DUŠANKA PIHLER
costume designer, High School for Design, Technology and Management, Belgrade
BLUE JEANS : VIŠESTRUKA ZNAČENJA PORUKA U POPULARNOJ KULTURI
BLUE JEANS : THE MULTIPLE MEANINGS OF MESSAGES IN POPULAR CULTURE
Journal 7/2011 (Museum of Applied Art), pages 53-64
UDC:
316.75:391 ; 391:677.21]:316.728
ИД 188181772
Abstract (original language):
Blue jeans, prešavši put od teške industrije do visoke mode, tokom XX veka je postao jedan od najprilagodljivijih odevnih predmeta, prisutan u svim modnim stilovima širom sveta. Danas, masovno prihvaćen odevni predmet od plavog teksasa, koji gotovo da predstavlja uniformu u srednjim školama i na fakultetima, tokom svoje evolucije sadržao je mnogobrojne različite poruke i funkcionisao na različite načine. U ovom radu će se analizirati nastanak, komercijalizacija i popularizacija ovog odevnog predmeta u okviru američke popularne kulture, zatim njegova stilizacija i promene dizajnerskih karakteristika koje služe kao suptilan i precizan pokazatelj kretanja i promena u savremenoj popularnoj kulturi i društvu, putem čega će se hronološki ispitati višestruki slojevi značenja blue jeans -a, koji od simbola demokratije, utilitarnosti i besklasnosti, preko simbola pobune i pogodnog medija za ličnu kreativnost, postaje amblem aktuelnosti, statusni simbol stila, kao i potvrda tradicionalnog ukusa i hijerarhijskih podela.
Key words: (original language)
blue jeans, brend, identitet, moda, popularna kultura, teksas platno
Summary:
In the 20th century blue jeans became the most popular artifact of popular culture, an item of clothing accepted en masse and an integral part of the entire American and global scene. This text makes a parallel analysis of their first appearance, commercialization and popularization, the changes in design and the multiple layers of meaning during their evolution. Since they were able to adapt to the needs, fashion styles and tastes throughout the world, blue jeans went through a process of cultural authenticity in which fashion, global markets and mass media intervened in the transformation of this item of clothing and endowed it with symbolic and cultural meanings totally different from the original ones, thus providing a satisfactory medium for communicating the messages through the act of consumption. Although linked to hard work for a long time, blue jeans acquired a number of symbolic attributes during their evolution, and grew from a symbol of usefulness and democracy, over patriotism and equality to a symbol of revolt, resistance and generational conflict. In the 1960s they obliterated the regional, national and ideological differences as well as the borderlines between professions, classes, gender roles and age limits, and became globally accepted items of mass consumption. When they entered the postindustrial abundance of the West, they were absorbed by the dominant culture which continued their conformity to fashion styles by changing a number of the former outer signs, key concepts and symbolic allusions and, by means of the mass media Mass media", Oxford English Dictionary, online version November 2010, promoted new symbolic meanings which then reintroduced the differences between classes, hierarchical divisions and elitism. At the same time, there was a continuation of the tendency to emphasize the basic symbolism of the blue jeans, such as democracy, classless society, simplicity and unpretentiousness. The messages are mutated and mixed while blue jeans continue their evolution globally even in the 21st century.
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