The Guardian

Does mysterious painting prove blue denim was around 200 years before Levi’s?



Woman Begging With Two Children, by an unknown artist, shows what appears to be a denim skirt in 17th-century ItalyThe origin of the world’s most enduringly popular fabric is in ­dispute, as a new exhibition spotlights a claim that firmly links denim with 17th-­century Italy and takes its history back 200 years.Blue denim, that all-American ­symbol of informality and a life lived on the open range, is already also contentiously attributed to ­southern France, while modern jeans ­mythology still has it that Levi Strauss, a German immigrant, first came up with the idea of making workwear out of this sturdy cotton in San Francisco 150 years ago. Continue reading…



Source link : https://www.theguardian.com/fashion/2024/apr/21/master-of-the-blue-jeans-denim-levis-woman-begging-with-two-children

Author : Vanessa Thorpe

Publish date : 2024-04-21 16:00:01

Copyright for syndicated content belongs to the linked Source.

Tags : The Guardian