[upbeat music]
- [Hamish] Labor and leisure
are the starting and end points
of the American dream,
which is built on the assumption
that hard work leads to prosperity.
[cash register chimes]
Since jeans first became fashionable,
they've zigzagged between extremes,
revealing changing attitudes
towards class, politics, status,
and of course, fashion.
[upbeat music]
I'm Hamish Bowles,
Vogue's global editor at large,
and The World of Interiors Editor-in-Chief.
And I'm here to walk you through the history of denim
from the gold rush to today.
Here's everything you need to know about jeans.
[gentle music]
Over time, blue jeans have become a symbol
of a laid-back American lifestyle.
But they have international roots
and take their name from Genes Fustian,
a durable fabric used for work wear in Genoa,
and indigo-died fabric from De Nimes, France.
Around the time that technological advances
led to the development of a Transatlantic textile trade
between England and the United States,
the prototype for modern jeans
was developed in the American west,
spurred by miners hoping to strike it rich
during the gold rush.
Responding to a client's request
for more durable work pants,
a Reno-based tailor named Jacob Davis
added rivets as reinforcement to sturdy cotton duck fabric.
Needing backing, he turned to tradesman Levi Strauss,
and together they applied for a patent,
which was issued in 1873.
Over time, that cotton duck ceded to more pliant denim.
Denim's long history,
which is intertwined with that of the American cotton trade,
has often been edited and polished
in a way that undervalues or omits
the essential contributions of enslaved people
in the development of this humble, yet precious material.
For that reason, no garment carries more symbolism,
but also pain, than a pair of jeans.
That jeans have a place in American myth-making
is partly due to Hollywood. [whip cracks]
In the westerns [gunshot pops]
that proliferated in the 1930s,
denim became one expression
of the fictitious hero's rugged individualism.
Jeans life and fashion dates to this decade,
as these staples of work wear
began to be worn for leisure by city folk
who adapted their dude ranch denim for suburban life.
In 1942, the American designer Claire McCardell
created the pop-over utility dress for Townley.
Made of denim, it came with a coordinating oven mitt,
and it sold like hot cakes.
Post-war, DMOB GIs adapted uniform denim
for everyday casual wear.
But it was the so-called first generation of teenagers
borrowing cues from the movies,
Marlon Brando in "On the Waterfront"
and James Dean in "Rebel Without a Cause," and music,
who made jeans synonymous with youth and rebellion.
[upbeat music]
Hippies redirected this anti-establishment attitude
aligning genes with
solidarity, egalitarianism and individuality
via patches and embroidery.
Peace and political movements often intersected.
Those toiling in the civil rights movement often wore denim,
according to scholars,
as a sign of solidarity with the clothing worn
by black sharecroppers.
[upbeat music]
Designer denim, carrying labels like
Calvin Klein, Fiorucci, and Gloria Vanderbilt,
was an invention of the decadent 1970s,
AKA the "Me Decade."
[upbeat music]
Stretch transformed fit in the 1980s,
allowing genes to fit like a second skin
making denim a signifier of sex and status
for the MTV generations.
The high-low method of dressing emerged in these years,
the shining example of which
is Vogue's groundbreaking November 1988 cover
featuring model Michaela Bercu
in a Christian Lacroix couture jacket and Guess jeans.
Denim is often described as democratic,
but until the 1990s,
most designer denim was aimed at a niche demographic
that was anything but inclusive
in terms of size or race.
That began to change when black-owned brands
like Karl Kani, Cross Colors, and FUBU
started making products that spoke
to and for their own communities,
at the same time that hip-hop was becoming mainstream
and musicians started setting fashions.
Fit and fabrication with the denim preoccupations
of the 2000s,
the decade in which designers explored
how skinny jeans could be,
and how low rises could fall.
With tabloid publications
documenting celebrities' every outfit change-
looking at you, Brittany and Justin-
alongside big brands like Tommy Hilfiger,
a spate of independent denim labels,
including Apple Bottoms and Cheap Monday popped up.
Later in the decade,
luxury labels doubled down on denim.
Phoebe Philo, then at Chloe,
gave high-wasted jeans 70s vintage vibes,
Kate Moss-approved.
Dad jeans were soon to follow.
Boyfriend jeans fell in the middle of these extremes.
Jeans are essential in a world that is growing
ever more casual and focused on comfort.
At the same time,
denim's contribution to the climate crisis
is being revealed.
Designers like Diesel's Glenn Martens
are exploring ways to work more sustainably.
Our Legacy prints rather than dyes some of its jeans,
and Bottega Veneta offer denim-look leather dungarees.
As the carousel of fashion spins ever faster,
styles are constantly changing.
The reintroduction of elephant jeans,
a la JNCOs by Celine and Vetmaul for example,
was quickly followed by a Y2K-inspired low-rise moment.
One of the defining denim moments of the 2020s
was Demna Gvasalia's of the fabric
in his debut couture collection for Balenciaga.
He's not the first
to elevate this humble fabric to such heights.
Gianni Versace and Jean-Paul Gaultier
preceded him in the eighties and nineties.
But back then, it was shocking.
Today, jeans couture acknowledges the central role
denim has in fashion.
In 130 years, jeans progressed from work wear
to haute couture.
We can only guess where they'll take us next
as we work and play in denims.
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