All you need is denim
Tuesday, January 28, 2020 at 06:51PM Packing for my two-week summer break at the beach, I am struck by the fact that aside from undies, Ts and a long cardigan, everything I pack is denim. Jeans, for those cooler evenings. A short denim skirt. A denim pinafore. Denim shorts. Even the sundress I have is a kind of cotton faux denim.
I have three denim jackets and although I have never dared to try pulling off double denim, if I didn’t work in a job where it is good to look a little bit professional, I suspect I would wear little else.
It always surprises me how comfortable denim is, given that it is so hardy. I recall jeans in the 70s that, like old-school leather hiking boots, took weeks to break in; these days, I can tell in the change room if the jeans will be comfy.
Denim is versatile. You can dress it up or down (okay, you can’t dress it up that much) but, casual or smart casual, if you pick the style that suits you, it always looks good.
I like that denim started off as clothes for working people in the American gold rush of the 1850s, when a tailor called Jacob W Davis collaborated with cloth merchant Levi Strauss to create durable pants, complete with copper rivets in the places that trousers were most likely to tear.
Like everything else in our consumption obsessed society, denim has its dark side. You have to be careful who you buy from. Some of the well-known brands don’t have fair work practices. Some kinds of jeans take 10,000 litres of water to make. Others, like the ridiculous ‘distressed’ jeans use substances that pollute both waterways and the lungs of the workers making them. Like food, furniture and everything else, you need to do your homework before you buy.
But one of the main reasons I love denim is that it is practically indestructible, the very opposite of fast fashion. I don’t have many pairs of jeans (or shorts, or skirts) and I wear my denim clothes until they fall apart. I bought a long denim dress before my now-26-year-old daughter was born; she commandeered it several years ago and wears it still. If she ever has offspring, maybe she will bequeath it to them.
Retirement, which is on the not so distant horizon, will see me in little else. Love is all very well, but when it comes to my wardrobe, all I need is denim.
This was published in The Melbourne Age on 19 January
Reader Comments (2)
Love the style, but I beg to differ on 'you can't dress it up that much' - High heeled boots, a lacy top, pearls.. love it ;)
When I retired my theme song was "Forever in blue jeans" by Neil Diamond. In the 12 years I've been retired I've expanded a bit to scrub pants, so lovely, soft and droopy, and sweat pants for those cold winter days when I don't leave the house. I have a few dressier items in my wardrobe but they don't get much use. In terms of denim I use my mother's adage, "You can patch patches but you can't patch beside patches." When the cloth becomes to fragile I pass it on to my friends who quilt or save pieces for little projects around the house.