Ode to Levis
I remember when I bought my first pair of 501s back in the 70s. I was a sophomore in high school and only recently hip to the idea of cool. I had led a very sheltered, rural life. But somehow, sometime that year, I decided there would be nothing more cool than owning a pair of authentic sailor jeans (the more shredded the better) and an authentic pair of 501s. First, let me tell you that I was sadly misguided in the whole sailor jean thing. I begged my uncle, a former sailor, to let me have his Navy jeans, and the only ones he had were holey and stained with oil, but I wore them anyway. I really thought I looked good. I just looked homeless. Definitely not the look I was going for.
But those 501s - well, I didn't exactly look cool. I hadn't worked out all the hair and makeup stuff yet, and I still had braces. But I FELT cool. And that was just the beginning of my love affair with jeans.
Later, in the 80s, it was all about the Brittanias. The tighter the better, and mine were T-I-G-H-T!! I recall having to lie down on the bed, suck it in, hold my breath and shred the skin on my fingers in order to get those zippers up. But DAMN I looked hot! Of course, we didn't call it that then.
Oh, and what about those skinny, ankle-length, ankle-zipper Guess jeans? Once again, I thought I looked really good, but now I look at those pictures, and I really just look - well - hippy. And I don't mean in a Love Child sort of way. I mean in a gee-your-hips-look-wide-in-those-skinny-leg-pants way.
Then I found Gap jeans, and in the 90s, those became sort of a staple for me. It's possible that, somewhere along the way, I became a Mom jeans victim - and I'm not even a mom - but I prefer to think that I didn't. Well, except that for a while there, I was wearing those bleached-denim, stovepipe, sort-of-high-waisted jeans - but didn't everybody? Thankfully, though, Gap jeans saved me.
But now? Now I've come full circle. While trying on and buying nearly every conceivable brand of jeans available - from high-end to low-end, from $20 to $420, from dark wash to faded, from designer label to store brand, from straight-leg to boot cut, and from trouser to flare leg, the jeans I absolutely LIVE in - and that look the best and feel the best - are my Levis! I now own 4 pair: 2 pairs of 545s, 1 pair of 534s and 1 pair of whatever-the-number is on my trouser cut jeans. They're all lined up in my closet, right next to the Sevens and the Michael Kors and the Paiges, but I never wear those. Now if I could just find a pair of these 534s in white - and Long - I'd be in HEAVEN!!!! Robert Cameron (VP of Marketing at Levis), are you listening?!
So last night I was rifling through the channels (cuz Lord knows there is NO GOOD TV on right now!) and I happened upon a CNBC special on Levis, and it talked about the history of the brand. And it came to me: Me and Levis: we've both come full circle!