Calling All Denim Heads: You Don’t Want To Miss This Levi Strauss Exhibit

Photo: Rockyt

Levi Strauss is ubiquitous in pop culture. While the brand is almost 150 years old, Levi’s designs are synonymous with modernity. The brand first found success dressing the blue collar crowd during the California Gold Rush. Over the years, Levi’s has outfitted miners, ranchers, hippies, bikers, rock stars, movie stars, pop icons, R&B sensations, and everyday people around the world. And now the Contemporary Jewish Museum is offering visitors a closer look into the life of a founder and company intertwined with San Francisco history.

'“Levi Strauss: A History of American Style” opened at the museum last week and will run through August 9, 2020. And it isn’t just another fashion history exhibit. Featuring more than 250 garments, advertisements, photographs, and more, it is the largest public display of the company’s archival materials ever assembled.

“Through a celebration of the birth of the blue jean, the exhibition shares the story of a hardworking Jewish immigrant who realized the American dream and inspired a style revolution that continues today,” said Lori Starr, Executive Director of The CJM.

Looking for exhibit highlights? Here are five components you shouldn’t miss.

Riveting

Löb “Levi” Strauss was born in Bavaria in 1829 and left for New York when he was only 17. In the 1850s, he made his way to San Francisco, expanding his family’s dry goods business to the West Coast to capitalize on the Gold Rush. Levi’s business was successful, but he struck gold in 1873, near the end of the Gold Rush, when he obtained a U.S. patent with tailor Jacob Davis for the process of putting metal rivets in men’s work pants to increase their durability. This was the birth of the blue jean.

Quality Guaranteed

Blame it on fast fashion, but most of assume that our clothes aren’t built to last. That wasn’t the case in the early days of Levi’s. One of the most charming displays in this exhibit is a guarantee offered by Levi Strauss & Co and Hamley & Company sellers out of Pendleton, Ore. The document promised the purchaser a new, free pair of overalls should the original purchase rip. Given that the certificate appears near a 100-plus year old pair of overalls discovered by miners in the 1980s, it’s apparent that Levi’s products were designed to endure the elements.

Bay Area Life

Levi was drawn to San Francisco due to the comparative lack of anti-Semitism. Even before his success with the blue jean, he was actively engaged in the civic and cultural life of San Francisco. He joined the San Francisco Chamber of Commerce, donated to local and national philanthropies, and supported the Jewish community. He was a prominent member of Congregation Emanu-El, one of the oldest congregations in California, which was largely comprised of reform Bavarian Jews like himself. He also became a founding member of the Concordia Society—a German Jewish social club. He died in his home on Leavenworth in 1902, leaving his company to his nephews.

Celebrity Factor

Included in this exhibit at the CJM are collaborations with Jean Paul Gaultier and Yves Saint Laurent, Madonna’s cutoffs from The Girlie Show tour, Lauryn Hill’s stage outfits from her Miseducation tour, and more. One of the standout pieces is Albert Einstein’s Levi’s leather jacket. (Levi’s historian Tracey Panek told GQ Einstein’s jacket is Levi’s most important artifact.)

Photo: Rockyt

Works of Art

You’ve likely seen hundreds of pairs of Levi’s in media or IRL over the years—perhaps even the “famous” pieces on display—but the CJM exhibit also includes a dozen customized styles from artists. Most of the pairs were created through Levi’s art competitions over the years, but there’s a phenomenal pair of white jeans that a prison inmate customized with a felt tip marker over the course of his 30-year incarceration.

Fashion exhibitions tend onto focus on the greatest hits from a brand—iconic designs that fans have already seen—but the Levi Strauss installation at CJM combines sartorial nostalgia with local history for a unique perspective on a San Francisco icon. If you have a soft spot in your heart for denim or the Bay Area, this exhibit is a must-see.

The Contemporary Jewish Museum is open daily (except Wednesday) 11am–5pm and Thursday, 11am–8pm. Museum admission is $16 for adults, $14 for students and senior citizens with a valid ID, and $8 after 5pm on Thursdays. Youth 18 and under always get in free.