"PHOTOJEANIC – THE JEANS CULT" par Tufi Duek, Giovanni Bianco & Susanna Cucco. Editions Forum Confecçoes Ltda, Sao Paulo en collaboration avec Studio Bianco & Cucco, Milan, 1998. Imprimé en Italie. in-4, couverture cartonnée rouge sous jaquette photo. 132 pages. Texte en anglais, introduction de Stephen Todd, illustré de nombreuses reproductions photographiques, 30 en noir & blanc et 33 en couleurs, hors textes, de 54 différents photographes tels : Miles Aldridge, Guy Bourdin, Steve Hiett, Terry Richardson, Paolo Roversi, Carter Smith, Vania Toledo, Ellen Von Unwerth… Ouvrage réalisé dans le cadre de l'exposition éponyme au MAM-Museu de Arte Moderna, Sao Paulo, en Juillet 1998.

 

"Since their invention in the late 1860's, jeans have become a sign of our times. Originally conceived as sturdy workwear for miners and farm-hands, for decades now the frisson of denim has gone way beyond its functionality. The cowboy. The loner. The rock star. The rebel (with or without a cause). Each icon of contemporary culture has been vehicled by a specific (anti)uniform: jeans. As early as the 1940's Hollywood had already begun using jeans as a symbol of rebel cool, but by the time James Dean adopted denim as his sartorial staple, the uniform of disenfranchised adolescence was prescribed. In the 60's the adaptability of denim meant that jeans became a sign of independence, of liberation from the shirt-and-tie constraints of mainstream culture (at the same time, paradoxically, also a sign of belonging to a particular counter-cultural group). In the 70's, jeans were pushed beyond their own boundaries; customized beyond recognition they became the wearer's alter ego, a very visible expression of identity. The 1980's, of course, was the decade of designer denim, a time when the name on the label overrode the specific identity of the individual wearer. And the 90's? The spirit of the 1990's is what photojeanic seeks to uncover. Clearly, looking at these images (whether by major players like Paolo Roversi, Andres Serrano, Peter Lindbergh and co, or by younger, unknown photographers) jeans still speak loud of freedom, individuality, escape and sex. A lot of sex. There's a kind of libertarian jouissance that seems to be incarnated in the very matter of denim itself. Now, as in the 1860's or 1960's, denim forms a blank (in fact, blue) canvas onto which much meaning is readily inscribed. A cult fetish, jeans are timeless, ageless and have a curious ability to cross cultural boundaries. A universal object of desire, jeans are a double-sided symbol: of individuality and of conformity. In fact, the humble denim jean is probably the piece of clothing which carries more social, emotional and symbolic value than any other item in our wardrobes. Vive the serge de Nîmes." Stephen Todd.

 

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