FANSHEN
Little Flags Theatre
Mar. 31, Thurs. 7:30
Ballroom
1
. BANANA
(C SPLIT
SALE
Buy 1 at the regular price
and get the second for only 1 cent.
THURSDAY
March 31
only
13th &
Hilyard
Dairy Queen only
Jeans:
Denims form colorful patchwork
of American heritage, traditions
From the top of indigo blue vis
ors down to Levi studded feet,
Americans are becoming en
veloped in a sea of blue denim.
Today it is obvious that jeans
have reached fad proportions.
However, denim trousers have
been around a lot longer than
most of us. Along the way to the
marketplace, blue jeans have ac
quired a colorful legacy of folklore
and cultural implications.
During the California Gold
Rush, an enterprising merchant
arrived in bustling San Fran
cisco with bolts of canvas for tents
II
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164B Oregon Hall — deadline: April 8
Page 12
to sell to the miners. Learning
there was a greater demand for a
sturdy pair of trousers, he quickly
converted his stock into canvas
jeans. This name was Levi
Strauss.
Initially, the denim jeans were
strictly the working apparell of
hard laborers — the miners, cow
boys, lumberjacks, farmers and
railroad workers busy building
America.
Soon this occupational folk
group began spinning tales about
the pants, such as how they be
came equipped with rivets. Rumor
has it the riveted pockets resulted
from the eccentricity of one old
prospector who would rather carry
his heavy gold around in his pock
ets.
Other yarns focused on the al
leged incredible strength of the
pants. The old-timers could relate
accounts of the pants serving as a
make-shift hitch between railroad
cars, saving the lives of falling
workers who were caught by their
pant loops on some protruding ob
ject, and deflecting bullets that hit
the copper rivets.
As such, blue jeans have gar
nered the singular distinction as
the only item of clothing, except
long red underwear, to enter
American folklore.
By 1940 the durability of the
denim fabric had convinced par
ents to clothe their energetic
youngsters in it. But as these tots
approached adolescence, they
continued to wear their jeans.
Suddenly, the good old dependa
ble jeans that parents trusted took
on an ominous meaning —
juvenile delinquency.
The movie industry thrived on
creating blue-jeaned heroes out of
drag racers and switch-blade de
sperados. School administrators
were beside themselves as ado
lescents slouched around in rolled
up jeans and leather jackets.
The denim garb had emerged
as a symbol of rebellion.
Entering the 1960’s, civil rights
marchers, screaming Beatle fans,
rock festival trippers, anti-war ac
tivists and college revolutionaries
alike claimed the jeans as their
own. Apparently, the 1950s and
everything it stood for could be
shunned by the mere act of don
ning jeans.
Charles Reich, in his book “The
Greening of America" describes
By JANE LEHMAN
Of the Emerald
this attitude as “a deliberate rejec
tion of the neon colors and plastic,
artificial look of the affluent soci
ety.”
The search for individuality in a
largely faceless society led to the
genre of blue jeans as an art
medium, as many began to stitch,
paint, rivet and hook their per
sonalities onto blue canvas. With
this aura of distinctiveness sur
rounding the garb, a host of folk
legends and rituals sprung up to
further define the wearer’s indi
viduality.
One ritual centered on the
proper preparation of blue jeans to
insure the maximum amount of
comfort.
Remember the days of sitting
in the bath full of you, water,
bleach and your blue jeans? Or
perhaps you were one of those
who sandpapered their jeans to a
high sheen or else buried them in
the dirt for two weeks.
Now that the 1970s are here, it
seems as if the entire world has
gone stark raving blue-jeaned.
Gone is the banner of civil protest
Crime rate shows no increase
WASHINGTON (AP) — For the first time in five years, there was no
over-all increase in the national crime rate during 1976, the FBI said in a
preliminary report Tuesday.
While violent crime declined in nearly every section of the country
last year, increases in thefts in some big cities prevented a decline in the
total number of crimes reported to state and local police.
Murders dropped 10 per cent nationwide, with the decline in the
murder rate reported in every population category and in all geographic
areas.
The FBI compiles the figures from data submitted by more than
9,000 law enforcement agencies.
and in its place is the influence of
the very Establishment that bore
the brunt of the 1960s attacks.
Everywhere from department
stores to speciality shops, young
and old, poor and rich alike are
adorned in blue jeans.
But now Levis are taking on new
dimensions. Instead of the stan
dard Model 501, which has been
the faithful servant since the
1850s, an assortment of styles are
taking off on the blue jean theme.
Now flared legs, cuffed pants,
wide-belt loops, intricate pockets
ornamental stitching and every
shade of the rainbow invade the
501 model’s territory.
Things haven’t stopped there,
though. Where there’s smoke,
there’s fire and business is quick
to fan the flames. Denim has been
co-opted from jeans and applied
to just about every product im
aginable. Blue-jeaned acces
sories abound. The French have
created a cigarette called “La Vie
en Blue Jeans.” American Motors
offered denim covered seats in
Hornets and Gremlins in 1973 and
’74. Perhaps the topper, though,
is the blue denim bound edition of
the bible that promptly sold 75,000
copies.
In the Eugene area, the Bon
Marche reports that Britania, a
close competitor of Levi Strauss,
is enjoying large sales. The brand
currently offers wide-legged
jeans, one big star on the pockets
or three little ones, moon and
rainbow embroidered designs
complex fashion stitching and
leather ornamentation. The cur
rent rage in leather trimmings is
the eyelash pocket design.
People are paying upwards of
$25 a pair in the name of fashion.
Quite a switch from the 22-centers
of Gold Rush vintage.
This emerging trend suggests
that after the sugar-coated 1950s
and the consciousness raising of
the I960s, we may finally be com
ing to grips with a new found sen
sibility and responsibility to that
consciousness.
Yet much of the earlier haste
and urgency has been lost in the
1970s and a “laid back” atmos
phere prevails. According to a
Levi Strauss spokesman, “Jeans
are an idea, a concept, a sit-on
the-floor attitude.”
Somehow, it only seems proper
that a pair of blue jeans hang in the
Smithsonian Institute as a state
ment about this country’s herit
age.
MAIL* CLASSES:!
If you re having academic difficulties, small classes may be your answer. A.O.P. sponsored
courses are designed for individual attention and more communication between student and
instructor. Spring Term We Will Be Offering
TLN:
Anthro. 102 Introduction to Prehistory 7299
Biol. 102 The Human Species 7331
+ Discussion 7332
+ Discussion 7333
+Discussion 7334
Hist. 103 History of Western Civilization 2263
Hist. 203 History of the United States 2279
Math 095 Intermediate Algebra 7277
Psych. 215 Developmental Psychology 7296
IF YOU WANT TO PARTICIPATE you may enroll for these classes NOW during the Spring
Term Registration, March 28 and 29, 1977, if space remains available.
For more information, please check office of Academic Advising (686-3047)
* 12-2« STI ’ IHiVTS
S
Wednesday, March 30,1977