GIFTS OF FASHION

FOR me, the most memorable jean trousers are the light-blue jeans worn by Christian Grey in Fifty Shades of Grey! According to Miss Steele, these jeans turn Christian from ABSOLUTELY HOT to ABSOLUTELY SUPER-HOT.

This gave me the idea to write a post about jeans, and here it is!

The blue jeans was created by Levi Strauss at about 1860: a trousers especially for workers, made with a type of strong cloth called "denim", dyed with indigo blue. At first, Levi Strauss used another type of cloth called "jean", but then denim prevailed. The name of the trousers, however, remained the same; jeans.

In 1872, Strauss collaborated with a tailor named Jacob Davies who eventually designed the blue jeans as we have it now, with back pockets fastened on the cloth with copper rivets.

The cloth was so thick that it did not absorb the blue dye in a homogeneous manner; however, this irregularity of color made it all the more popular.

The word "jean" is derived from the word "genoese", that is "from Genova". Italian fashion writer Cinzia Felicetti claims that this is because the precursor of the jeans trousers was a type of trousers worn by Genoese sailors. The cloth was brought in from the French town Nimes, which gave it the name de Nimes, or "denim".

Jeans was used widely, but it became massively popular because of Hollywood. Fashion Bible Vogue presented jeans for the first time in 1935; however, it was John Wayne, Gary Cooper, Marlon Brando and James Dean who made jean trousers legendary!

Jeans became associated with being strong, sexy, brave, naughty, and with being a rebel!

The first haute couture jeans were manufactured in 1977 by Calvin Klein.

If you are interested in the complete history of the jean trouser in fashion, have a look at Cinzia Felicetti's Assolutamente Glam! However, I haven't found this book in English translation -- only in Greek and its original Italian.

Two other books containing amazing information about jeans are Michel Pastoureau's Bleu. Histoire d'une couleur and Niall Fergusson's Civilization.

Christian Grey wears jeans more beautifully -- but I think that jeans are one of the most valuable gifts of fashion not only for Christian, but for all of us!