Yves Saint Laurent famously said his biggest regret was not inventing blue jeans. “The most spectacular, the most practical, the most relaxed and nonchalant,” the French designer claimed the wardrobe staple was the greatest item of clothing ever created. And with the average woman owning as many pairs of jeans as there are days in the week and the global luxury denim market estimated to be worth £32.3 billion a year (projected to reach £70 billion by 2030), we’d be inclined to agree.
The invention of denim was actually a happy accident that occurred in Nîmes, France in the late 17th century. Weavers were trying to make a sturdy twill material called serge but instead created something similarly durable that they called serge de Nîmes (the twill of Nîmes) — later known as “de Nîmes” and then denim. By 1873 the Bavarian-born dry-goods merchant Levi Strauss had obtained a US patent to put rivets on men’s denim work pants and what we know as modern blue jeans were born.
Since then jeans have evolved from a Wild West staple to Hollywood uniform (thank you, James Dean), before becoming a runway regular for Calvin Klein in the Eighties.
Now jeans are a juggernaut within the fashion industry. But with an overabundance of choice, confusing and inconsistent sizing and ever-changing trends, finding the perfect pair can seem like a daunting task. However, with all the choices out there, you should trust that you’ll eventually be able to find “the ones” — the jeans that simply slip on and feel like a second skin. The style that only gets better with age. The pair you buy in every colour and reach for daily.
