Graphic Design: Denim and Global Convergence
My love for Denim has enticed me to delve further into this texture which I believe is the building block of our planetary culture. From the runways of high fashion to some obscure assembly line in India, the gift of denim is frivolous and creative. Denim is that gift that keeps giving. Denim, “a heavy, Z-twist, twill cotton for jeans, overalls, and other work and leisure garments,” typically blue came into existence in the late 17th century from French serge de Nîmes, denoting a kind of serge from the manufacturing town of Nîmes. In the 18th century, it hit the shores of the New World. Trade, slave labour and cotton plantations increased: workers wore jean cloth because the material was very strong and it did not wear out easily. A century later the gold miners wanted clothes that were strong and did not tear easily. Manufacturing of denim started and in 1853, Leob Strauss started a wholesale business, supplying clothes. Strauss later changed his name from Leob to Levi. Twenty years later, Levi Strauss & Company began using the pocket stitch design and rivets in pants for strength. May 20 1873, U.S.Patent No.139,121 gave birth to the concept of "blue jeans."
Fast forward to the pop culture decades of the 50s and 60s, Denim became the favourite of rebelious teenagers. The hippies did their share to introduce it to the non-western countries in the 60s and 70s and jeans became the prized posession of the far east. It symbolized western decadence. In the 80s denim forged ahead to be in the coveted class of high fashion. Since then, this fabric of our lives is on its own mission to become the fabric of our planet.
It will not be long before we see denim emerging as the organic alternative in various industries including trade show desgin and interior space design.
Sarmistha Tarafder
Co-creator of brands in 3D spaces.
In pursuit of essence and enchantment, mind and mystery, myth and matter!
