I was going through my evening rituals, which amongst other things includes
laying out a carefully planned set of clothes for the next work day. This saves
me the hassle of clumsily fumbling through my mind in the early morning while
the engine is still cold. The final selection accords to pre-planned activities
for the day ahead. With this in mind I chose a denim shirt by King Gee
(Australia), floral tie by Timothy Everest (Savile Row London), a pair of grey
flannel trousers by Jaeger (England), for the feet, a pair of blue and white
Converse All Stars (America), dark lightweight Harris Tweed jacket (England) and
a leather belt by RM Williams (Australia) this is the gear you need for working
at the coalface, functionality rules the way. I call it the lean-clean style,
it's casual by framework, loose and comfortable, but formalised enough with the
introduction of neckwear. So I can get into action, throw off the jacket, roll
the sleeves up, loosen the tie and get it done.
Each item of the
collection I laid out brought together a little cultural heritage from three
continents, captured in the clothing they invented, commercialised, stylised, or
popularised. We can easily relate Denim to Levis and its American Wild West
culture. But this fabric was adopted from another continent by early Americans
who created functional hard wearing work gear. At the same time they introduced
a style without the aid of catwalks and drop dead handsome models. This is how
it happened, Mr Jacob Davis a tailor from Reno Nevada decided to put copper
rivets on the corners of his denim trouser pockets to prevent them from ripping.
Unable to cover the cost of patenting the idea he sought help from prosperous
clothing distributor Mr Levi Strauss. Mr Strauss added his own style by putting
the garment label on the outside rather than on the inside. Thus a new style was
born. By the time this all happened, denim (originally from Nimes in France )
had already been styled into bell bottom trousers and worn by Italian sailors
from Genoa . These trousers had very practical applications. If a sailor went
overboard he could easily slip off his trousers without his feet getting caught
and thus stand a better chance of staying afloat.
The style has gone
from Nimes , to Denim, from
Genoa to Jeans, from France to America and travelled the world. So after
you've read this article go and slip on your favourite jeans and experience the
history.
Now we haven't even touched on the belt, flannel trousers,
jacket or shoes, well perhaps another time. How are the jeans?
Patrick McMurray, a modest business man with a keen interest in the evolution of styles and
progress of fashion through the ages. In particular, the growth and performance of the
silk weaving and silk tie manufacturing industry in England and its continuing survival in the
face of the mass manufacturing revolution. Thanks to electronic communications we can publish articles on the wire, making them immediately available for people with shared interests to learn and respond.
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