Can’t Beat a Pair of Jeans,

No Matter What Style or Era

by Tom Anselm

Durable. Affordable. And after a few washings, quite comfortable. A go-to clothing item since the 1870’s. And, chances are that as you are reading this, you have at least two pair on a shelf in your closet and a third in the laundry basket. Today, we honor that near-universal clothing item… a pair of blue jeans!

   Who doesn’t love a great pair of jeans? I have three right now, in various states of wearability. One I wear for fishing, another to church, and the other is the ‘in-betweener’: not too beat up and just clean-looking

enough. This pair will, as time and washings comfortable-ize them, move into the first category. Maybe even catch a few worn spots, frayed cuffs and holes. My favorite jean type, really.

The phenomenon of ‘blue jeans’ seems to go back to good old Levi Straus, a merchant who came to America from the Bavarian region of Germany. He headed to the California Gold Rush hills as a young man, and came up with trousers made with denim cloth.

Denim probably derives its name from a town in France called Nimes, where tailors used a cloth with indigo blue dye and white threads, a derivative of a cotton corduroy from Genoa, Italy. (So, ‘jeans’ from Geneva and ‘denim’ from Nimes… de Nimes. I love word origins.)

The durable denim cloth was used in those rough and tumble times for wagon covers and tents. Strauss saw the need for a sturdier trouser for the miners and laborers, who would wear out their cotton pants in a couple of days. He and a guy named Jacob Davis added copper rivets to strengthen the seams and pockets. And so began Levi Straus and Company, 1871.

The rest is history. And what a history it has been. Think about all the cowboys of the later 1800s. The railroad workers, bib overalls for the farmers. I recall pictures of my dad and his pals wearing jeans, big cuffs rolled up at the bottom.

In the 1950s, jeans became a uniform of rebellion, fed by actor James Dean sporting the look as part of his ensemble of white tee shirt, short leather jacket and black boots in the movie “Rebel Without A Cause.’ Thank ‘The Fonz’ and Elvis, as well. As kids we wore jeans all year around. Shorts were for sissies, right?

Then came the era of the counter-culture, with hippies in bellbottoms and blue jean caps, jackets and skirts. On and on it went, with some aberrations like ‘jorts’ and pleated jeans. Oh, how about them ‘mom’ jeans? But, alas, there were those ‘Daisy Dukes.’ Lee and Wrangler, Calvin Klein and Jordache, Gap and Old Navy, Guess, Lucky, American Eagle, Chic, Carhart and Dickies.

So many brands in a market that has been called the biggest piece of the apparel business ever. Today we see the ripped and torn variety, and not from wearing out. Skinny jeans in all colors and sizes. Prices going from under 20 bucks to hundreds of dollars per pair. Versace has a nice little straight-leg variety for only $695. That’s more than I paid for my first car.

Among today’s youth, the style for boys has strayed from the macho jeans to athletic pants and even shorts the year round. With girls, there is more of a presence, their styles sporting the ripped/torn/raggedy mode. And they tend to be more into the yoga pants and leggings.

Of course, it was us Boomers who were most responsible for putting jeans in the pole position fashion-wise. Except for maybe the ‘Canadian Tuxedo (denim shirt with jeans.) I don’t claim that one. But I do confess to some pleated Dockers back in the day. Gotta say, that was not a good look. These days, I stick to Levi’s. Ahh, jeans… May they live long and prosper.

Share on Facebook

Tweet

Follow us