‘the item of the season is grunge denim’ and I see my clothes there. I don’t like that, and I never see denim as a 'trend' because when you look around, no matter what country, what year, 90% of people are wearing denim and I really see it as a very classic thing. For other brands, you can see denim items popping up in their collections but for me, you’ll see the difference, it's my basic. Carl are you concerned?

Carl: No because it's not a new thing, it’s been around for 150 years. It’s a textile that everyone knows and regardless of whether it's on the catwalk or not, people buy it all the time. It doesn’t disappear.