As part of a new series delving into the Magnum archive, exploring its decades of documentation of vernacular style around the world, fashion writer Rosalind Jana first tackles denim. Once a visual social marker of the rural or industrial worker, then of the rebels and radicals of the 50s and 60s, before finally becoming a mainstream and ultimately a firmly quotidian material, here we explore denim through the work of Magnum photographers.



Denim is an intriguing fabric. One that, it’s been estimated, nearly half of the world’s population is wearing at any one time (in the form of blue jeans). A highly durable cotton twill weave, its origins apparently lie in a material manufactured in Nimes, France: our modern word potentially springing from the French “Serge de Nimes”. However, there are other etymological considerations at play. The term ‘jeans’ seems to originate from another fabric in Genoa, Italy, comprised of a mixture of cotton and wool. One that had been around since at least the 17th Century.

Whichever way, the textile’s complex European origins are often overshadowed by a classic tale of the American Dream. During the Californian gold-rush, businessman Levi Strauss and tailor Jacob Davis joined forces to create and patent a world-shifting design in 1873: rivet-strengthened denim trousers, ideal for miners whose work-wear kept falling apart. Known at first as overalls (the word ‘jeans’ wasn’t used by Levi’s until 1960), they exploded in popularity, with other producers muscling in to create their own designs when the patent expired in 1890.