Jay Yoo

I really love denim.  For many cultural reasons (it’s a symbol of freedom, independence and innovation), but most of all because I am a minimalist and only wear one of three pants 99% of the time.   Good denim (raw Japanese selvedge) is durable and looks better with time.  How your denim fades, like wrinkles, tells a story that is both interesting and personal.

Here is an interesting article that surfaced in the Wall Street Journal about how Jeans are making their way up the ranks.

Power jeans are increasingly common in high-ranking business and political circles. Indeed, jeans are now a legitimate part of the global power-dress lexicon, worn to influential confabs where the wearers want to signal they’re serious—but not fussy—and innovative.

From the bad jean display of our hippest President ever, to the famous Steve Jobs “anti-suits” black mock tee, Levis and sneakers look, blue jeans (I guess) are en vogue at the highest ranks of corporations and governments worldwide.

Just about everyone associates blue jeans with Levis Strauss and the infamous 501, which has been ripped off and duplicated by every maker of demin.  However, few know that it was the French town of Nimes that owns the name ‘denim,’ and Indian sailors of Dhunga were the first to sport dunagarees in the 16th century.

Jeans have been around for while as a symbol of the workman who wore them for performance and utility.  In the 1950’s, they crossed over to pop culture with the help of icons like Bob Dylan, who were making a statement with clothes against the establishment.  By wearing denim, leaders of pop culture were also making a statement that they were idealists and stood for the common good of people.

Here is what fascinates me about this article:

There’s also something of the rebel in a pair of jeans. In the boardroom, that can read as creative…

But jeans must be carefully paired with a pressed shirt and good shoes to be elevated to business class.

What?  You have to be joking.  Rules for blue jeans?

That’s the irony that makes this article so interesting.  Blue jeans are not a new uniform with codes for corporate higher ups; it’s just fashion and a statement of who you are.  Perhaps this is a new way for people way up in the ivory tower to make their own statement that they stand for the common good of common people.  Who knows.

I just love the irony and am glad to see some of these higher ups NOT upgrading to something more daring!  That would be too over the top and an insult to innovators, artists, and so called “rebels” who still need their little place in the universe of the giant garment staple that is denim.