Andrea Spangler, left, and Courtney Simmons pose for a portrait inside of Francesca’s Collection, a clothing and jewelry boutique, in Chattanooga on Thursday.When Levi Strauss crafted denim fabric into durable pants for California coal miners in the 1870s, he couldn’t have imagined that designer denim would be showcased on fashion runways a century later.
Strauss created his first denim from hemp before putting twilled cotton cloth into use, says jeanswest.com.
According to the website, wearing blue jeans became more socially acceptable in the 1960s, and they were established as a fashion staple by the 1970s. In the 1980s, fashion icons had put their stamp on the versatile fabric, sending it down the catwalks.
Today, wearers can find any piece of apparel – jeans, vests, skirts, shirts, jackets, dresses, overalls and hats – fashioned from denim. It’s worn in the classroom, at the office and out in the fields.
Courtney Gravett, 27, said she can’t think of a time when denim wasn’t a staple in her closet.