Levi’s tailor creates ‘gold’ 501s to mark 150 years
A gold-finished denim-on-denim "Canadian tuxedo" combo of Levi’s 501 jeans and matching trucker jacket on display in the window of the brand’s Regent Street flagship in the British capital deliberately harks back to the defining epoch which shaped the 501: the California Gold Rush of the nineteenth century.
Levi’s is now almost midway through a whole year of festivities dedicated to marking the century and a half since Jacob Davis first invented what remains its most enduring model in the American West in 1873.
Founder, Levi Strauss, obtained a patent for the 501s’ design on May 20 (ie, 501 Day) of the same year.
Celebrations thus far have included the installation of a four-by-ten-metre mural of pre-worn 501s by British artist Ian Berry in Paris, Milan and Madrid, plus the enrolment of K-pop group NewJeans as global ambassadors.
In a LinkedIn post, the company's brand environment manager for the UK, Ireland and Nordics, Claire Winton, praised the creative responsible, senior tailor Qurra-Tul-Anne Hussain, for her “insane” artisanship. Ms Winton told how Ms Hussain had framed the opportunity as “a once-in-a-lifetime moment to celebrate 150 years of the legendary 501”, attributing her inspiration to natural artistic instinct, informed by Levi’s heritage.
The making process subsequently involved manipulation, distressing, trampling and bundling techniques, before both garments were finally ‘adorned’ with gold in a direct nod to the workers and prospectors who had been first to wear the now-iconic jeans in centuries past. “The wearer, his blood sweat and tears entrenched in each fibre of the denim while mining the miracle matter of gold… denim left to be buried for decades,” Ms Hussain said.
Ms Hussain’s hand-finished, gold-tinged take on the Levi’s 501 jean in the Regent Street store window.
Credit: Claire Winton via LinkedIn.
