Cultural Artifact Essay †Blue Jeans Essay

dismal jeans in the last thirty years keep back attain much(prenominal) world wide generality that they have come to be considered an the Statesn icon. However jeans have non always been held in high stead, but rather have had a troubled explanation including its beginnings in spite of appearance the loping class movement, being considered unsavory by religious leaders and also seen as a rebellious statement about western decadence. According to the University of Toronto, no other garment has served as an example of status ambivalence and ambiguity than blue devil jeans in the history of mold.Throughout this essay I will discuss how jeans have manufacture such a common treasured and level(p) pricey item crossing over class, gender, age, regional, and national lines as reflected by the many changing political views and bridal from various social classes over the past 50 years. History of Blue Jeans According to the University of Toronto, blue jeans were originally crea ted for the California coal miners in the mid-nineteenth light speed by the Morris Levi Strauss, a Bavarian immigrant who relocated to immature York in 1847.Mr Strauss fate and the history of clothing changed forever when in 1872 he received an offer from Jacob Davis, a write out from Reno Nevada. Mr. Davis, in order to improve the durability of the pants that he make for his clients, had been adding metal rivets to the highly hard put seams. The idea was successful and he wished to patent it, but due to financial constraints required a retainer and hence Levi became the financial backer and partner.In 1873, the new partners received a patent for an improvement in Fastening Pocket-Openings, and thus the history of blue jeans as we know them began. Blue jeans were originally called waist overalls by Levi Strauss and Co and in the 1920s these were the most widely used workers pants in America. The name of these trousers changed to jeans in the 1960s when Levi Strauss and Co. reco gnized that this was what the product was being called by the young, hip teenage boys.The history of waist overalls continues as the history of blue jeans. Jeans is now generally understood to refer to pants made out of a specific type of fabric called denim (Fashion Encyclopedia). Blue Jeans through the decades The popularity of blue jeans dissemination among working people, such as farmers and the ranchers of the Ameri gouge West. According to the Encyclopedia of Fashion, in the 1930s jeans became so popular among cowboys that Wrangler formed just to make denim work clothing for those who rode the range.Jeans have tended to follow along in popularity with popular culture as evident with the popular Western films which found adventure and solicit in the adventures of the cowboys who rode horses, shot bad guys, and wore blue jeans. Those who wished to imitate the casual, rugged look of the cowboys they saw in films began to bring out jeans as casual wear (Fashion Encyclopedia). T his effect is not hard to understand, as even today fashion trends are greatly influenced by what highly publicized celebrities choose to wear.During World War II blue jeans became part of the official uniform of the Navy and Coast Guard, and became even more popular when worn as off-duty leisure clothing by many other soldiers. In his book, Jeans A Cultural History of an American Icon, James Sullivan states that the rise of the popularity of jeans after the WWII can greatly be attributed to the influence of the film and medicinal drug industry, during the 1950s many young people began to wear jeans when they saw them on rebellious young American film stars such as Marlon Brando and James Dean.By 1950, Levis began selling nationally and other brands started emerging, such as Lee Coopers and each with its own particular fit (Sullivan 287). According to the University of Toronto, in the 1960s and 1970s jeans were embraced by the nonconformist hippie youth movement, and the history of blue jeans even gets linked to the downfall of communism. commode the iron curtain, jeans became a symbol of western decadence and individuality and as such were highly sought. Jeans had become extremely popular, but were still mainly worn by working people or the young.In the 1980s through to the 1990s jeans were no longer seen as rebellious or a radical of individuality, but they were transformed as the term designer jeans was discovered. Many designers such as Jordache and Calvin Klein came on climb on to create expensive jeans and some jeans even reached haute couture status (Fashion Encyclopedia). In the new millennium denim is seen on designer catwalks and there are now hundreds of styles, types and labels available and of various price ranges. Changing PopularityAccording to calamus Beagle in his book American Denim A New kindred Art, the popularity of jeans can be attributed to the fact that jeans can be seen to embrace the American democratic values of independence, f reedom and equality. Some Americans even consider jeans to be the national uniform. Blue jeans have evolved from a garment associated exclusively with hard work to one associated with leisure. What began as work clothes has transformed into one of the hottest items available on the consumer market today. What was erst apparel associated with low culture has undergone a reversal in status.Blue jeans were the first to accomplish a rather revolutionary cultural achievement bringing upper class status to a spurn class garment. Conclusion At one point or another throughout history, blue jeans have been the uniform of many groups and are considered the one garment of clothing that has remained hip for over a century and has survived eitherthing from World War II to the eighties. For half a century blue jeans have helped define every youth movement, and every effort of older generations to deny the passing of youth.Fifty years ago America invented the concept of teenager, and it is prob ably no coincidence that the enduring character of blue jeans, claiming independence and the right to self-expression, can be traced to the same time. Jeans were once seen as clothing for minority groups such as workers, hippies or rebellious youth, but are now embraced by the dominant American culture as a whole. Works Cited Material Culture. Utoronto. ca. University of Toronto Department of History, University of Toronto, n. d. WebEuropean Culture 19th Century Blue Jeans. Fashionencyclopedia. com. Fashion Encyclopedia, Advameg, June 2010. Web. Modern World 1980 2003, Designer Jeans. Fashionencyclopedia. com. Fashion Encyclopedia, Advameg, June 2010. Web. Sullivan, James. Jeans A Cultural History of an American Icon. New York Penguin, 2007. Print. George, Diana and Trimbur, John. Reading Culture Contexts for critical reading and writing. New York Longman, 2007. Print. Beagle, Peter. American Denim A New Folk Art. New York Harry N. Abrams, 1975. Print.