Get (to know all about) the blues as we dive deep into the jean pool.
Get (to know all about) the blues as we dive deep into the jean pool.
In 2005, a Japanese collector shelled out US$60,000 for a pair of Levi’s 501 jeans from the 1880s. Last year, a vintage pair from 1888 exchanged hands for a six-figure sum. For something that put the “blue” in the term “blue collar”, denim is certainly greatly appreciated by white-collar collectors today.
Its name derives from the French term “serge de Nimes” – twill fabric from city of Nimes in France – a durable fabric favoured by miners during the California Gold Rush.
Nevada tailor Jacob Davis is widely credited as the creator of the world’s first pair of rivet-reinforced denim trousers during the 19th century. He would later work with Levi Strauss & Co, then a dry goods wholesaler. The rest, as they say, is history.
Today, denim jeans are carried by highstreet brands and luxury fashion houses alike. And, while haute couture designers are reinterpreting the previously basic garment – think gold- and silver-sprayed jeans in Louis Vuitton’s 2016 Denim Collection, for example – boutique manufacturers are turning back time with artisanal fabrics woven with traditional looms. Whatever your style, there’s a pair of jeans for you out there.
