Denimology

Jeans For Genes Day - Friday Oct 6th

On Friday October 6th everyone in the UK is encouraged to wear jeans to school or work as a part of Jeans For Genes Day. Anyone wearing jeans is asked to make a contribution (£2 for adult and £1 for children) which will be used to fund medical research into a variety of genetic conditions such as muscular dystrophy and cystic fibrosis. The goal this year is to raise £4million which will be distributed amongst charities such as Great Ormond Street Hospital Children’s Charity, SPARKS, WellChild and the Fragile X Society.

Levi's Style Search

Levi's have launched a Style Search to find one college guy and girl to be the faces of one of their next advertising campaigns. To enter you must live in the US, be 18+ and currently studying at college. As well as the modelling assignment the prize package also includes a trip to New York and a $250 shopping spree at levisstore.com

Jeans - A Cultural History Of An American Icon

If you have more than a passing interest in denim then you might want to check out Jeans - A Cultural History Of An American Icon by James Sullivan. It tells the story of an item of clothing that was once the uniform of miners and cowboys but is now more commonly worn by presidents and supermodels. Along the way it details the rise premum denim from the 80s designer jeans such Jordache, Gloria Vanderbilt and Calvin Klein to the ubiquity of modern brands such as 7 For All Makind and True Religion.

Levi's iPod Jeans

A couple of months ago I mentioned that Levi's had decided to create a special pair of iPod jeans. I was hoping that the blanket negative publicity that surrounded the original announcement may have made Levi's realise the error of their ways and bury this idea. Unfortunately they decided to follow it through and the results are now available for everyone to see.

Usually anything associated with the iconic iPod benefits from some reflected cool but these jeans actually manage to have the reverse effect of making the the iPod look crappy. Everything about these jeans is wrong from the colour and horrible white stitching to the ugly pockets and what I assume is a remote control. These are the kind of jeans that if you wore them to school you would be justifiably bullied for the rest of the year because of it.

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World's Oldest Levi's

The San Francisco Chronicle has an interesting article about Lynn Downey the historian for Levi Strauss & Co. in San Francisco who is responsible for Levi's extensive archives of clothing, photographs, posters and artifacts. The jewel in this amazing archive is the world's oldest pair of Levi's (see above) - a pair "XX," one-pocket jeans, which date back to 1879 and are valued at $125,000. Unfortunately the archive is not open to members of the public, however there is a permanent display of choice pieces from the collection in the lobby of the Levi's Heaquarters in San Francisco.

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Nylon Magazine Special Denim Issue

Nylon magazine's special issue dedicated to all things denim is now available online. It features denim obsessive Ashley Olsen on the cover, is jam-packed full of great denim articles and fashion spreads and even manages to find space to mention Denimology on page 81. Who could ask for more?