May 20th
It was on May 20, 1873 when Levi Strauss and Jacob David patented the denim garment which has, arguably, become the most popular type of clothing in the Western hemisphere: jeans.
While the actual origins of the garment are unclear, there are records of the fabric and the type of clothing it was made into in Genoa, Italy, and Nimes, France, as early as the 1500’s.
The Infallible Wikipedia shares some history on the origin of the name:
“Research on the trade of jean fabric shows that it emerged in the cities of Genoa, Italy, and Nîmes, France. Gênes, the French word for Genoa, might be the origin of the word ‘jeans‘. In Nîmes, weavers tried to reproduce jean fabric but instead developed a similar twill fabric that became known as denim, ‘de Nîmes’, meaning ‘from Nîmes’. Genoa’s jeans fabric was a fustian textile of ‘medium quality and of reasonable cost’, very similar to cotton corduroy for which Genoa was famous, and was ‘used for work clothes in general’.”
Modern day jeans were popularized as a workman’s garment, specifically miners, at the time it was patented by Davis and Strauss. And they might have remained that way until popular culture got involved. In the 1950’s both Marlon Brando and James Dean donned jeans in two culturally significant movies: The Wild One and Rebel Without a Cause. The two men were both bad boys of the big screen and exuded a ‘coolness’ which rocketed them to popularity with youth.
By the 1960’s, jeans became a popular garment to wear to school for boys. But not for girls. In fact, girls wore dresses to school. The first time I was ever allowed to wear pants was the winter of 1968-69 and only because of extreme cold temperatures. During the week of January 20-24, the overnight lows in Yakima were in the single and minus digits and the day time highs in the low teens. January 23rd, a Thursday, had a high of only 11 degrees, up from minus 7 degrees overnight. The next week wasn’t much better as the cold persisted PLUS it snowed 10 inches.
In those days, school was not cancelled because of weather. Instead, the Yakima School District very generously gave all the girls permission to wear pants to school. But they could NOT be jeans! A popular style that year were knit stretch pants and I can still see, in my minds eye, what those pants looked like. It was a big, big deal to get to wear pants.
It took quite some time for the weather to moderate that year (in the ‘balmy’ mid-30’s by mid-February), and it was back to dresses worn with socks and the dreaded saddle shoes. (Which I wrote about here https://barbaradevore.com/2024/09/03/the-first-tuesday-in-september-3/)
Then the 1970’s happened. While many people think of the 1960’s as the big social upheaval, the 70’s were the years when all that rebellion was codified. The movement was so huge, that it became a cultural tsunami, washing over every institution we know.
I think it was probably 1971 when girls were allowed to wear pants to school regardless of the weather. But still no jeans that first year. A look through the high school annuals of that era reveal that shift through photos. The 1972 Eisenhower annual shows most girls still wearing dresses to school with a smattering here and there of one in pants and, rarely, jeans.
By 1975, easily half to two-thirds of the girls at my school are wearing pants – often jeans – in the day-to-day photos of regular school activities; jeans were the standard for after school clothing.
In today’s world, people wear jeans everywhere; I would posit that pretty much every American teen and adult owns at least one pair, and likely multiple pairs, of jeans.
I know I have at least three pairs of jeans and two pairs of capri length denim pants that I rotate in my day-to-day wardrobe. I’ve been thinking lately that I really do need another pair. I discovered a Gloria Vanderbilt style that fits well and is comfortable. That is, in my opinion, what the wearing of jeans is all about: comfort. Time to go shopping – on Amazon since I know they have the jeans that fit me – for a new pair of America’s favorite clothing item.
The links:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeans
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smithsonian-institution/the-origin-of-blue-jeans-89612175/https://www.extremeweatherwatch.com/cities/yakima/year-1969
barbaradevore.com 