Levi Strauss & Co. Unveils Archival Garments at Mudec
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MILAN — On view through April 26 at Mudec in Milan, a free exhibition dedicated to celebrating the history of denim company Levi’s opened its doors on Friday. A selection of archival garments were brought to Milan from the brand’s hometown of San Francisco, highlighting the evolution and impact of the fabric since its invention in 1873.
The exhibition begins with the juxtaposition of two pairs of 501 jeans: one worn by a miner in the 1850s during the gold rush in San Francisco and the same model worn by the late Steve Jobs during his speech “First 100 days of Macintosh” in 1984.
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“The same garment 100 years later is still relevant being worn by a different kind of worker,” Tracey Panek, historian for Levi Strauss & Co. and curator of the exhibition, said in an interview. “We begin the exhibition comparing these two to show how the 501 is still classic and timeless, because it’s the same genre of pants, but it’s evolved over time; the people who have worn them have changed.”
The exhibition features several firsts, for example the oldest women’s blue jeans dating back to the 1930s and the model made for the Olympic gold medal athletes in 1984, numbered on the leather patch and with gold plated buttons. Levi’s technology and sustainability innovations were also a focus, with a jacket designed by Massimo Osti with special pockets to hold a cell phone, an MP3 player and headphones on display, as well as the jacket made in 2017 in collaboration with Google by putting interactive copper wires on sleeves to connect with a phone by bluetooth, and the plant-based and organic 501 model introduced last year. Panek also highlighted the introduction of a design conceived for people with disabilities, “one of the first of its kind,” she explained, with zips running from the hips to the ankles and a belt on the back.
The section dedicated to Icons showcases key collaborations, with Valentino or with Miu Miu in 2021, or with Air Jordan that completely sold out; with artist Damien Hirst or the Albert Einstein jacket from the 1930s. “He was featured on the cover of Time magazine in 1938 wearing the jacket and what’s unique about it is that it still has the scent of the pipe that he smoked,” Panek observed.
Carlo Antonelli, member of the exhibition’s scientific committee, said Icons “is one of the main themes of this exhibition and they are not exactly the icons you could expect, we decided not to use the classic Hollywood or musical icons but to use someone else, people who revolutionized thought and life like Einstein and Jobs.”
With Design Week around the corner, the timing of the exhibition is even more meaningful, contended Panek. “One of the features of Levi’s that makes them so timeless is their simple design, and people don’t maybe associate blue jeans with design but they last forever,” she said.
“One of my favorite quotes about design and Levi’s is what Yves Saint Laurent said — ‘I wish I had invented blue jeans. They have expression, modesty, sex appeal, simplicity, all I hope for in my clothes.’ It’s that design that has changed very little in 150 years, for us is a way to tell the story of why the design of those early and first blue jeans are so important and really changed fashion. Now you see blue jeans everywhere,” she continued.
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