We all love our jeans. Most of us live in them most of the time. Kinda hard to imagine that they haven’t existed as human clothing since the dawn of time. But the truth is that they were invented pretty recently: 1853, as protective, sturdy work gear for miners trying to find gold in California.
Since then, they have become a cultural icon representing the American west/cowboy culture with its brashness, independence, and entrepreneurial and hardworking spirit.
Not surprisingly, Levi’s has an archive which focuses on the historic importance of their product. As their clothing has changed, the artifacts from it can be identified pretty easily. A recent blog post tells the story of one archaeological dig going on in the Rocky Mountains:
Throwback Thursday: The Case of the Missing Button
Once the movie Western became popular, this rugged image was fostered by movie icons wearing this hardworking garment.
The icons:
Once suburban Americans began to wear jeans casually, instead of just as work wear, more companies began producing blue jeans. This embedded mythology transferred to jeans by all producers, not just the original Levi’s.
Jeans also were one of the first items of clothing to be converted into designer status symbols. The iconic 1980s Calvin Klein ad campaign with Brooke Shields ushered in the era of the designer jean. While Calvin Klein had the most notorious ad campaign, many designers established bridge and moderate lines that included a line of denim. Ralph Lauren, Gloria Vanderbilt, and Versace were just a few.
This play on the meanings behind denim continued/s as more companies take on the denim icon. The Los Angeles company Guess Jeans frequently played with the western/film icon theme in their popular ad campaigns in the late 1980s-1990s.
Guess Jeans ran many memorable ad campaigns, several of which made their models into media stars in their own right.
This stereotyped Americanism continued to influence perception even while blue jeans entrepreneurship shifted to Europe. Diesel, a brand headquartered in Breganze, Italy, became an important jeans producer in the 21st century. However, their ad campaigns still refer to the original notion of denim as work wear.
Denim continues to be a hot category with new companies jumping into production:
How Vetements Created the Jeans of the Season—and What the Brand Is Doing Next
We have a ton of good books on the phenomenon that blue jeans have become. Here are just a few:
Blue Blooded: Denim Hunters & Jeans Culture
A Denim Story: Inspiration from Boyfriends to Bell Bottoms
This is both a book and a longer project that anthropologist Danny Miller has been working on, which you can read more about here.
Come take a look! And give your jeans an appreciative glance as you pull them on tomorrow.