Don’t you just love it when a great “new” style comes out that the kids go gaga over? Like Bell-Bottoms! Introducing the grandkids to cool things from the past and adding a little of their modern twist is one of my favorite things to do. Bringing a Legend into a Legacy is a creative thing to do with your grandkids!

How many really cool things today started out not being so cool? Depending on who you asked? Like that disgusting Beatles haircut we all loved. Or Rock n’ Roll with the King Elvis Presley.  Many of them faded away like the Michael Jackson no-finger gloves and we look back and laugh with a “did I really wear that?” But some survived and went from being a head shaker to a legend. Like the Levi Denim Jacket.

The Levi Denim jacket has had a fascinating journey with a lot of celebrity and changes along the way. It is still a staple in my wardrobe today.  The fun its versatility lends to a wardrobe is unchallenged by even red high heels. It can be jazzed up, dressed up, beaten up or even blinged up…all in the name of fashion.

My old broken-in denim jacket was welcomed to my closet many years ago. When blinging everything from cowboy boots to toenails became the rage several years ago I fell in love. Nothing was safe from my newly acquired stash of bling in every size and color! When my daughter got married I had the honor of helping her plan it. What could be more appropriate for a lakeside evening wedding than BLING, starting with the invitations.

Jazzing up my old friend, yep the denim jacket, gave it a little facelift. Even when they fell off from time to time after multiple washings it still looked great. Some I replaced and some….I just like the worn look. Sad to say I left that part of my life somewhere and somehow it didn’t make it to the Lost and Found-seems someone else liked it as much as I did. Hope they cherish those memories as must as I do. 

My granddaughters loved that jacket. One day when my oldest one was about ten years old she and I decided it was high time for her to decorate her very own. We bought one and the rhinestones and glue to go with it and tucked it away in my craft stash. A year or so later, after dance, school plays, violin and all the other ongoing activities I found the bag.

As time happens and kids grown, the original jacket now fit her younger sister.

What’s a grandma to do? After purchasing another three, we had a bling party….right before they moved to Tennessee. They had a ball and took their individual designs very seriously. It was a great project that created not only very touching memories but a keepsake to take with them in their new lives. I hope they’ll think of Grandma when they wear them and feel Grandma’s love wrapped around them keeping them warm. Did I mention that another amazing thing about a denim jacket is it holds never-ending hugs and love?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

SUPPPLIES YOU’LL NEED 

 

 

A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE ALL-AMERICAN DENIM JACKET

If jeans are as American as apple pie, then denim jackets are the vanilla ice cream on top: cool, classic, and always appealing. Trending for over 130 years the first denim jacket was created circa 1880 by denim legend and Levi’s founder Levi Strauss.

Strauss is credited with designing the first-ever jeans in 1870 as a durable, breathable utility garment for cowboys, railroad engineers, and miners to wear during the gold rush out West. Soon after the runaway success of jeans, he gave the world a top to match and dubbed it the Triple Pleat Blouse.

Tracey Panek, a historian at Levi Strauss & Co. reports that the denim jackets were ideal for laborers. “Our denim jacket was incredibly durable for various types of manual labor,” Panek said. “The horizontal seams holding down the pleats could be removed to give the wearer extra room.”

While the Levi’s denim jacket has evolved since then, the functionality and innate coolness of the piece has earned it the status as an all-American rebel’s outerwear of choice. “By the ’50s, wearing denim was often associated with juvenile delinquency,” Panek said. “Jeans were even banned in some schools, and denim became the nonconformists’ uniform of choice.” From James Dean’s iconic denim-jacket clad character in Rebel Without a Cause in the ’50s to Rihanna’s deconstructed versions today, jean jackets buck convention, express individuality, and epitomize anti-establishment cool. 

YOU’VE COME A LONG WAY BABY!