Albert Le
ENGL 015
Professor Perez
24 April 2014
Jeans: Forever An American Icon
Take a moment to look around the room and notice what everyone is wearing. Really scan your surroundings because it’s something you see everyday and might not even notice. Do you see it yet? That’s right, everybody is wearing jeans. Including you. You probably never even realized it but the classic denim jeans have been around forever. Think back to when you were in grade school and you had your favorite Pokémon shirt on. You were wearing probably wearing jeans with them. Your first day of high school you were more than likely wearing jeans too. From the day you could fit into them to the other day you were walking to class you’ve been wearing jeans. It’s become a part of our culture to wear jeans. They are our go-to articles of clothing when it comes to just about everything. Whether we are going to hangout with our friends at the mall or take a girl out on a date, jeans will always be fitting to wear.
I’m sure you’ve heard of Levi’s jeans before and if you haven’t you more than likely have been living under a rock. Levi’s is an American clothing company known for their famous brand of denim jeans. Its founder, Levi Strauss, is the man responsible for the jeans you see everybody wearing today. Born in the small town of Buttenheim, Germany, Levi Strauss immigrated to the New York City where he joined his two brothers in “J. Strauss Brother & Co.”. At the time, the California Gold Rush was booming and Levi saw the perfect opportunity to make his way out west and expand his brothers’ business. Levi opened up his own business called, Levi Strauss & Co. where he sold an array of goods from combs and purses to handkerchiefs. A frequent customer of Levi’...
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... as DKNY. The prices and sales of jeans began rising more and more. From the classic blue denim jeans to the jean shorts, the baggy jeans, and the designer jeans, jeans started to become a symbol of America.
The style of jeans spread rapidly across the globe as any race and ethnicity would be seen wearing a pair of denim. From South America to Europe to Asia, jeans became the craze. Everybody was wearing jeans. You don’t notice it when you’re walking down the street or watching television but everywhere you look you see jeans. They are plastered on billboards when you are driving on the highway and you see a sale going on for jeans every time you step into a mall. Levi Strauss’ jeans have made their way through every era of American history since they were first made. They are as resilient in American culture as they were back then when the miners wore them to work.
Depending on who you ask, this fashion became popular in the early 1940’s. As we can see, history has a tendency to line things up for the “perfect storm.” This just so happen to be the time that thousands of service men, fresh out of boot camp arrived in Los Angeles looking to blow off steam before being deployed into combat around the world. To these service men, large baggy pants and jackets were a symbol of hate or disrespect to the
Jeans were just one of the different categories of pants along with casual pants and dress pants, and jeans had dominated the category until the 1990's when sales had tapered off when consumers migrated over to khakis, cargo pants, and other types of pants. However, when new innovations in fabrics and style in the jeans category came to the forefront in 2001, people's tastes began to switch back over to jeans. In 2002, jeans sales were predicted to grow by 2-3%.
Even more important than the clothes you wear is how you choose to live your life -- a choice that is entirely your own and no one else's. No store can choose a "lifestyle" for you, and no one should talk you into believing that drinking, having sex, or anything else can make your life better than it already is. In their desperate attempt to sell their products, Abercrombie and Fitch has forgotten the individuality of the word "lifestyle". While claming that underage drinking and just the right outfit will make your life better, they forget that it is impossible to ever change your individual persona, or who you truly are. No tomboy flares or martini shakers will change that. That's why I decided to stick with my old jeans -- they're comfortable, I like them, but most importantly, they're me.
Towards the end of the decade the Hippie movement had a huge impact on the way people started to view clothing. This group rebelled against war, encouraged peace and love. Their presence had a major influence on fashion. They opted for clothing that was natural and comfortable. Accessories w...
I'm sure everyone has seen them. The pants so tight they appear to be painted on. But then they realize, they're not actually pants, merely relatively thick tights masquerading as pants. Suddenly they're thinking, surely these women forgot to put on the bottom half of their outfits. Notwithstanding, this abomination was completely intentional. Women are now wearing leggings in the stead of pants, which is one fashion trend that our community, and the world at large, could do without. Although undoubtedly comfortable, and completely acceptable when worn under dresses, skirts, long shirts, and shorts, leggings are not the most flattering article of clothing when worn in lieu of pants. When worn incorrectly, leggings draw attention to the negative aspects of the wearers body. People can see every jiggle of the thighs and butt, every dimple of cellulite, and every crevice of a person's anatomy. Generally speaking, most females would not want to promulgate these details of their bodies, but todays young women apparently thrive on displaying them for the world to see.
