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Lot 209 bib overalls, c. 1900. Levi Strauss & Co. Archives

Blue Gold: Jeans, Indigo, and Haute Couture

Sunday, June 13, 2021 | 10am

ADMISSION: This online program is free

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2021-06-13 10:00:00 UTC2021-06-13 23:00:00 UTC America/Los_AngelesThe CJM - 736 Mission St, San Francisco, CABlue Gold: Jeans, Indigo, and Haute CoutureThe thousands of tons of blue indigo produced around the world annually indicate the enduring place that blue jeans hold in the fashion world. Nearly 150 years after their conception, an estimated 450 million pairs of blue jeans are sold each year. But how did jeans transform from worker’s garment to haute couture, gracing the runways of top designers? Join us as we journey through the history of the fashion industry's "blue gold," traveling through time and culture to uncover histories of fashion, sewing, and endless shades of blue.

The thousands of tons of blue indigo produced around the world annually indicate the enduring place that blue jeans hold in the fashion world. Nearly 150 years after their conception, an estimated 450 million pairs of blue jeans are sold each year. But how did jeans transform from worker’s garment to haute couture, gracing the runways of top designers? Join fashion historian Ya'ara Keydar to journey through the history of the fashion industry's "blue gold," traveling through time and culture to uncover histories of fashion, sewing, and endless shades of blue.

This program is co-presented by the Consulate General of Israel to the Pacific Northwest and the Consulate General of Israel to New York.

About the Speaker

Ya’ara Keydar, MA, is a fashion historian and curator. She is currently a Ph.D candidate in the Cultural Studies program at the Hebrew University. Keydar graduated from the Costume Studies MA program at New York University and holds a BA with honors in fashion design from Shenkar College. Keydar curated the exhibitions NY Fashion Rediscovered at ZAZ10TS Gallery in New York in 2020 and Je T’aime, Ronit Elkabetz at Design Museum Holon in 2018. Her previous exhibition, A Walk of Art: Visionary Shoes, was shown at the Parasol gallery in New York in 2017, and subsequently traveled to San Francisco. She has interned at the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Costume Institute and the Museum at the Fashion Institute of Technology.

Co-presenters

The Office of Cultural Affairs at the Consulate General of Israel in New York oversees and coordinates cultural programming for the Israeli missions in North America and Canada. They are proud to present young, emerging, and more established artists specializing in the performing, visual, literary, and cinematic arts, who through their work weave a vibrant tapestry celebrating Israeli culture and style. It is their mission to bring such work to cultural institutions throughout North America.

The Consulate General of Israel is the official representative of the State of Israel that serves the Pacific Northwest Region of the United States. The Department of Cultural Affairs opens the door to Israeli Culture within the Pacific Northwest region; every year the Department produces scores of performances by Israeli artists (musicians, writers, actors) bringing the best of Israel’s culture to this region.

About the Exhibition

In 1873, at the end of the California Gold Rush, Levi Strauss & Co., named for a Bavarian Jewish dry goods merchant in San Francisco, obtained a U.S. patent with tailor Jacob Davis on the process of putting metal rivets in men’s denim work pants to increase their durability. It was the birth of the blue jean. The CJM original exhibition Levi Strauss: A History of American Style showcases the life of Levi Strauss, the invention of the blue jean, and their iconic place in the history of American style.

Seven women in cowboy hats lined up wearing Levi's jeans

“Showing their Levi’s” postcard from the California Rodeo Salinas (July 13–16, 1939), 1939. Levi Strauss & Co. Archives

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Explore the online exhibition

Support for Levi Strauss: A History of American Style is generously provided by Maribelle and Stephen Leavitt; Gaia Fund; John Pritzker Family Fund; Lisa and Douglas Goldman Fund; Evelyn & Walter Haas, Jr. Fund; Mimi and Peter Haas Fund; The David Berg Foundation; John & Marcia Goldman Foundation; Suzanne and Elliott Felson; Colleen and Robert D. Haas; Dana Corvin and Harris Weinberg, in honor of Paulette Meyer and David Friedman, and Catherine and James Koshland; Kendra and Tom Kasten, in honor of Robert D. Haas; Michael Righi; Dorothy R. Saxe; David Saxe; Marilyn and Murry Waldman; and Rosanne and Al Levitt.

Lead Corporate Sponsorship is provided by Levi’s^®.

Media Sponsorship is provided by the San Francisco Chronicle and KQED. In-kind support is provided by Corduroy Media.