Denim: The Fabric That Built America 1935-1944, is a celebration of an iconic cloth and a revealing portrait of how American workers made denim style’s most enduring inspiration.
These photographs, many previously unseen, capture ordinary Americans of every race, young and old, relentlessly toiling – hands, face, boots and denim dirty – to push America out of the Great Depression into the prosperity of its post-War years. And all wearing the toughest utility fabric available to them – denim. Levi’s, Lee, OshKosh, Carhartt – all the iconic American brands and more are here on workwear overalls, jeans, jackets and shirts. DENIM recontextualises their landmark collections to definitively tell one of fashion’s most important stories. In such context, the detail of the denim – heft of the weave; white stitching stark against blue; selvedge edges; turned-up hems – is seen as startingly modern.
The photographs in this coffee table volume are taken from the archive of the Farm Security Administration and Office of War Information and are reproduced here in exquisite print quality. The archive holds over 170,000 images by photographers including Dorothea Lange, Gordon Parks, Arthur Rothstein, Jack Delano and Russell Lee. It includes some of the most recognisable photographs of the twentieth century, such as Lange’s ‘Migrant Mother’. Many more have rarely been seen. The archive holds well-known stories and untold histories, but it has never been looked at through the prism of fashion history before. An extraordinary feat of curation, 250 images have been discovered in the hidden depths of the archive to form this book.
Eighty years on, denim continues to shape style – from Beyonce’s Cowboy Carter denim fits to Pharrell’s Western-inspired autumn/winter 2024 Louis Vuitton collection. Brands like Levi’s remain a staple of celebrity and worker wardrobes to this day. It is said that over 80 percent of the planet have owned an item of denim clothing. We spend hours crafting the insouciant turn of a hem and the casual roll of a collar; we spend our hard-earned money on carefully weathered, faded denim. And here is our original inspiration: defined over 80 years ago by hard-working people in their hard-working labours in a timeless look that has never gone out of style.
Denim is written and art-directed by author, art director, and denim historian Graham Marsh who is responsible for the seminal publication, Denim: From Cowboys to Catwalk. Graham also co-wrote and art-directed Black Ivy: A Revolt in Style (Reel Art Press). Black Ivy was a Financial Times Book of the Year 2021.
The treasure trove of images is edited by Tony Nourmand, who has a peerless curatorial ability to unearth priceless gems from archives both famous and unknown.
Denim: The Fabric That Built America 1935-1944
Graham Marsh & Tony Nourmand
Reel Art Press: R|A|P
Hardback
240 pages
275 x 230mm
ISBN: 978-1-909526-97-6
£39.95 /$49.95
www.reelartpress.com
