Riveting PBS documentary on jeans’ past
Chances are you’re wearing a pair of jeans as you read this. They probably have little rivets around the pockets. You’re probably wearing them at least partially for the sake of fashion, even if they serve a utilitarian function.
If you’ve ever wondered how all this came to be, PBS has a new documentary to answer the call. “Riveted: The History of Jeans,” which kicks off the latest season of “American Experience,” is a bite-size chapter of American studies that uses a ubiquitous object to tell the story of the country. Race, class, gender, work, leisure, fashion: It’s all here, tucked inside the front pocket of your favorite pair of Levi’s.
Speaking of Levi’s: You’re probably heard of Levi Strauss, the San Francisco dry goods merchant who made a fortune selling the jeans that bore his name. But what about his partner, Jacob Davis, the Russian American tailor who started using sturdy cloth and rivets to hold jeans together for
Nevada laborers? He partnered with Strauss to mass-produce and sell the garments, yet it’s Strauss, and his San Francisco boomtown, whom history and commerce remember.
Of course, jeans predate either man. Slaves were tasked with picking the indigo that made the dye that gives jeans their signature color (the dyed fabric starts off as green, but gradually turns blue). Once jeans came to San Francisco, anti-Chinese racism entered the picture with guarantees that white people made the pants (tags affixed to Levi’s read they were made by “White Labor”).
“Riveted” moves along swiftly in this manner, making you think about your pants at every turn. Jeans were worn almost exclusively by laborers through the 19th century. Then came the Western nostalgia of the 1930s, as the frontier was popularized by movies and dude ranches, where women wore jeans in mass numbers. During World War II, Americans wore their jeans abroad, spreading the gospel of denim internationally, while women back in the States wore them to work. (Rosie, like her pants, had rivets.) In the ’50s, jeans were a symbol of rebellion, as worn by bikers like Marlon Brando in “The Wild One.” This prompted a panic within the industry, which started the Denim Council to tell the public that jeans were not dangerous.
If this all seems simple, it’s really not. Jeans are something we take for granted, something we buy on sale and squeeze into when our waists start getting thick. Here they become much more, a shifting guidepost of American history that tells us where we’ve been and perhaps where we’re going.
“Riveted” tracks that journey, from workers’ uniform to fashion statement. By the ’60s, jeans have become part of the era’s freak flag, decorated with patches and fringe, worn loose for groovy movement. By the ’70s, they’re designer wear, worn tight and churned out by the likes of Tommy Hilfiger (who appears in the film) and Calvin Klein. In the 1980s and ’90s, hip-hop caught on, popularizing wearing jeans baggy, putting the fashionistas on notice: We can play this game too.
In opening up your closet and explaining what’s inside, “Riveted” never wears out its welcome.