| Jeans were invented a little over a
century ago and are currently the world's most popular, versatile garment,
crossing boundaries of class, age and nationality. From their origins as pure
workwear, they have spread through every level of the fashion spectrum, and are
embraced internationally for their unmatched comfort and appeal. In the mid 1940s, the Second World War came to an end, and denim blue jeans, previously worn almost exclusively as workwear, gained a new status in the U. S. and Europe. Rugged but relaxed, they stood for freedom and a bright future. Sported by both men and women, by returning GI's and sharp teenagers, they seemed as clean and strong as the people who chose to wear them. In Europe, surplus Levi's were left behind by American armed forces and were available in limited supplies. It was the European population's first introduction to the denim apparel. Workwear manufacturers tried to copy the U. S. originals, but those in the know insisted on the real thing. In the 1950s, Europe was exposed to a daring new style in music and movies and consequently jeans took on an aura of sex and rebellion. Rock'n'roll coming from America blazed a trail of defiance, and jeans became a symbol of the break with convention and rigid social morals. When Elvis Presley sang in "Jailhouse Rock", his denim prison uniform carried a potent, virile image. Girls swooned and guys were quick to copy the King. In movies like "The Wild One" and "Rebel Without a Cause" cult figures Marion Brando and James Dean portrayed tough anti-heroes in jeans and T-shirts. Adults spurned the look; teenagers, even those who only wanted to look like rebels, embraced it. By the beginning of the 1960s, slim jeans had become a leisure wear staple, as teens began to have real fun, forgetting the almost desperate energy of the previous decade, while cocooned (包围在) in wealth and security. But the seeds of change had been sown, and by the mid 1960s jeans had acquired yet another social connotation—as the uniform of the budding social and sexual revolution. Jeans were the great equalizer, the perfect all-purpose garment for the classless society sought by the Hippy generation. In the fight for civil rights, at anti-war demonstrations off the streets of Paris, at sit-ins and love-ins everywhere, the battle cry was heard above a sea of blue. |