Pants are packaged differently for all different types of people. Levi’s jeans are synonymous with being American, being created by Americans and worn by Americans of all status and type. They can evoke the image of dude ranches and overalls, hard work on the farms and easy lounging in the Midwest. Over the years as more companies started to make and sell jeans, Levi’s has had to change their image in order to attract more and new consumers, but going on their website, their front page will still show a lone grizzled man, a tattoo running along his right arm, sleeves short, sweat covering his strained face, standing ready on an open endless field, of course, wearing a pair of Levi’s jeans. Now go to the website for Guess, a company which focuses more on the style than the use of the jeans, and there are pictures strewn around like photographs, featuring muscular men with unbuttoned shirts blowing in the wind. With their scruffy faces and golden tans, the men on the site ...
First connotations were simple: "jeans are tough and rugged as men who wear them". This image of a 100% man was even strengthened after western movies appeared. Soon jeans, and so Levi’s brand which in people’s mind turned to be their synonymous, became a symbol of freedom, adventure and independence. In this moment, managers of LS&Co decided to expand the brand. Even though there where various new cloths introduced to the market ; 501 jeans remained their top-selling product. It was their new brand strategy to "offer products for every life style", which turned to be a fiasco. Not only it didn’t bring expected results, what is more, this to big diversification caused drops in sales. It was so decided to come back to the core product and it’s image. To strengthen the Levi’s position on a market, their launched a new campaign which emphasizes emotional connection between jeans and theirs owner. To wear 501 it is to be yourself – they said.
1960s fashion was constantly changing throughout the eventful decade. The early sixties were more reminiscent of the 1950s — unadventurous and restrained, and during later years, innovative designs hit the fashion world like a great tsunami. Alteration of style and panache transpired during 1963. Throughout 1963, the young look took the world by surprise. In fact, any type of artificial look was abandoned swiftly. This look included knee-high skirts, sleeveless dresses, lower heels and close-cropped, natural hair. Large amounts of makeup and high heels were too contrived for the chic women of 1963. The most drastic change in men’s fashion during 1963 was the widespread acceptance of pants without pleats. I also saw distinct stripes on shirts,
Levi Strauss came to America in 1853 and opened his own shop to supply miners with daily necessities. Upon hearing of the need for stronger pants, Strauss took the responsibility of creating pants that meet miner’s needs. He took brown canvas from a tent and created a pair of pants. These waist overalls, as they were often referred to, were strong enough, but were not comfortable. Strauss then switched to denim. He had found a comfortable, suitable article of clothing for miners and other hard workers. They were almost perfect.
I believe that if Levi’s had recognized the market demands the time it start to change and
INTRODUCTION: As a retail major at Florida State, I have been able to learn a lot about my love for fashion. One thing that is true about me is that I love to understand the origins behind different subjects, whether that is my family or, in this case, piece of clothing. Perfectly tying those two worlds together, I am going to be talking about the origins of denim jeans. First I will go over the history, then I will go over how jeans became popular, and lastly I will talk
People may say that the true years of fashion began in the late nineteen forties and went on through the early nineteen sixties. If you look at fashion today, its almost repeated the look from sixty years ago. In each generation fashion trends become based on history and/or important events. in the nineteen forties fashion was being modeled by the military wear. World War II caused a drastic change in the way clothes were being made and worn. In the nineteen fifties Americans admired the fashion of movie stars and music artists. Media had a strong influence on the wordly trend. The people of the sixties expressed there personalities and emotions through there clothing. They wanted to look independent. By looking at these three generations, we can reflect on how fashion today maybe repeating itself.
In the world of fashion, there is denim. It is one of the world’s oldest fabrics, and has been modified and remodelled to go with the latest fashion trends. The first ones who wore this fabric are workers in the California Gold Rush era, designed by Jacob Davis because of its sturdy material that withstood the harsh working conditions. Not just them, even sailors from Italy use this material too as their sailing uniform. Then, it started appearing as an actor’s apparel, and that’s when denim started to become one of a fashion item. People started wearing jeans as part of their daily apparel and even adding their own ideas, such as studs and colouring it with different shades of denim. It doesn’t only stop around that era, but today, they are seen everywhere and has become a major clothing piece for almost all of the age groups. As a reference, we can see young children already wears jeans as part of their clothing, the teenagers added jeans to their wardrobe, and even for the seniors, they consider jeans as a simple and comfortable clothing pieces.
Jeans have become one of the most popular articles of casual dress around the world. Nothing speaks louder than consumers’ demand; estimated over 800 million pairs of blue jeans are produced worldwide, which represents a multi-billion dollar business. According to market-research firm NPD Group, Americans bought $13.8 billion of jeans in the year ended April 30, 2011. Another resource claims that North America alone accounts for 39% of global purchases of jeans, followed by Western Europe at 20%, Japan and Korea at 10%, and the rest of the world at 31%.
Tight clothes are the status quo. It is popular in American culture to show off curves and allow women to express themselves and show off their bodies with tight-fitting jeans and crop tops. While girls should know what is and is not appropriate for school, sometimes it is hard to meet dress code standards with the fashion trends of today. Loose-fitting or non-skinny jeans are hard to find for teens and pre-teens anymore, and leggings com...