World-wide pants...

Over thinking blue jeans.

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A couple of blogs have posts concerning blue jeans and I suppose you could say, their role in the revolution. Don't ask. I have to object when people get historical things wrong and think they know anything about fashion. Oh - lighten up - I'm playing with you. Anyway - in order to set the record straight, I'm posting the following data concerning jeans - the label blue jeans was a later appellation invented in the 1950's and '60's. People of a certain age and education seem to think pop culture was born in the '70's - it wasn't. But I digress.

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Denim jeans were invented by Jacob Davis and Levi Strauss in 1873 as a more durable type of waist overalls for working men. They eventually evolved to become the American working man's overall - cheap, affordable, practical. They were born to the working class.

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As cinema became more accessible, and the Westerns became a popular genre, the jean caught on with Americans - in the 1930’s especially. Movie fans admired the manly cowboys and ranch hands who graced the screen in their rough and tumble dust-washed denims - the jean soon became identifiable with manliness.

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Going forward, but before the Last Picture show ended and the Happy Days began, just about every small town kid had a pair of jeans to play in - they just couldn't wear them to school. In the 1950's they were no longer just for work, guys wore them cruising around town, hanging out at the drive-in, and just about every place else they didn't have to dress up for. James Dean perfected them as a sign of teenage rebellion - and so for a time, only hoods wore them... Until the 1960's. (Although there is evidence they had already been picked up by the avante-garde, even in Europe.)

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In the '60's preppy guys like Dobie Gillis did the white jean thing for a time, while beat guys like Maynard G. Krebs hung out in sloppy blues - but by the time the Beatles landed, the blue jean went mainstream. In the late '60's they became uniform, thanks to the hip generation. I suppose it can be argued jeans were identified as a symbol of revolution, like the Mao look - maybe. Yet for the most part they were simply practical, unisex, very available and very inexpensive pants. That is until they became big business and got to be a fashion wholly identified with the United States.

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In the 1970's the fashion industry began its exploitation of the trend, continuing into the '80's as designer labels were sewed on everything; the price surged and the jean suddenly became fashion - American casual became casual chic. Hence, jeans made it to evening wear, both for guys - tux top, jeans and cowboy boot bottom, and for women - anyway they wanted. So in this respect, yes, jeans symbolized freedom from convention, as well as a sort of libertarian spirit. Nevertheless, when blue jeans became a status symbol for the wealthy elite, it seems reasonable to assert that any so-called revolutionary symbolism finally lost its significance as well as any notion of rebellion. That is what fashion is and does.

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Today the jean has evolved and become so popular even the Pope noted its unifying dimension across nationalities. It is no different today than the Roman toga was to its time - I'm playing loose with Roman history here - but the jean has become a style that is as commonplace as a pair of flip-flops. I doubt anyone wears blue jeans with any consciousness or intention of rebellion, revolution, or egalitarianism. We just wear them - just like the t-shirt. And although the fashion industry still likes to capitalize on the status appeal - the proletariat has smartened up and returned to the commie-loving-Jew-manufactured basic jean, in regular or loose fit, depending on your taste and size.

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No offense, but this is not an important issue whatsoever - so don't take it too seriously. Change the world - ban jeans. LOL! Oh, and BTW, pierced ears for men did not start with gay men cruising bars - the modern trend developed in hippie culture, probably somewhat rooted in an appreciation for Elizabethan fashion, as well as a slight nod to neo-paganism. Gays didn't invent everything, they just know how to market it.