Jean genie: The denim evolution
From rugged workwear to fashion staple, denim jeans have gone from strength to strength. Katya Foreman gets the skinny on the ubiquitous trousers.
At once esoteric – with a sacred status among so-called “denim heads” – and a mainstream wardrobe staple, the humble jean remains one of the most deceptively complex and mysterious garments of all time; one that creates an emotional connection with the wearer. “It’s a very personal thing because of the uniqueness of the dyeing… as you start to wear in your jeans they kind of take on their own personality; each wear pattern is unique to the individual. It’s something that you wear over time and that moulds to your body and takes on character,” says Kara Nicholas, from historic denim manufacturer Cone Denim.
Cone’s White Oak mill in Greensboro, North Carolina, which produces all of the firm’s authentic premium vintage denims and boasts a collection of American Draper X3 model shuttle looms from the 1940s, will celebrate its 110th anniversary on 20 April. “There is a depth and dimension that happens with those looms,” says Nicholas, for whom the authentic denim trend began in the '80s, “when people started collecting vintage jeans and there was this idea of trying to emulate or replicate that authenticity. We’re always looking at the same jeans from the turn of the century throughout the 1900s for inspiration, experimenting with the yarns or different dye formulas,” she says.
