By Lubna Abdel-Aziz How can one pair of blue jeans fit 4 different teenage girls perfectly, despite their very different body types? It must be a miracle. Based on the best- selling novel by Ann Brashares The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants was a small summer film that received critical acclaim, so did its young stars Amber Tamblyn, Alexis Bledel, America Ferrera, and Blake Lively. As the girls were preparing to spend their first summer away from each other, they decide that each one will wear the jeans for a week and send it on to the next on the list. The plot shifts from the miraculous jeans to follow the girls adventures during their summer break. The jeans then take a back seat as the lives and loves of the girls unfold, travelling from the Greek Islands to Mexico to other destinations as it witnesses the journey of the four girls into adulthood. That one pair of blue jeans is the one thread that keeps them connected. The symbolic role it plays in the movie is a role that blue jeans play regularly throughout the world. Jeans are the perfect attire, a perfect fit for all, and its power of appeal grows and spreads with every passing day. The question is why? What is the magic of the blue jean pants? The academic community spent decades trying to find a language that would unite the world community. Their feeble attempts at Esperanto among others failed. A few decades later English emerged as the undisputed international means of communication. What did evolve as a global unifier turned out to be a lowly pair of pants, mainly used by labourers and farmers. Blue jeans climbed the highest mountains, sailed the seven seas, flew the open skies bringing cultures and ideas together. They have become an international costume accepted and respected in all walks of life. Millionaires, paupers, seniors, juniors, ladies, gentlemen, farmers, executives, royals, mechanics, everyone reaches for their blue jeans. In Texas they are acceptable at formal balls and banquets, with tuxedo coats and bowties and no one blinks an eye! Blue jeans have a certain cachet and a United Nations passport; they go anywhere, anytime. Even those who are vehemently against everything American, protest loudly while wearing their American-made or inspired blue jeans. Would it surprise you to know that this quintessential American attire, this American icon, is as far removed from America as an ocean would allow! Both denim and jean are fabrics that come from France and Italy. The metal rivets on the pockets were dreamed up by a Latvian tailor, and the whole package was produced by a Bavarian store-keeper. The basic ingredients of any success story are mainly vision, timing, hard work, and a little bit of luck. Those are the very elements of the success story about blue denim jeans. Seventeen year old Loeb Strauss, packed up his bags, and together with his mother and sister left his native Bavaria and emigrated to New York City in 1846. There, his older half brothers who owned a dry goods store in the city put him to work immediately to learn the trade. Within a few years the Gold Rush of 1849 was raging in California and by 1853 Loeb changed his name to Levi and together with his mother and sister and a new brother-in-law headed for the San Francisco area in California. They opened a dry goods store selling supplies to gold miners including pants and other working clothes. They called it Levi Strauss & Co. One of their regular customers was Jacob Davies, a Latvian tailor from Nevada. In 1872 Levi Strauss received a letter from Davies describing how he solved the problem of one of his customers who was always ripping his pants pockets by placing metal rivets at the points of strain, such as in the pocket corners and at the base of the button fly. The riveted pants were an instant hit with all his customers and fearing that his idea would be stolen he wished to apply for a patent. There was only one problem, Davies did not have the $68 required to file the papers. Strauss, an astute business man saw the potential for the new product and offered to pay for the patent and become a full partner. On May 20 1873, the two men received patent #139121 for an Improvement in Fastening Pocket Openings. That was the birthday of the American icon, the blue denim jeans. The patent lasted 20 years, after which it went into public domain and dozens of manufacturers began to imitate the pants made by Levi Strauss & Co. Originally waist overalls what we now call blue jeans, were made of cotton, duck and canvas. They were durable alright, but stiff and uncomfortable. Meanwhile the French used a twilled cotton cloth to make sturdy clothes in the Italian city of Genoa which they called Genes. This is thought to be the origin of the name jeans. The fabric was also imported in large quantities in 16th century England. By the end of the 18th century the English were producing it themselves, in Lancashire. One of the world's oldest fabrics which remain eternally young 'Denim', was a competitor to 'Jean'. Most historians believe denim is a corruption of the French name 'serge de Nimes', a fabric from the town of Nimes in France. By the late 18th century, American textile mills were producing their own denim and their own jean. Denim was reserved for durable work clothes, while jean was made into tailored trousers for working men. Strauss and Davies decided to switch from canvas to denim, which miners found softer and more comfortable. Now everyone wanted a pair- miners, farmers, tinkers, tailors, soldiers, and sailors. Strauss decided to dye the fabric indigo blue to minimize soil stains. Cowboys in particular loved them. To achieve a snug fit, they would put on their denim pants, soak themselves in a horse watering trough, then lie in the sun to shrink the pants to fit snugly. This strictly utilitarian men's item of clothing slowly started to catch on. In 1935 Vogue magazine ran an ad with two society women wearing snug fitting jeans. That kicked off a trend known as "Western Chicâ" TM. But when did they acquire an international flavour? Do not underestimate the power of the movies. Westerns as well as the whole cowboy lure captured the worlds imagination. Western wear became synonymous with a life of independence and rugged individualism. After all Gary Cooper and John Wayne wore them. Denim started to assume features that represented glamour and prosperity. The true explosion of denim chic came in the 60s with James Dean. The world's youth identified with the young rebel and his blue jeans, starting its climb on the social ladder. No other item of clothing in the history of fashion has served as an example of status ambivalence as blue jeans. From low culture working origins to Designer Jeans, it managed to accomplish a revolutionary change of status, concealing and disregarding all class distinctions. Everybody wears jeans, and if clothes make the man, blue jeans unmake him. Often seen on couturiers runways, it is also an upper class fashion item. No honourable Maison de Couture would dare be caught without its own line of designer jeans. Once sold for 75 cents, they can now cost you hundreds of dollars. Levi Strauss (1829-1902) died a rich man, but poor Davies gained no fame or fortune having sold his shares in the company after his partner's death. Although Calvin Klein gave them added sex appeal in the 70s, everyone still calls them Levis, as are those magic jeans in our film. Now if only a designer could come along and manufacture a pair that will miraculously fit all, we will have no need for any other item of clothing, "and the world would be one!" Nothing as yet matches the versatility, durability, comfort and glamour of today's blue jeans.
