Quote:
Originally Posted by Mr_Sandman
As for jeans, designer jeans first became a thing in the 80's (Jordache, Gloria Vanderbilt, Calvin Klein and Guess). I don't think anyone who saw themselves as manly would be wearing them though. Levi's were the top brand of 'real' jeans. There were also Wrangler and Lee jeans.
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Yep and the marketing for each brand differed, substantially. Levis tried to appeal to the younger, urban and suburban markets.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n_wdpoTtr0o
Wrangler tried for that market, but eventually gave up and went for the rural customers -- or the "urban cowboys," anyway. If you went into the Grizzly Rose in North Denver, when it opened in 1989 (yeah, it's been there for that long), you saw a lot more Wranglers on the floor than any other brand.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_jihpkvj7sI
Lee Jeans were a bit less expensive than Levis, and focused on comfort, rather than style. A blue-collar man or woman who couldn't afford Levis button-fly 501s, or whose waist-line or butt needed clothing a bit more forgiving, bought Lees. Eventually, they became the "mom jeans."
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0-ySKUsRBNA
Calvin Kleins and Jordache jeans were almost exclusively marketed to up-market girls and women -- or, girls and women who wanted to
look up-market. The infamous commercials with Brooke Shields had taken place in the early '80s, but
everybody would have seen them. Those brands had rather unforgiving cuts -- women really only looked good in them, if they were in shape, which meant women in their 40s who
kept themselves in good shape bought them to show that off.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m_tom65LKiE
Teenage and younger adult girls who had money would have one or two pairs of each brand, in their closets, and older women might have one or two of one or the other, but boys and young men didn't wear them.
We sure liked the girls who could pull them off, though. :)