I’m rounding out this month of jeans with Denim: Fashion’s Frontier by Emma McClendon. It’s the companion book to an exhibit curated by McClendon at the FIT Museum in 2016, which showcased denim apparel in its many forms throughout its decades of history. The exhibit featured everything from the earliest denim workwear to ultra-contemporary high-fashion interpretations, alongside the many cuts and washes of jeans, jackets, and street-style spinoffs that cropped up along the way. I don’t think I’d have had nearly as much fun paging through this book if I wasn’t bolstered by a little history; everything I’ve learned this past month was just enough to help me appreciate what was in these pages—and feel invited to learn more still. It felt like dessert at the end of a feast.
I can also appreciate now, in a new way, the effort required to create a body of work like this, not only curating an exhibition of historical pieces and gathering information on each one, but collecting it into a book as beautifully written and photographed as this one. Each page features a photo of a different piece and a few short paragraphs about its place in culture and history, but what could have been a dry textbook-style anthology reads like a wonderful story.* I’m looking forward to continuing to read it beyond this month, even as I begin researching next month’s topic.
Another appealing detail about this book is how it transported me back to a collection of fond memories. In 2016, I was in New York City and actually saw this exhibit in person. It wasn’t the reason I went to NYC, but the FIT museum—free to the public—is one place I make a point to visit whenever I’m in town. Finding this Denim book at the library sent me searching for the journal I brought on that trip and the details I knew were written down somewhere. I recall sketching the denim pieces that, at the time, stood out to me as I marveled at the whole collection and the sheer versatility of denim. I always prefer a sketchbook to a camera at any fashion exhibit for the extra time and attention it invites you to spend. On this particular day at the museum, I had nothing to do and nothing but time, and it was raining violently outside; why not spend an afternoon soaking it all in?
Remembering that exhibit and trip to New York, I pulled out the sketchbook from my personal archives to find what I’d drawn and what I’d said about the exhibit. Some of the sketches are easily recognizable in the pages of the book; others sent me on a bit of a scavenger hunt. Rereading those journal entries was its own charming little adventure, and I’ve shared the sketches along with their corresponding photos below.
A note scribbled on the bottom of one page reminded me of a denim project I made around the same time I took that trip: a patchwork denim chef’s apron, made of all the jean scraps I brought home from my job—sewing alterations at Nordstrom Rack. The apron was meant to be a gift, but he and I parted ways before he ever received it. The apron is one of the only pieces I still have from my earliest days as a clothes maker—a true artifact of my past. Digging it out of the closet, finding it in pristine condition, and feeling something like awe about it fits right into the denim canon: a history marked by treasure hunters and vintage fanatics, pickers going through old farmhouse attics for hidden gems and museum-worthy rarities. It feels like a fitting end to this story, for now.
Denim was a dense topic, and I’m glad I chose it before I knew what I was getting into, or I may never have dared! It deserves a whole year of study or more, and maybe April will become annual Denim Month going forward. For now, I’ll keep reading Denim: Fashion’s Frontier even as I begin research on the next topic, as there is ever more to know about the fascinating and evolving world of denim. I’d hardly call it a blank canvas, with all its history and the twists and turns in its evolution—but there’s always room for anyone to add their own chapter to the story of denim.
*It reminds me of Worn Stories by Emily Spivak, another delightful collection of photographs and short stories from people about their favorite clothes. It’s like clothing poetry, highly recommend for a fun read!
