So I find myself more and more enthralled with denim overalls…not the Osh Kosh that I wore as a kid (although they were pretty cute), and not the ’90’s grunge with the wife beater underneath (although it was a definite look) but the fashionably styled version that I am seeing popping up around town and in fashion magazines. It all started on the Spring 10 runways with Ralph Lauren and JPGxLevis:

Then I fell in love with the styling of JCrew and my personal God, Mickey Drexler (see earlier post)..the latest sighting was in both Net-a-Porters style magazine as well as Elle Magazine’s Denim Guide.

Overalls seem to be everywhere these days. They did not appear out of thin air, they are not some genius designers new silhouette but in fact have been in existance since the 18th century when “waist overalls” were worn specifically as work clothes, and only by men.

To understand how overalls evolved from work clothes to a fashion trend we actually should take a brief look at how denim evolved as a whole. Overalls, and denim, date back to the 18th century when they were worn exclusively by working class and carried the stigma of being a uniform of the lower class. They continued to evolve with the addition of pockets for watches, rulers and pens; carpenters added the hammer loop. In the 1920’s Levis’ “waist overalls” as they were known, were the most widely used worker pants in America. Because of the durability of the denim material and the invention of rivets by Levis both overalls and jeans were the quintessential workwear.

(For those of you who would like to know more about Levi Strauss, argueably the inventor of denim, there is a great essay on the history of Levi Strauss written in 2007 by Lynn Downey, a Levi Stauss’s historian, you can read it here http://www.levistrauss.com/downloads/history-denim.pdf)

The 1950’s saw the introduction of Wranglers and Lee Coopers to the market, much like today, each brand had their own fit and style. Typically associated with rural America and later with country music denim and overalls seeped slowly into the American conciousness.

As the ’50’s flowed into the turbulent ’60’s and radical ’70s a new generation gravitated towards denim, fed by the music and movie industry, this younger generation was influenced by celebrities, first with James Dean and Marlon Brando, rebels who wore denim;and then as the ’60’s music scene took off, musicians brought a generation together in denim.

The ’70’s ushered in bell bottoms and the continued sense that denim and jeans were for a younger generation rebelling against the strict life and dress code of their parents. As the extravagant ’80’s got under way, the term “designer jeans” was coined and prices began to soar, scooping denim up to new fashion heights. Nothing could come between you and your Calvins, and designer labels offered fashion forward styles. The ’90’s and early 2000’s saw more denim lines launch, overalls were seen as part of the grunge movement as well as the rave culture worn with one strapped unbuckled. Though denim was taking a back seat to “fashion”  it dug its way into our culture and our psyche. There is nothing more American then a great pair of jeans, expect perhaps a great piece of Apple Pie.

Which brings us back from this long tangent to the reason of my post….denim overalls and my infatuation with them. I wore them as a child, as most of us did, and then later in college as grunge swept through I paired them with a tank under and a flannel over topping off the just rolled out of bed look with converse. I thought I was finished with overalls, that I had left them behind in a photo album of fashion missteps and ingenious pairings-more of the former than later unfortunately. But now I find myself leaning back towards them, drawn in to the funky yet stylish ways I could wear them. Is this just my longing to return to a simpler time in my life, when I didn’t have to be a grown up – or have overalls grown up with me, and now offer an adult styling option. The only way to find out is to try, so I think I will pull my trusty overalls out of the back of the closet and spend the weekend trying different ways to wear them, again. Maybe it will just be a trip down memory lane, but maybe, just maybe, I will step into that deliciously styled world that Ralph and Mickey share with us.