Blue Jeans Workshop at The Centraal Museum

25 Aug '12

2 min read

An iconic street symbol that can be found in almost every wardrobe: the blue jeans. Worn for more than 150 years, the garment holds an even more longstanding tradition. Still it has repeatedly proven to be modern and innovative.

The Centraal Museum presents the first large-scale exhibition in the Netherlands on this unique material from November 24, 2012 until 10 March 2013. Across various themes, the exhibition shows new work by renowned artists, combined with national and international loan pieces - showcasing both craftsmanship and innovative technology.

The exhibition includes the traditional 19th century Levi’s for miners, Jurgen Bey’s window installation commissioned by Levi’s RED and Dutch design label Droog, as well as designs by Chanel, Jean Paul Gaultier, Maison Martin Margiela and Marithé + François Girbaud and Yves Saint Laurent.

As Yves Saint Laurent often repeated: “I wish I had invented blue jeans: the most spectacular, the most practical, the most relaxed and nonchalant. They have expression, modesty, sex appeal, simplicity – all I hope for in my clothes”.

The exhibition is divided into a number of themes showing the experimental and creative side of jeans: from their origin as work wear in the 17th century, to high fashion in the 20th century, to modern-day jeans - including internationally renowned Dutch labels such as G-Star. Special attention is reserved for national and international subcultures, in which the jean is a product for the masses that expresses uniformity, but at the same time a most personal garment that reflects individuality.

The exhibition also looks at the DNA of jeans: the materials, buttons, labels and their typical indigo blue colour. The highly polluting production process and current innovative sustainable alternatives, such as ‘zero water waste’ and ‘ozone’ treatments, are also part of the exhibition.

As all this denim is tempting to get your hands on and create. In the Blue Jeans Workshop ‘workshop staff’ help visitors design their own jeans. Here visitors can also swap their own jeans for another pair to customize, or experiment with sustainable dye techniques at the special dye-it-blue days.

Fashion design is one of the main spearheads of Centraal Museum. The museum aims to collect work by genuine designer talents at an early stage. National and international designers have therefore been asked to create a unique design to accompany this exhibition - with the emphasis on experimentation, innovation, craftsmanship and interdisciplinarity.

Centraal Museum

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