Index – Culture – You can find out who wore the first jeans

The origin of the world’s most durable and popular fabric has become controversial, thanks to a new exhibition: here is a painting that links the garment to 17th-century Italy. Based on this, the history of jeans begins two hundred years earlier, writes a The Guardian.

A symbol of manual labor

Blue jeans are a symbol of informality and manual labor in the United States. It has been rumored for some time that the garment may have originated in the South of France, but according to the most accepted theory, Levi Strauss, a German immigrant, came up with the idea to make work clothes from this strong material. And it’s been about a hundred and fifty years.

Seeing the image on display, the gallery, run by international fine art dealer Maurizio Canesso, is calling for further research to identify the unknown painter, who specializes in street scenes that often depict the poor of northern Italy in blue jeans.

Galerie Canesso – which has showrooms in major European cities and exhibits at London art fairs – will celebrate its 30th anniversary in May 2024, not just by any means. With a traveling exhibition showing major works that have previously been sold but are now being returned by the new owners to be viewed for a period of time.

Worn denim skirt

The main element of the exhibition is a Woman Begging With Two Children (Beggar woman with two children) will be a picture titled This is one of ten paintings by the unknown artist that, according to Canesso, could serve as a basis for the denim material to have come from his native Lombardy, as the woman in the picture is wearing a worn-out denim skirt.

“Unfortunately, we don’t have any new theories about who the master of blue jeans was,” said Véronique Damian of Galerie Canesso in Paris. He added that evidence still suggests that the artist spent most of his active years in Lombardy at the end of the 17th century, although there is reason to believe that he studied elsewhere.

Six months ago, the nearby city of Genoa—which claims the farmer’s home— Genoa Jeans entered the “material appropriation” competition with a large exhibition entitled

We are ready to organize in Genoa an event that will lead to the rediscovery of one of the most famous fabrics and clothing in the world, the origins of which are inextricably linked to our city

said Marco Bucci, the mayor of the city.

The story of Levi’s

Milan’s Mudec, on the other hand, is promoting Levi’s version of the story in a free exhibition, which focuses on a pair of jeans worn by a miner in the early 1870s.

The history of Levi’s goes back to the construction of the North American railroad and the spread of mining and work related to rural life. According to the company, blue jeans were born on May 20, 1873, when Strauss and Jacob Davis, a Nevada tailor, obtained a U.S. patent for the material’s use in men’s work pants. The product currently generates $91 billion a year. Jeans were not produced in the famous blue color until later, and until 1960 Levi’s called the garment a waistcoat rather than jeans.

Jeans free zone

The French believe that denim originated in the city of Nîmes, where the cotton fabric made from wool and silk was known as serge de Nîmes. According to the story, it was a strong enough material for ships’ sails and sailors’ clothing.

Only North Korea in the world is considered a jeans-free zone. Gardener Alan Titchmarsh’s lower half was obscured when the BBC Garden Secrets an episode of his show aired in the communist state, as the attire is associated with the United States and the broader decadent West.

An exhibition in Madrid presenting the history of fabric, the Jeans, From the Street to the Ritz It was on display at the Museo del Traje until March 2024, and the final thoughts on the theme were left to the French fashion designer Yves Saint Laurent: