CORY REYNOLDS | DATE 10/27/2024

Denim deep dive

This 1926 advertisement for Levi Strauss’ original copper riveted waist overalls is reproduced from Reel Art Press new-release Denim: The Fabric That Built America, 1935–1944—a pure fashion history resource collecting more than 200 photographs of unself-conscious Americans living and working in their well-worn Depression-era denim. Culled from FDR’s Farm Security Administration archive of more than 170,000 photographs by such notable documentarians as Dorothea Lange, Gordon Parks, Arthur Rothstein, Jack Delano and Russell Lee, alongside many unknown names and anonymous contributions, this is a true denim deep dive. The story of Levi Strauss and Jacob Davis, “the godfathers of denim workwear,” is covered, alongside photographs of farmers, share croppers, train conductors, factory workers, mechanics and much more. “This book was an exciting—and enormous—undertaking, searching through hundreds of thousands of images into the hidden depths of the archive to unearth priceless denim gems,” Tony Nourmand writes. “The photographs were taken by some of America’s foremost photographers and each portrait, expression and movement is framed with the eye of a master. In this context, the detail of the denim—heft of the weave; fraying chore jacket layered over chambray shirt; patched overalls; white stitching contrasting against blue; metal rivets on rolled up jeans above steel-capped boots—is seen as startlingly modern.”