To mark Milan Design Week, earlier this month LS&Co. proudly unveiled Icons, Innovations & Firsts — Stories of Heritage and Progress From the Levi’s® Archives, a free, three-part exhibition at Milan’s MUDEC Museum of Culture. This is the first time that garments from the Archives have been on display in Milan.
Curated by LS&Co. Historian Tracey Panek, the exhibition takes visitors on a journey through the Levi’s® brand’s rich heritage, highlighting the evolution and impact of the modern blue jean since its invention in 1873. The exhibition is divided into three sections — Icons, Innovations and Firsts.
In Icons, visitors explore pieces worn or interpreted by iconic 20th-century personalities, as well as other garments coming out of fashion collaborations. There, visitors can view Albert Einstein’s Menlo Cossack leather jacket, a pair of jeans created in collaboration with the Warhol Factory featuring sketches of Andy Warhol’s work and a pair of 501® jeans worn by Steve Jobs.
While Icons offers a window to the past, Innovations gives visitors a glimpse into the future, exploring pieces characterized by an increasingly sustainable use of resources, plus functional and smart garments created with the most advanced technologies. On display are the Levi’s® x Google Jacquard Trucker and the Levi’s® Engineered jean with 3D Design Innovation, as well as examples of historically avant-garde garments made unique through customization.
The exhibit is rounded out by the Firsts section, which showcases some of the first garments in the Levi’s® Archives. Visitors can see the 9Rivet jean, the world’s oldest pair of modern blue jeans dating to 1873-1874, as well as the Lot 201® jean, which features still-attached suspenders and candle-wax drippings from a miner who wore a candle on a band around his head. Also on display is the Viola Jean, the oldest pair of women’s Levi’s® in the Archives — a rare Lot 401 considered to be the earliest pair of blue jeans in the world.
The exhibition tells a story that intertwines like no other — much like the denim fabric that lies at the heart of the Levi’s® brand’s DNA.
“It’s exciting to celebrate the impact of Levi’s® on design and culture over the past 150 years, and to do it at an institution like MUDEC, with its impressive reputation, is incredibly symbolic,” said Tracey. “Opening the show in time for Milan Design Week, one of the design world’s biggest events, makes it even more meaningful.”
Icons, Innovations & Firsts is running from now to April 26. If you’re in Milan this month, make sure to stop by and check it out for free!
