Tuesday, June 8, 2010

Don't wanna live without'em


Baggy, boot-cut, low-rise, bell-bottoms, slim, straight-leg - what do you think of when you hear these words?
JEANS!

I would be lost without my jeans. My daily "uniform" are jeans, a t-shirt (mostly with animal image unless I want to dress up, then it might be a black tee ;-)) and sneakers.
I still remember my first pair of jeans. I was about 10 and I bought them from my own money. They cost an incredible amount of 10.- DM at that time and my piggy bank was more than hesitant to give up so much money. The denim on this pair was somehow softened and I loved them to death. In my lifetime I have worn out quite a few pairs.

But what are jeans? The word comes from the French phrase "bleu de GĂȘnes", literally the blue of Genoa. Jean fabric which is called denim was invented quite early, but an important development for jeans dyed to their typical dark blue with indigo began in 1873 when Levi Strauss and Jacob Davis received a US patent on adding copper rivets to strengthen the pockets of denim work pants.
Blue jeans were worn wherever sturdy clothing was important, on farms or in factories for example.
During the 50s then blue jeans became a symbol for youth rebellion, not least thanks to James Dean wearing them in the movie "Rebel Without A Cause".
In the 60s they became more acceptable and today - who could imagine a world without them? They come in all kinds of designs, with or without embellishments, in different colors and lengths, and of course there are also shirts, skirts, jackets. I myself am in love with my jeans coat with the handy pockets all over!

Nice about jeans is also that you can wear all kinds of jewelry with them. Top them with a festive blouse and some high heels and wear a sparkly necklace or go for the rugged look, wear a lumberjack shirt and a wooden pendant or how about tone on tone?
Here are some "denim" examples for you to consider and frankly, I love each single one!

Heavenly Flower by Leilani Cleveland Deveau brings you these great Denim fossil bead earrings which really can pick up the color of your jeans!


Look at this beautiful kyanite necklace! It will spark up your outfit for sure! Check it out at LA Valley Girly's shop. Shh, there are matching earrings there as well ...


Last but not least I found these darling lapis earrings in the shop of Two Silver Moons. Aren't they cute?


Do you still remember your first pair of jeans? Would you share with me?

The SATeam blog features artisan handmade creations by the etsy starving artists jewelry team. SATeam members create handcrafted jewelry and beads. More information about our team and its current etsy shop owner members can be found at SATEAM.etsy.com.

7 comments:

FeatheredGems said...

LOL! I live in jean; in summer, it's jeans shorts. If it weren't for denim I'd have almost no clothes at all! I've even got denim sandals!

My first jeans...well, my parents grew up on farms, where denim was for work clothes only--those who wore denim were laborers. So they didn't want me to wear jeans--I think they thought it would label me as lower-class or something. When I was about 12, Mom finally relented after much begging and bought me two pairs BRUSHED DENIM pants (brushed denim is soft and slightly fuzzy, looks nothing like denim), but they weren't denim colored. One pair was screaming cobalt blue with bright red back pockets. The other pair was ugly pink with brown back pockets. But they were still jeans to me, and I wore them both until they were rags. A few more pairs of "starter" non-blue denim pants later, mom finally gave up and let me get real jeans.

Cynthia Newcomer Daniel said...

When I was a teen, Levi's were all the rage, but they were expensive, and we couldn't afford them, so my jeans came from Sears.

Of course, I wanted Levi's; and years later, when I could afford them, I tried on a pair. Imagine my surprise when they looked terrible on me! They didn't fit right, and I hated them.

I wish I'd known that when I was 14!

Caron Michelle said...

Yep - another jean lover here - just wished I could find another pair the same as my favourite - they're starting to fall apart!

tjrjewellery said...

Another great story Cat!

I, fortunately, am wearing jeans almost all the time unless I know I'm going to get real dirty at my day job (in which case I change into my bright orange, fire retardant work cloths!).

My DW is constantly wanting to throw out my hole ridden jeans, but I insist I need them for my jewellery work clothes! Took me a while to get them to that comfortable level, so I'm not in a rush to part with them!

Unknown said...

I looooove my jeans! It's always nice to have jewelry to compliment denim on carefree, casual days!

Happileerving said...

Jeans are my prefered fashion when I am not at work. I enjoy wearing chainmaille pieces with them.

Unknown said...

My mom was dead set against me wearing jeans - actually she was dead set against me wearing pants. It's thanks to my big brother that I got my first pair of jeans. We bought them at K-Mart! Nowadays, I live in my yoga pants though!