1974: The Year of Non Denim Blue Jeans
1974 was an interesting year for fashion. Simultaneously, it was the golden age of synthetic fabrics and corduroy pants. All factors collided to make it a fashion moment that you are either utterly repulsed or you wax nostalgic over.
I brought this 1974 Jeep CJ/5 ad out of my collection today. It touted a special trim package of Jeep in Blue Jeans.” For a little while, I mulled over the benefits of a denim interior, and ultimately gave it the thumbs up. It may pose issues when sliding onto your seat in the middle of a rain storm that vinyl would never pose. Namely, your seat would stay wet longer. However, there would be many other benefits. It wouldn’t matter if it faded. You could always patch it too. Maybe I never really “read” the ad until now, but quite clearly it states:
Look what the well dressed Jeep CJ/5 is wearing! New Levi’s styled seats with matching fold down top. Made of rugged easy to care for vinyl fabric in absolute authentic styling-right down to the copper rivets!
Umm..vinyl?
Talk about a “bait and switch”
This was not the only false denim item being sold in 1974. Levi’s and Lee were clearly in cahoots.
Brawny – That’s the word for these Lee doubleknit jeans and matching shirt-jac. The cut hails from the West. In every detail…And comfort comes from the new non-glitter, snag -resistant doubleknit of 100% Dacron polyester.
Dacron isn’t denim! They sure don’t look like “jeans” to me.
It would seem logical that if something was labelled “denim” than it is made of the heavy cotton fabric popularly known as denim. It not, it is “denim look” or just quite simply “indigo vinyl.” If pants are not denim, but rather polyester, then they are slacks, cords, trousers, or pants, as they have nothing in common aside from a zipper.
I hate to be a stickler for details. Maybe it is because of my checkered past at a small high school where we relished our rare “jean days.” Show me a pair of pants that could be worn on a regular day and you won’t get me to call them jeans, no matter what the marketing department said.
I am going to go put on my gray fleece jeans, considered too “revealing” for school for both boys and girls (figure that one out) and take a jog around the block to try to cool off about this.
1970s, 1974, vintage ads | Comment (0)1974: Sansabelt Slimmed and Trimmed
Ah, Sansabelt.
Today Sansabelt is at the butt of some jokes, portrayed as the fashion detail for folks who are looking for extra room in their drawers at turkey time. Did you know that back in the day, Sansabelt pants were considered pretty fashionable? What, no belt? Are you crazy? In fact, Jaymar offered the feature on their stylish windowpane plaid dacton trousers. There were oodles of celebrity endorsements, including one by Tom Shaw. At the time of this 1974 advertisement, he was the youngest touring professional golfer. In other words, they were pitched as pants for an active lifestyle. Or at least one that including walking, then stopping, then walking, then stopping.
The pants’ “exclusive hidden waistband never ceases to slim him, trim him, keep his shirt tail in and provide an incredible feeling of comfort around the middle.” Brown plaid is not your thing? “Sansabelt Slacks with Dacron polyester come in virtually every cut, color and pattern, each designed to look lavish, yet made to wear and wear.” And wear they do. I have found dozens of examples of the pants that look like the day they came out of the factory.
They were also known as the slacks seen on NBC, not that anyone was squinting at their 12″ black and white searching to see if anyone was wearing a belt.
I am just glad that Tom Shaw was a relatively conservative dresser. At the time, plaid pants were a little more de reguer than they are in 2010. I am not sure if you remember my post about 40s golder Tommy Goodwin and his fashion choices that kind of creep some folks out. (Click to see purely at your own risk).
1970s, 1974, sports, vintage ads | Comments (3)
