Lights,Camera, Denim

courant style. But the image reminded the world that he’s not just the leader of the free world but also a devoted husband, father and your average baseball fan.

It comes back to design. One CEO of a global brand obsessed with simplicity also famously chose jeans as his uniform: the late Steve Jobs wore them (with a black turtleneck) each time he introduced a seismic new Apple product. A mogul in jeans is one way of telegraphing power by choosing not to dress powerfully. As Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg does with his hoodie and jeans.

Jeans can be a blank statement with which one can project individuality. And over the years, fans have customized them to declare their agenda. In the ’70s, we decorated them with hippie peace and love patches. As the disco era burned, Gloria Vanderbilt ignited the craze for designer jeans. By the ’80s, punks took to ripping, studding and safety pins, a message that was anti-establishment. In the ’90s, jeans went grunge and by 2000, the glam factor returned with bling and embellishments. A long way from Levi’s first pair – when the sole purpose was entirely utilitarian, the most durable thing for miners to wear during the gold rush. Another symbol of America’s Western mythology – the cowboy – also adopted the jean, as James Dean did playing a Texas ranch hand in Giant. While Levi’s 501 is an American icon, Canada has laid claim to denim as an unofficial – albeit, humorous – national uniform. The term Canadian tuxedo means wearing denim head to toe. This is how the story goes. In 1951, American star Bing Crosby was turned away from a Vancouver hotel because he was wearing double denim. Levi Strauss sent him a custom-made denim tuxedo with a patch inside warning hotel men everywhere to treat the wearer with respect. Something denim and the quintessential blue jean no longer have to fight for.