beginnings+to+1950

Morris Levi Strauss first fashioned trousers for working men out of indio-dyed cloth. The term demin is an anglicanized contraction for the French de Nimes - as this indio-dyed cloth was said to have originated in Nimes, France. The term jeans comes from sailors in Genoa, Italy. The sailors were called "genes", and they wore a similar garment to the Levi trousers. For the next century, jeans were worn by working people - goldminers, farmers, ranchers. Not a garment chosen by the upper-class, jeans symbolized hard work and a lower class lifestyle. It is not surprising that the next group to wear blue jeans were artists in the late 1930's to 1940's. Artists are generally people who "...stood strongly in opposition to the dominant conservative, middle-class consumer-oriented culture of American society". (103). So naturally they would chose jeans: trousers worn by working people, and artists wanted to identify with the working class. The irony is that these artists probably came from middle and upper class families, who else could afford to make a living doing art? The next group to claim jeans as their garment of choice were the bikers and "hoodlums" of the 1950's. The uniform was dark blue jeans, black boots and white t-shirt. By this time, jeans were being produced by others (J.C. Penney for instance) but Levi's were the brand of choice. Of course, the bikers and "hoodlums" were also groups that made a point not to be associated with conservative American culture. "Good boys and girls" did not wear blue jeans. And jeans were still worn by the working-class. Most students now would not remember a time when jeans were not a staple in their wardrobe. I was in junior high in the early 1970's, and girls were not allowed to wear jeans to school. So all the girls at Moore Jr. High picked one day, a Monday, to wear jeans to school. They could not send us all home, so they had to change the policy. It was wonderful...