DENIM HORST A. FRIEDRICHS S T Y L E

PRESTEL MUNICH LONDON NEW YORK DENIM HORST A. FRIEDRICHS STYLE DENIM STYLE by Kelly Dawson Denim, the most ubiquitous of fabrics, yet its history is often a mystery masked in the veil of its own success. Who hasn’t owned a pair of jeans? The purveyor of this look is known as the “Denimhead”. This curious character is often spotted in real ale pubs, at the weekend they are nose deep in vintage clothing markets and almost always tinkering with some old motor- bike, car or scooter. This book is in pursuit of a special variant of the Denimhead, for this is the British Denimhead. Often heard talking of fabric in ounces, red line selvedge, type 1 or type 2 cinches and asking how many dips? We start the journey in the dye houses of Japan at least a thousand years ago. Here the art of aizome, or indigo dyeing with the fermented leaves of the Japanese indigo plant (Polygonum tinctorium), is well respected and holds status. In Japanese culture the colour blue is signifi cant; it represents the ocean, which in turn means food (fi sh). It was around six hundred years ago that Japan learned to grow cotton from their Chinese neighbour. Weaving at this time was done by hand. It would be the Industrial Revolution in Britain that would kick-start the manufacturing of denim, specifi cally the invention of the fl ying shuttle by John Kay in 1733. The Roberts power loom in 1830 would make mass manufacture possible. Weavers would perfect a fabric called serge, a twill-like fabric; it was this weave that produced worsted, silk and eventually denim. During the Industrial Revolution us Brits would send our staples to mills in London or to France for the production of durable workwear fabrics. At this time we would have been dyeing yarns with woad, a similar technique to dyeing with indigo but not as deep in colour. It was in 2004 that a seventeenth-century portrait by an unknown Italian artist confi rmed the fi nal piece in the denim puzzle. This painting of a lady and a boy are clearly wearing denim; this would be the world’s oldest example of denim being worn. From here we can fi nally piece together the rest of the journey. In 1677 a gentleman called David André, a landowner and dyer, moved to a north Italian town known for its port. The town was called Genoa, and David? Well he was from a town in the south of France called Nîmes. In this town, and with David’s investment, a cotton twill fabric called serge de Nîmes (“denim”) was developed. Over the next hundred years David and his children Guillaume I and Jean III would start producing this fabric in great quan- tities, importing it to Genoa where the Genoese tailors would make strong durable work trousers (jeans) for the sailors. Eventually these sailors would travel as far as America in search of their fortune and in 1849 would join the Gold Rush. The skills learned from Nîmes and Genoa were adopted by American mercantile stores who would make their own version of these overalls, the fi ve-pocket western. Some British Denimheads, like me, get into denim through music and subcultures. My dad was a Mod, well a Ted then a Mod in London, in the late 1950s/early 1960s. At this time denim would become a fashion item; we are aware that jeans were hard to get hold of, some were unsanforized, which Levi’s branded “shrink to fi t”. They would all be selvedge denim woven on narrow looms like the Toyoda (Japan) or Draper (US); all came in one length: a 34. One way you could tell a Rocker from a Mod was by the length of their turn-ups. The mods would get theirs tailored to a half-inch, the Rockers or Bikers like the Ton-Up Boys wouldn’t bother, instead they would leave them, which depending on how tall you were could result in quite a substantial turn-up. We are still this person, we still ride our vintage British motorbikes and our Lambrettas, we still drink coffee at Bar Italia and tea at the Ace Café, we still stay up all night listening to vinyl and live music. It’s this heritage that I think makes British denim style different from that of American or Japanese. By the 1970s and the development of wide looms for mass manufacture the additions of elastane and polyester meant you could pretty much buy jeans in all high street shops. But why want what everyone else has got? Of course there are also those who get into denim in search of the most durable workwear; whilst the work itself has changed since the 1800s we are still fascinated in fi nding the most durable trousers, the jeans that will last us a lifetime. This is where function prevails over fashion. We look to history for lessons in fi t and fabric; the original jeans of the Gold Rush were around nine ounces; we now wear up to thirty-ounce jeans. Denim is dyed in ropes, a rope is twenty yarns; the indigo dye used today is a Nobel Prize-winning chemical version of the original plant; the rope must be dipped in and out of an indigo bath, oxidising each time to create the depth of colour. The rope doesn’t dye all the way through, which means that whilst the colour is durable it isn’t totally fi xed, so as the jeans age they fade in colour. Becoming a Denimhead doesn’t happen overnight; we are in pursuit of the best fades and to achieve this we must wash our jeans sparingly; this takes patience, to maintain the depth of the indigo and the extreme rub to get the best effects, which can take years. Our jeans become a family friend telling stories of their own with each stain, rip or repair. This is the rite of passage for the Denimhead. We fi nd the handmade aspirational, the small production runs of rare denim fabric our prize, the fades our trophies. We are Britain’s workers; we are makers, tattoo artists, baristas, photographers, market traders, chefs, musicians, tailors, shopkeepers and mechanics. Most of all: We Are Denimheads. [...]... Anhänger der Denim- Kultur, die sich schon fast obsessiv mit der Kunst und der Technik des Webens bis ins Detail beschäftigen Horst A Friedrichs zeigt auch stilbewusste Trendsetter, die sich von klassisch bis außergewöhnlich in Denim einkleiden Entstanden sind ausdruckstarke Porträts von Individualisten, für die Denim mehr ist als nur Bekleidung – in einem wunderschönen Fotokunstband über einen Stoff, der...UNVERKÄUFLICHE LESEPROBE Horst A Friedrichs Denim Style Paperback, Flexobroschur, 176 Seiten, 19,3x27 160 farbige Abbildungen ISBN: 978-3-7913-4956-5 Prestel Erscheinungstermin: April 2014 Arbeiter, Jugendliche, Millionäre, Punks und Angestellte im Freizeit-Look Alle tragen Denim Designer schätzen den begehrten Stoff für seine extreme Haltbarkeit und die vielen Variationsmöglichkeiten Schon deshalb ist... ist das ursprünglich nur für Arbeitsbekleidung verwendete robuste Gewebe in den letzten 300 Jahren nicht aus der Mode gekommen – und so trendig wie nie zuvor Der Fotograf und Spezialist für Subkulturen, Horst A Friedrichs, hat sich in den Straßen Londons auf die Suche gemacht Aufgespürt hat er alle Aspekte dieses sozialen und kulturellen Phänomens: „Blue-blooded“ nennen sich die leidenschaftlichen... außergewöhnlich in Denim einkleiden Entstanden sind ausdruckstarke Porträts von Individualisten, für die Denim mehr ist als nur Bekleidung – in einem wunderschönen Fotokunstband über einen Stoff, der jeden berührt . Lambrettas, we still drink coffee at Bar Italia and tea at the Ace Café, we still stay up all night listening to vinyl and live music. It s this heritage that I think makes British denim style. PRESTEL MUNICH LONDON NEW YORK DENIM HORST A. FRIEDRICHS STYLE DENIM STYLE by Kelly Dawson Denim, the most ubiquitous of fabrics, yet its history is often a mystery masked in the veil of its. we are in pursuit of the best fades and to achieve this we must wash our jeans sparingly; this takes patience, to maintain the depth of the indigo and the extreme rub to get the best effects,