Denim: The Fabric That Built America, 1935-1944 - by Graham Marsh & Tony Nourmand (Hardcover)

Book Synopsis

The legacy of denim in America, as seen through early FSA photographs of "blue collar" workers

There is perhaps no other fabric so inextricably associated with a country as is denim with the United States of America. First popularized by Levi's iconic jean designs in the mid-1800s, denim quickly became the material of choice for working-class Americans, spurring an influx of other brands making workwear with the durable and ubiquitous fabric--from Wrangler and Lee to OshKosh and Carhartt. In the 1950s, denim moved from a work fabric to leisurewear. A large part of this transition was a new generation trying to connect with the rugged, patriotic spirit that the ordinary worker had come to symbolize after the onset of World War II.
This volume traces the origins of this shift through a compendium of photos, drawn primarily from the archive of the Farm Security Administration (FSA), featuring American workers in denim. In both black and white and color, we see ordinary American laborers in the fields, dam construction workers, women toiling on the Chicago railroad, unemployed miners and steelworkers preparing the country for war, all donning denim overalls, jeans, jackets and shirts.
The selection of 250 images represents an incredible feat of curation, drawing from an archive of over 170,000 images containing well-known stories and untold histories, but which has never been looked at through the prism of fashion history before. The images have all been rescanned from the original negatives and are reproduced here in exquisite quality such that the details of the denim--the heft of the weave, white stitching stark against indigo, cuffed hems--appear startlingly modern.

Review Quotes

[A] kaleidoscopic vision of fashion history, as it has never been seen before. The authors take note of the radical shifts that also tie the visibility of denim to women's liberation.--Sara Rosen "Huck"

In the 1930s, the US government hired photographers to document blue-collar America amid sweeping agricultural reforms, resulting in a bank of 170,000 images. Graham Marsh and Tony Nourmand sifted through this mammoth archive and uncovered one unifying thread - workers were all dressed in Levi's, Wrangler and Carhartt. Now, through their new book, 'Denim: The Fabric That Built America, 1935-1944', Marsh and Nourmand present an iconic history of America through workwear.--Charlie Porter "World of Interiors"

These photographs, many previously unseen, capture ordinary Americans of every race, young and old, relentlessly toiling - hands, face, boots and denim dirty - to push the US out of the Great Depression into the into the prosperity of its postwar years.-- "The Guardian"

'Denim: The Fabric That Built America 1935-1944, ' is a celebration of an iconic cloth and a revealing portrait of how American workers made denim style's most enduring inspiration.-- "The Eye of Photography"

For anyone after a deeper knowledge of their favorite fabric than the one afforded by the glib description provided by their online retailer of choice ('wide leg/high rise/turn-up cuffs'), a new book, 'Denim: The Fabric That Built America, ' will act as a tall, cool glass of water.--Laura Craik "Air Mail"

The timing of the book is on-point--from Beyoncé's Cowboy Carter style to Pharrell's Western-inspired Louis Vuitton collection, denim is hugely in fashion for 2024. But then again, when is it not?--Johnny Davis "Esquire"