Denim jeans and attire have been associated with heavy industry to high fashion and become one of the most versatile and enduring clothing styles in fashion history. Hollywood stars like Katherine Hepburn aided denim’s progress through fashion in the 70’s. And now Savile Row tailors champion its continuing success, as they cut denim suits for some of the most famous names in the world. But what of its origins, Denim and Jeans have travelled the world.
Captured in denim the Americans invented, commercialised, stylised, or popularised, in a word, Levis, American Wild West culture. But the fabric was adopted from another continent by early Americans who created functional hard wearing work gear. At the same time they introduced a style without the aid of catwalks and drop dead handsome models.
Mr Jacob Davis a tailor from Reno Nevada decided to put copper rivets on the corners of his denim trouser pockets to prevent them from ripping. Unable to cover the cost of patenting the idea he sought help from prosperous clothing distributor Mr Levi Strauss. Mr Strauss added his own style by putting the garment label on the outside rather than on the inside. Thus a new style was born.
Denim (derived from De-Nimes in France) had already been styled into bell bottom trousers and worn by Italian sailors from Genoa and given the name Geans (Jeans). These trousers had very practical applications. If a sailor went overboard he could easily slip off his trousers without his feet getting caught and thus stand a better chance of staying afloat.
The style has gone from De-Nimes, to Denim, from Genoa to Jeans, from France to America and travelled the world. Style knows no cultural or geographic boundaries. Experience the history.
Now here are a couple of style tips. With this in mind you could chose a denim shirt by King Gee (Australia), floral designer silk ties by Timothy Everest (Savile Row London), a pair of grey flannel trousers by Jaeger (England), for the feet, a pair of blue and white Converse All Stars (America), dark lightweight Harris Tweed jacket (England) and a leather belt by RM Williams (Australia) this is the gear you need for working at the coalface, functionality rules the way. It’s referred to as the lean-clean style, it’s casual by framework, loose and comfortable, but formalised enough with the introduction of neckwear. So you can get into action, throw off the jacket, roll the sleeves up, loosen the tie and get it done.
Once last thing, why not try a pair of Swarovski Crystal silver designer cufflinks, just to reflect your mood and to complement your tie.
Did you know?
Katherine Hepburn famously epitomised the head strong career woman starring along side Spencer Tracey in “Adams Rib” one of the best romantic comedies ever made. She portrayed similar roles in other movies teaming up with Cary Grant on numerous occasions. She was famous for her love affairs with men like Howard Hughes and later Spencer Tracy, which lasted until his death.
It’s all about style, a very personal taste, ask Vivienne Westwood
|
