Kim Christensen
Anthro 121AC
December 2013 Jeans and The Blue Denim In Japan, people have kimono, in China, they have cheongsam as a long dress with a high collar and slit skirt that traditionally worn by Chinese women, and in USA, people have jeans as their fashion identity. Fundamentally, jeans can be described as blue denim and it is very functional, durable, and mainstream in the public. Every facet of American society has worn jeans since 160 years ago. The story of jeans started by Levis Strauss, and recently it has become the most popular fashion style in the American Society. Started from presidents, workers, officers, soldiers till fireman, they wear jeans as their daily outfit. Today, Jeans have become an essential element of fashion in America that has embodied the ideals of vastly different segments of society.
Thus, THESIS
Levis Strauss is the pioneer of jeans. Previously in the year 1850s, many gold miners were complaining about the fragile cotton trousers and pockets. Thus, jeans and its durability characteristic are very suitable for gold miners. They wanted clothes that are strong and did not tear easily. Strauss responded to their claims and he decided to create tough and long lasting pants for them. According to the book Blue Jean Book by Tanya Kyi, she said, “Levis Strauss made the best business decision of his life and sell the first pair of jeans” (Kyi 2005:15). He invent jeans originally just for the needs of miner’s clothing. The result was Strauss basically created jeans with a cinch belt for keeping them up in the back and did not have back pockets, and belt loops. As the time goes by, jeans started to be used among other workers besides the gold miners. Kyi said, “In 1860s, Levis Strauss blue jeans become the daily clothing for farmers, cattlemen, and miners” (Kyi 2005:16). At that time, farmers and cattlemen considered that jeans is the most suitable outfit while they were working. Thus, this phenomenon