Words About Things

There’s no doubting that the denim jean came of age in the 1950′s along with the invention of the teenager and the angst that goes with feeling like an adult but being treated like a child. All the main 50′s icons wore jeans (well, the male ones at least) including Marlon Brando and the most iconic rebel of them all James Dean. But new evidence suggests that the fabric has been around a lot longer than you might imagine.

It’s a well known fact that jeans were originally created to be worn by Cowboys who needed a hard wearing fabric that was as tough as they were. Like a lot of well known facts this isn’t strictly true. Cowboys did wear jeans, they lasted a lot longer than trousers and could be worn for long periods of time without being washed, but the fabric was around a long time before cowboys existed. There are claims that Levi Strauss invented the modern jean in 1873. Again, this is sort of true but people had been wearing Denim for at least 100 years before the USA even existed.

The word Denim comes from the French phrase ‘de Nîmes‘ as in ‘of Nîmes’ (a city in the South of France. The word Jeans comes from the French Gênes which refers to Genoa in Italy. So is Denim from France or Italy? Well we don’t know for sure but some paintings which have recently come to light seem to suggest Italy:

Three paintings have come to light in which the unknown artist, believed to be from northern Italy, depicts scenes in the 1650s in which ordinary people are wearing what appears to be an early denim fabric.

In one picture, a peasant woman, wearing a skirt that appears to be made of denim, mends a piece of clothing. In another, a teenage girl wearing a torn blue skirt made out of rough fabric, begs for money. The third depicts a young boy wearing a torn jacket made from a dark blue cloth. The rips in the jacket, and in the peasant woman’s skirt, reveal that the fabric is indigo but threaded with white – just like modern jeans.

Previously historians relied on the order books of English tailors to backdate the fabric.This is the first pictorial evidence of people wearing jeans in the 17th century, the paintings were thought to have been painted in the 1650′s 300 years before James Dean made jeans cool.

Levi’s have one of the most recognizable jeans brand names worldwide. Alongside Wrangler they have a long history of selling denim which stretches back to when it was considered workwear rather than a fashion item. They sold jeans to hard-working farmer types and the sort of people who actually needed hard wearing trousers.

One thing Levi’s have struggled with is staying relevant. As their core consumer base aged they failed to move with the times. Having a rich heritage is one thing but any company who wishes to sell to successive generations needs to be light on it’s feet. The only innovation Levi’s came up with that I can think of was ‘twisted’ jeans and the less said about them the better.

Baggy jeans came and went as did skinny jeans but Levi’s keep flogging their dead horse named 501. The 1990s were tough for Levi’s as consumers seemed to want either more expensive designer jeans or cheap non brand alternatives. This time saw Levi’s outsource work to save on costs and there was controversy when their ‘made in the USA’ labels were stitched in by underpaid Chinese laborers.

In the last decade Levi’s has taken to filling lawsuits against anyone who make jeans deemed too similar to their trademarks. They apparently have ‘denim detectives’ who job is to search out new companies to sue. By 2007 Levi’s finances started to improve and they are hoping to continue this with their new advertising campaign.

“For we cannot tarry here,
We must march my darlings, we must bear the brunt of danger,
We the youthful sinewy races, all the rest on us depend,
Pioneers! O pioneers!”

The new advert features a poem by Walt Whitman called Pioneers! O Pioneers! read over footage of young people running around in the countryside in muddy jeans. The agency behind the advert are W+K who are trying to cast Levi’s as hard wearing, honest and maybe even pioneering:

The inaugural TV spot “America” sets the tone for the new campaign: America is going through a challenging time, but the American spirit of self-reliance will persevere.

There is of course also a website which aims to ‘paint a portrait of the voices in a changing country.’ and a print campaign shot by the young, credible photographer of choice Ryan Mcginley. Mcginley has just worked with Wrangler on their ‘We are animals’ campaign which also featured models getting muddy.

The use of Whitman’s stirring poem makes the advert simultaneously inspiring and a little bit sickening. It’s easy to get caught up in the words and the imagery but ultimately they are just flogging jeans. It takes some guts to align your product to an advert that seems to aim feel revolutionary, particularly when it’s such an old fashioned product.

Wonderbra have launched their latest strapless bra which is designed to work like a pair of hands. The Ultimate Strapless bra has four ‘fingers’ molded into each cup which are not visible from the outside. The bra is said to provide the same kind of support a woman experiences using her own hands. The new bra is available in sizes A-F and will be available at most lingerie retailers.

Wonderbra have spent two years working on their latest design testing materials and shapes. They have spent hundreds of hours testing prototypes:

“We conducted a comprehensive series of tests with real girls, which included dancing, bending, stretching and jumping, all designed to put the bra through its paces. This unique technology lifts the weight of the bust, supports and gives a trusted Wonderbra cleavage. We have created a groundbreaking garment giving women the perfect solution to the age old strapless bra problem.”