Crossing between street and high fashion
Loved by people of all ages for over a century
Fashion icon with the spirit of the times
A sophisticated and formal denim look appears
There is a material that has been loved by people of all ages and genders for over a century. It is denim, which boasts a long life span as long as its long history. Denim has been a leading figure in the fashion world at the center of both street and high fashion, to the point that legendary designer Yves Saint Laurent would often say, “I should have invented jeans.”
Its history goes back more than 100 years. Around 1870, the world’s hot topic was gold mining. Many people who dreamed of making a fortune overnight flocked to the American Southwest and dug pickaxes day and night in search of gold. The miners needed even tougher and more durable work pants. Levi Strauss, a merchant who sold various furniture to them, eventually made pants out of leftover tent fabric and sold them. He probably didn’t know that this would become the origin of today’s jeans. After that, jeans with his own name, Levi’s, sold like hotcakes, ushering in the era of full-scale popularization of jeans.
Entering the 1950s, jeans completely shed the stereotype that they were only for workers. The stars of the time enjoyed wearing jeans, and the streets were filled with young people wearing jeans. In particular, James Dean is a star who cannot be left out in the history of jeans. The jeans fashion he showed in the 1955 movie “Rebel Without a Cause” became a culture symbolizing rebellious youth. Marlon Brando also gained popularity by showing off his masculine charm in the movie “On the Waterfront” with a tight-fitting shirt, jeans, and leather jacket. The three pairs of jeans that Marilyn Monroe, the eternal fashion icon of women, wore in the movie “River of No Return” were even sold at auction for $37,000.
In the late 1970s, jeans sales in the United States reached an all-time high. Around 60,000 pairs of jeans were sold every hour across the country. If all the jeans produced in a year were lined up, they would be about 800,000 km long, more than enough to circle the Earth’s equator 20 times.
In 1980, fashion designer Calvin Klein showed off his ability to sell over 2 million pairs of jeans in a month with a jeans ad featuring teen star Brooke Shields. Denim pants entered the high fashion world, and major designer brands such as Gloria Vanderbilt, Peter Golding, and Fiorucci joined, demonstrating a presence that crosses over between street and high fashion.
In this way, denim is a contemporary item that is constantly changing every season, expanding the horizons of fashion. As the boundaries between formal and casual have collapsed after the pandemic and the New Normal era of pursuing comfortable style has arrived, denim is being chosen by more designers.
The 2024 Fall/Winter collection featured denim shirts, blazers, and midi skirts, creating a more formal and elegant denim look than ever before. Sacai and Victoria Beckham are representative examples. The neat skirt set-up that reveals the vivid texture of denim looks easy even as an office look. The sophisticated suits of Chanel and Schiaparelli, which included shirts, jackets, and pants made of denim, instantly dispelled the long-standing prejudice that denim is casual. Stella McCartney actively utilized the advantage of denim that goes well with any material. She showed off a flexible, flowing silhouette with a round cocoon-style jumper and skirt that mixed denim and herringbone materials. The Kenzo and Miu Miu looks that appeared with long coat hems fluttering over denim sets are more realistic answers. Diesel’s denim look, which sublimated denim material into a work of art with a vintage washing method, was also a delight to the eyes.
Denim also made a big splash in the men’s collection. Top designers like Dries Van Noten, Valentino, Prada, and Wooyoungmi incorporated denim into their classic suit jackets and pants. When you feel bored with your everyday suit, this can be a unique option. Dior Men was even more sophisticated. With a denim set-up complete with contrasting white stitching and gorgeous jewel decorations, it instantly elevated the status of denim fashion. Louis Vuitton, which inspired women’s clothing with its frilled denim shirt and bell-bottom pants in the 1980s Western mood, and Willy Chavarria’s denim look, which was incredibly romantic and free, with its loosely knit cardigan, were also attractive.
There must be a reason why denim, a symbol of freedom and rebellion, has come back so elegantly. Denim has been with us for a long time as a fashion icon that contains the spirit of the times. Now that practicality has become an important virtue, denim may be the best material to suit the times. It is time to enjoy trends more elegantly than ever with the flexible attitude of denim.
Ahn Mi-eun, fashion columnist
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2024-09-25 14:05:35