The Evolution of Denim Jeans in Fashion

The miners who wore humble denim work pants created by Levi Strauss in the 1870s would probably be amazed to see those dungarees' descendents strutting down the high-fashion runways of the 21st century. Blue jeans evolved from work wear into one of the ubiquitous clothing items of modern life -- sold at every level of the couture spectrum to everyone from newborns to 90-year-olds, with innumerable designs and variations. Denim's trip from the mine to the department store took several decades, and the journey had some interesting twists and turns.

Origins

Bavarian immigrant Levi Strauss owned a dry goods store in San Francisco in the 1850s, the era of the California Gold Rush. Prospectors looking for durable pants that would stand up to their tough working conditions came to Strauss for options. First he fashioned pants from tent canvas, and they held up well. Then he discovered a heavy cotton twill fabric that originated in Nimes, France -- "serge de Nimes," or denim -- dyed it indigo and created the blue jean. By 1870, Strauss had teamed up with Jacob Davis, a tailor, who came up with the idea of adding rivets to the pants to further strengthen the seams. The two patented their "true blue denim" workwear, which included shirts, in 1873. The pants took on the nickname "jeans" after the Italian port of Genoa, where sailors wore similar garb. In 1890, a new lot of Levi's came in with the lot number 501, a moniker the pants still bear today. Meanwhile, in 1889, Henry David Lee opened the Lee Mercantile Co. in Salina, Kansas, where he manufactured and sold dungaree jeans and jackets.

Early 20th Century

By the 1920s, Davis had added the zipper fly to most Levi's, and the company had developed jeans for women. These took a while to catch on, but not so with dungarees for hardworking men, such as farmers and cowboys. Jeans became a staple of their work wardrobes by the 1930s. To conserve raw materials during World War II, some of the rivets were removed from the jeans and the material was thinned out.

Rock 'n' Roll

In the 1950s, some in authority perceived jeans as a symbol of rebellion, much like the new music called rock 'n' roll. Seen as the clothing choice for juvenile delinquents and other undesirables, blue jeans were banned in a number of school districts. Yet people kept buying and wearing them, including Elvis Presley in his performance of "Jailhouse Rock" and James Dean in "Rebel Without a Cause," which may have served to solidify denim's radical reputation.

Hippies, Designer Jeans

Despite, or perhaps because of, their bad reputation, jeans kept selling. During the counterculture movement of the 1960s, dungarees, jean jackets and cutoff denim shorts graced the bodies of hippies everywhere -- but you weren't likely to see denim on the catwalk or in a high-end boutique. That soon changed as the 1970s rolled around. The mass appeal of jeans along with the buying power of now-teenage baby boomers was not lost on designers and clothing manufacturers. Jeans entered the world of couture when American fashion icons such as Calvin Klein, Ralph Lauren and Gloria Vanderbilt released their lines of so-called designer jeans. These were soon followed by more accessible, though still status-symbol-worthy, versions by Jordache, Sasson, Chic and Sergio Valente. A controversial 1980 TV commercial had 15-year-old Brooke Shields asking, "You want to know what comes between me and my Calvins? The answer: "Nothing."

New Millenium

As of 2013, Americans purchase over 450 million pairs of jeans annually, according to WeConnectFashion. Along with regular jeans, denims come in lengths from short shorts to capris, and most women have at least one denim skirt in the closet. In the 2010s, bright colored jeans in every hue of the rainbow adorn shop windows, and skinny jeans rather than their bell-bottom, straight-leg, boot-cut or baggy predecessors reign for the moment. In 2011, designers such as Dries Van Noten and Valentino included denim pieces in their spring collections. The Levi's and Lee companies, along with Wrangler, OshKosh and more, still sell millions of their basic denim designs. Jeans hold a permanent place in every American wardrobe, whether you're wearing overalls while gardening or skinny black denims to the club.

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