Levi's®

Russia--the former Soviet Union--opened up to new markets when the Berlin Wall fell in 1989, but Levi Strauss & Co. actually visited that country nearly fifty-five years ago.

In 1958 the United States and the Soviet Union signed an agreement to increase cultural contact between the two countries in order to ease tensions between the Cold War rivals.  The agreement stated that exhibits are "an effective means of developing mutual understanding," and both nations agreed to host exhibitions from the other country. In 1959 the United States Information Agency coordinated the American National Exhibition which was sent to Moscow. Vice President Richard Nixon opened the Exhibition on July 25.

Included in the displays of American culture, science, and technology was a good-sized booth created by Levi Strauss & Co., filled with displays of 501® jeans and Western-themed advertising. Staffers wore jeans and cowboy shirts, and 501® jeans were also worn by entertainers hired to treat the crowds to some down home American music. 

Although jeans were frowned upon by Soviet officials as symbols of decadence and western imperialism, the products on display had to be replaced almost daily. As described in a September 1, 1959 press release by the international press service R&F Features, "Eager Soviet visitors handled - and occasionally helped themselves to - display samples of the all-American denim pants."

Levi's jeans were a coveted, but forbidden capitalist item in the Soviet Union for the next thirty years. Then, when the Berlin Wall came down in 1989, Russian citizens could buy "real" (not black market) Levi's jeans for the very first time. The LS&CO. Archives has a letter from one such happy customer, a woman who wrote us in August of 1991:

From The Archives

Friends Of, MOCA, Santigold, Videos

MOCA museum director Jeffrey Deitch and "Friends of MOCA" collaborators, including recording artist Santigold and actor Gael Garcia Bernal, discuss how one becomes an artist, and the importance of art education at a young age, in this profile of the museum's Sunday Studio program. 

Friends Of, MOCA, Videos

Join Japanese artist Mariko Mori and learn how she uses technology to create art inspired by nature. Levi's and Intel are collaborating with influential pioneers across all mediums in support of The Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles' educational programs. Learn more about "Friends of MOCA" here.

Friends Of, MOCA, Videos

Denim was first made in the United States in the 18^th century, and from the day the first bolt came off the first loom, it was one of the toughest fabrics around. It was used for awnings, upholstery and men's workwear. Then, in 1873, Levi Strauss & Co. released the first blue jean: denim work pants made even stronger with copper rivets. For the next few decades denim was still the go-to fabric for workwear. But then, in the 1950s, things began to change.

In that decade, American textile manufacturers and clothing designers took a new look at this humble fabric. Some, such as Claire McCardell, used denim for simple dresses, made in a lighter weight for ease of movement and femininity. Other designers re-imagined utilitarian denim and used it to clothe the growing suburban American family in the post-World War II years.

Trade magazines began to run articles about denim's astonishing personality change. For example, in the Spring 1956 issue of American Fabrics, one writer stated that denim is now an "entirely new clothing category: it used to be work clothes but now it's work 'n play clothes." He went on to say that, "It has long been an axiom in men's wear that the leisure clothes of one period are the fashion clothes of the next; but it has never before been shown that the work clothes of today may become the leisure clothes of tomorrow." 

Levi Strauss & Co. also jumped on this bandwagon. In 1954 the company released a line of leisure-inspired clothing dubbed "Denim Family." It featured unisex shirts and jackets, slim trousers for both men and women, and smaller versions of these items for boys and girls. The company's ties to the cowboy and the West meant that even these sportswear pieces featured a few western touches: "sawtooth" flaps on shirt pockets, and mother-of-pearl snaps on all of the garments. The "Casuals" line of the 1950s and early 1960s also featured something called Verti-Stripe Denim, another lighter-weight nod to the fabric. "Denim Western Wear" was another more fashion-conscious line, but with deeper western ties, and took over for Denim Family as the decade came to an end.

The textile trade magazines continued to marvel about denim even as the country moved into the hippie era of the 1960s and early 1970s. As one writer said in the Fall 1969 issue of American Fabrics, "Denim is one of the world's oldest fabrics, yet it remains eternally young."

 

From The Archives

"If there's artistic expression it's because there's a necessity for that artistic expression to exist." - Gael García Bernal.

Gael García Bernal, along with musician Santigold and artist Xu Bing and Mariko Mori, is helping bring awareness and funds to the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles' educational programs. Gael's an actor and a director known for emotionally intense performances. In his words, "acting forces you into an emotional empathy of The Other." His T-shirt design is an amorphous diagram that seems to illustrate duality. "Si" and "No" occupy segments of a red and green shape.

The design evokes an idea of citizenship and patriotism. It's in the colors of Gael's native Mexico, and as he told Levi's and Intel, "being patriotic in the best sense is questioning what the hell your country means." In Gael's latest role in Pablo Larrain's film, No, the toppling of Chile's dictator Pinochet is chronicled along with the marketing and media effort that surrounded it. Could this be the tug between yes and no that Gael's design describes?

He might also be referring to the way film can transport, inform, and manipulate. And technology, according to Gael offers "another access point to have these conversations."

Take a look at Gael's career, and you'll find an artist striving to bring his chosen craft--cinema--to new and unexpected places by furthering the awareness of the popularity of Mexican Cinema and proving that Mexican Independent films can find local audiences as well.

Having worked as an actor in his native Mexico since childhood, Gael García Bernal made his feature film debut in Alejandro Gonzalez Iñarritu's Academy Award®-nominated Amores Perros. His breakthrough performance in the universally acclaimed film earned him a Silver Ariel Award (Mexico's equivalent of the Oscar) as well as a Silver Hugo Award at the Chicago International Film Festival, both as Best Actor.

Gael García Bernal's next film role was in another globally celebrated feature, Alfonso Cuaron's Academy Award®-nominated Y tu aamá también, starring opposite his lifelong friend Diego Luna. For their performances, the two friends were jointly voted the Marcello Mastroianni Award at the Venice International Film Festival. In 2008, he starred alongside Diego Aluna again in Rudo y Cursi.

He subsequently starred in the title role of Carlos Carrera's Academy Award-nominated romantic drama El Crimen del padre Amaro (The Crime of Father Amaro). His performance earned him the Silver Goddess Award for Best Actor from the Mexican Cinema Journalists, as well as a nomination from the Chicago Film Critics' Association for Most Promising Performer.

Since 2004, Gael García Bernal has starred in important films like The Motorcycle Diaries, directed by Walter Salles, La mala educación (Bad Education) directed by Pedro Almodóvar and Babel directed by Alejandro Gonzalez Iñarritu.

In addition to acting, Gael García Bernal has taken on the roles of both director and producer. He founded the production company Canana, with his close friend, actor Diego Luna and producer Pablo Cruz to help bring independent Mexican cinema to local and international audiences.

In 2009, Bernal starred in Limits of Control (Los limites del control) with Tilda Swinton and directed by Jim Jarmusch as well as Mammoth (Mamut) with Michelle Williams and directed by Lukas Moodysson. In 2010, he starred in Even the Rain directed by Icíar Bollaín and Letters to Juliet (Cartas a Julieta) with Amanda Seyfriend. Gael then went on to starr in Casa de Mi Padre with Will Ferrell and Diego Luna as well as A Little Bit of Heaven alongside Kate Hudson and Kathy Bates. Most recently, Gael starred in the film No directed by Pablo Larrain, which premiered at the 2012 Cannes Film Festival.