Because there’s more to life than slim-fit indigo, you know.

To paraphrase Sir Elton John, goodbye normal jeans. After years of everything being pretty much the same (you had the default choice of slim-fit or skinny in indigo, black or grey), now almost anything goes. Fit, colour, wash, embellishment – suddenly there’s very little off limits. You don’t need us to tell you how to wear regular denim. But if you’re stepping outside your comfort zone to try something more daring – white jeans, a pastel denim jacket, acid wash – you might appreciate a helping hand.

Our style editors have put together five very different ways of wearing denim while offering some useful and widely applicable style advice. No need to get distressed. Unless that’s your preferred style, of course.

The easiest way to wear denim on denim successfully is to make sure the colour tones are suitably different, as demonstrated here, so you don’t risk straying into “Canadian tuxedo” territory. Together with complementary worn-in, washed black jeans and washed-out chambray shirt, this dusky pink jacket ups the ante from double to triple denim for a relaxed weekend look. Even the tie-dyed Lanvin plimsolls have a denim-wash feel. Designed by CMMN SWDN exclusively for MR PORTER in on-trend pastel, this jacket is a fresh take on a wardrobe staple, and an effective way of bringing subtle colour into an otherwise tonal clothing rail without being too challenging. This jacket is deliberately cropped, so note how the layering of sweatshirt and chambray underneath works to keep the proportions balanced.

Washes, rips, holes, patchwork, studding – statement denim is making a strong return, propelled by the power of Instagram and its most influential attention-grabbers predominantly from the worlds of music and sport. (We’re looking at you Messrs Kanye West, Justin Bieber and Odell Beckham Jr.) These bleached jeans from Gucci are clearly not for the shy and retiring; they need to be worn as part of a fashion-forward streetwear ensemble in order to make sense. Putting jeans such as this with, say, a button-down shirt and tan brogues would jar horribly. Here, a limited-edition Raf Simons hoodie is layered with a cropped Saint Laurent bomber jacket in subtle camouflage. In terms of footwear, you’re looking at a pair of bold high-top sneakers or rock‘n’roll leather boots. High-impact denim is predominantly a young man’s game, incidentally. Try getting away with something like this over 40 and the unflattering incongruity will only age you further.

A blue-collar worker in a white-collar world. The choice of jacket here is transformative. Worn as a stand-in blazer, it completely changes the tone of this look from a perfectly acceptable if unremarkable smart ensemble into something more interesting and individual, immediately setting the wearer apart from the corporate crowd. And yet this workwear you can actually wear to work is not dangerously rebellious – it’s Berluti after all, complete with side tab adjusters so you can customise the fit. The colour combination of navy trousers and burgundy leather Derbies works with the blue hue of the jacket, while the matt texture of the tie and the cotton-blend trousers fits with the workwear feel of denim. This jacket is also a versatile desk-to-dusk piece that can take you from the office to drinks with friends – its flexibility literally enhanced by the one per cent elastane in the denim mix which affords a little stretch while retaining its form.

White jeans are back in this summer. For some men – louche sun-seekers with houses in the Hamptons or the Riviera, or both – they are always in. And therein lies the danger. They can look a bit “playboy” (the lower case p is important). But then they can also look very President John F Kennedy cool. So how do you channel the latter? First, some rules: they must be fitted, pristine and worn in the right context, ideally on holiday somewhere warm. And they are best worn with summer footwear: white tennis shoes or loafers, with no-show socks. An all-white look can appear too clinical or cultish, so bring some contrast to the top half – a bright colour will make the jeans “pop” more, a muted one will tone them down. The plum suede of this Tom Ford jacket works well with the burgundy loafers. Each serves to bring out the richness of the other. The plaited brown leather belt, tortoiseshell sunglasses and leather-trimmed holdall co-ordinate tonally. Best not to add to the palette with an accidental splash of red wine, though. It’s near impossible to wash out.

There’s denim and then there’s aficionado denim, and these jeans from The Workers Club most definitely fall into the latter category. The selvedge denim comes from one of the world’s premium mills in Okayama, Japan, which fits with TWC’s ethos of “buy less, but better”. It has been meticulously washed and whiskered – much like the well-groomed, bearded urban woodsmen who tend to appreciate such details. Worn with robust leather boots (a shearling-lined, weatherproof pebble grain pair from O’Keeffe in this case), the turn-ups subtly show off the otherwise hidden selvedge. A plaid flannel shirt worn over a striped long-sleeved T-shirt in a congruent palette is a winning way to incorporate colour and pattern. An indigo-dyed neckerchief, reversible gilet/vest from Patagonia and weather-proof canvas and leather Master-Piece backpack complete the outdoorsy look.

**Shop all jeans here **