Denim and Streetwear
Workwear that became everything. Levi's rivets and the 501, the jean as youth uniform, skate and hip-hop clothing, the sneaker, the drop and the collaboration.
Part of Fashion
10 moments in this segment.
- - Levi Strauss Patents Riveted Jeans. May 20, 1873. Levi Strauss and Jacob Davis patent rivet-reinforced denim work pants. Originally for goldminers and labourers. By the 1950s, through James Dean and Marlon Brando, the universal symbol of American youth.
- - Levi's 501 Jeans. May 20, 1873. Levi Strauss + Jacob Davis patent the rivet for blue-jean reinforcement. The 501 fly-button design dates from c. 1890. The most-worn garment in human history.
- - Burberry Trench Coat. 1879. Thomas Burberry invents gabardine, water-resistant cotton. The Burberry trench becomes British WWI officer uniform; transitions to civilian fashion in the 1920s. The single most-imitated coat design in history.
- - Punk Fashion. Westwood + McLaren's SEX (1974) outfitted the Sex Pistols 1975-78: ripped t-shirts, bondage trousers, safety-pin couture, dog collars. The first widely-adopted anti-fashion subculture in mainstream Western dress.
- - Vivienne Westwood - SEX. 1974. Vivienne Westwood and Malcolm McLaren's King's Road shop, renamed "SEX" in 1974. Bondage trousers, ripped t-shirts, safety-pin couture. Outfitted the Sex Pistols (1975-78). Westwood goes on to a 50-year career as the elder stateswoman of British anti-fashion.
- - Supreme NYC Opens. April 1994. James Jebbia opens Supreme on Lafayette Street, NYC. The skate-shop-as-luxury template; the red box logo; the weekly Thursday drops. Sold to VF Corp 2020 for $2.1B. Defined modern hypebeast culture.
- - Rick Owens Founds His Label. 1994. Rick Owens launches his label from his LA garage. Moves to Paris 2003. Defined the "Goth-Calabasas" aesthetic; the post-punk minimal-leather silhouette that became a 30-year career. Married business-partner Michèle Lamy.
- - Lululemon Founded. 1998. Chip Wilson founds Lululemon in Vancouver. Athleisure as a category. Made yoga pants luxury-priced; reshaped what mass-market women's casual wear could cost.
- - Cargo Pants Return. 2023. Cargo pants return after a 15-year absence. Bella Hadid, Hailey Bieber, the Y2K revival. The garment most associated with the early-2000s mall era becomes the silhouette of the early-2020s street.
- - Thom Browne - Grey Suit. 2003. Thom Browne launches his label with a single product: the shrunken grey suit. By 2018 he's costuming Olympic athletes (Tom Brady, LeBron James). The 2024 Met Gala dressed Lana Del Rey in his sculptural wedding-veil gown.
