A New Book Scoured 170,000 Forgotten Photos to Create an Unseen History of Denim
Denim: The Fabric That Built America 1935-1944 is a new book that looks at a well-worn subject in a new way.
Its subjects are ordinary Americans, across ages and races, at work during the Great Depression of the USA's post-war years.
The jeans, jackets, shirts and overalls are often identifiable from brands we know – Levi’s, Lee, OshKosh, Carhartt. They're worn here in their original context as workwear.
The book is published by Reel Art Press, the specialist producer of “popular culture books with art house values”, whose back catalogue includes titles on Alfred Hitchcock’s poster art, The Godfather and Ivy League style.
Denim is written and art directed by the denim historian Graham Marsh, with the images edited by Tony Nourmand, Reel Art’s editor-in-chief.
Marsh’s most recent book, co-authored with the writer, creative director and man-about-town Jason Jules, was 2021’s Black Ivy: Revolt In Style, a work that is now on the shelf of countless designers, creatives and journalists working across menswear. (Tyler, the Creator called it a “bible”.)
The 250 incredible photos in Denim were unearthed from America’s Library of Congress, a feat that was no small task, as Esquire heard when it spoke with Tony Nourmand recently.
The timing of the book is on-point – from Beyoncé’s Cowboy Carter style to Pharrell’s Western-inspired Louis Vuitton collection, denim is hugely in fashion for 2024.
But then again, when is it not?
Esquire: How did this book come about?
Tony Nourmand: Graham [Marsh, co-author] and I have been working on the idea of doing a denim book for quite some time. About two years ago, we started working on another book on denim, which is still in the works. In early January we were 90 per cent of the way there. Then Graham asked me to look for some photos of people from the 1930s wearing denim, to use as chapter openers. And I remembered they had them at the Library of Congress. While I was looking for those, I came across all these other crazy photos which I've never seen before. Within 48 hours we’d decided to do this book first because it was so exciting.
The pictures are specifically taken from the Farm Security Administration and the Office of War Information. These are two areas within the Library of Congress, is that right?
That’s correct. One of the challenges with this book is that the collection has 170,000 photos in it. And it’s all about the Dust Bowl era, when people were losing their homes [the Office of War Information served as a US Government propaganda agency during World War II. It documented America’s mobilisation, covering areas such as ‘aircraft factories’ and ‘women in the workforce’]. But none of the images are keyword searchable. You can’t just tap in ‘denim’ and see the denim photos. But they’re in there. So, I literally went through the entire lot, twice. I didn’t sleep. I became obsessed.
So how on earth did you search for them?
It's a matter of putting in “Kentucky” and just going through every single photo they had of Kentucky – it could be 10,000 photos. You’d think ‘Oh that guy’s wearing denim’, and bookmark it. It was hard to do, but it was also exciting and pleasurable. I sort of became obsessed with finding them. The more I found, the more excited I got and the harder I wanted to work.
Why were these people being documented?
When America was in Depression, farmers were losing their farms, so Roosevelt set up a plan for them to be relocated [the Farm Security Administration was established under President Roosevelt’s New Deal program]. At the same time, he hired some of the best photographers in the country to fully document what was happening. People losing their homes. New farms being built. A lot of the photographs were used in Life magazine, or on posters, to get people to get new jobs, to spread the world about electrification [legislation bought electricity to nine out of 10 farms by 1950, compared to one out of 10 in 1935]. That kind of thing.
After the hassle of tracking down the pictures, did you then have to negotiate the photo rights?
They’re all in the public domain. You can use them, as long as you credit them. But the other challenge we had was that some of the photographs were really high quality, but the negatives were really worn out and the images were scratched and discoloured. So that’s where the bulk of the work came. We had to clean them. And when we started doing that, all this detail started coming through. The guy on the front cover is wearing Carhart. It was 1935. I had no idea that Carhart went back that far.
Presumably there were some items of clothing you initially thought were denim that turned out not to be, and vice versa.
I had to go through every single item of clothing.
How long did that take?
We have all these reference books, with things like different types of buttons, and how they’ve changed over the years. So, you’d blow up a button [on a photo] and start going through the book, year by year.
You’ve done well, if you started in January.
We’re a small company, so you don’t have to go through red tape. And we wanted to do it. We just pulled our sleeves up and that’s all we did.
The press blurb for this book mentions some of the details of the denim – the “heft of the weave; white stitching stark against blue; selvedge edges; turned-up hems”. Do you think the people in the photos were aware of those details?
They were aware that they were being photographed. And you’re talking about photographers like [acclaimed photojournalists] Dorothea Lange, Gordon Parks and Jack Delano. They all had big format cameras. A lot of the credit goes to them. The difference between this and other books on denim is that they’re not wearing [denim] as a fashion item. These people were just wearing it because that’s what it was made for. They just naturally look good. And that’s what I think a lot of the teenagers of the 1950s picked up on, when they were seeing these photos in magazines.
Where did they get their clothes from?
In the case of the railroad workers, they had their own shops where they would go in and buy jackets or whatever, for that specific purpose. There were shops where people would buy workwear, along with shovels and other items.
You identity a number of brands – Levi’s, Lee, OshKosh, Carhartt. Have any of them used photos like this for research, or in publicity materials?
They will do now.
Is there a brand that stands out?
Levi’s is always there and looks good in the photographs. But Carhart was the one that surprised me. Because it was just so authentic. It was before they started putting labels on things. You have to look at the stitching, and the buttons. That is really one of my favourites.
Your 2021 book Black Ivy: A Revolt in Style has become one of the go-to books about men’s style. I appreciate Denim is a different thing, but was there anything from the success of that book that informed the making of this one?
They’re separate things, but Graham did the art direction and the project originated from Graham and Jason [Jules]. Again, when they came to me to do the book, I just got a bit between my teeth. I started doing all the photos. Staying up nights, going through archives and calling people. We also did the book called Hollywood and the Ivy Look (2011). All these books are in the same vein. I remember when I was a kid, I saw Psycho for the first time. One of the main things that was going through my head was ‘Where can I buy one of those shirts?’ I wasn’t thinking of that movie as ‘fashion’. But when you [pull out] those references [and put them] together, it creates something. Black Ivy was the same. You know, you have these musicians [wearing specific clothes], you have politicians [wearing clothes with a common link], and when you put it all together it sort of tells us a story. And with Denim, it was the same thing. We have farmers, we have factory workers, women, men, we have black people, Japanese people, but when you put it all together, it tells the story. And that’s what we like to do more than anything.
Americana remains perennially cool, doesn’t it?
This book should really be done by the Americans. But they don’t do that. I also did a book on the French New Wave [French New Wave: A Revolution In Design, 2019] a couple of years ago. That should have been done by the French. It’s interesting when you get people from another country looking in at something. Because they see things differently. You have a [London-based] shop like John Simons that sells Ivy League clothing… How many of their customers are based in America? [ie: loads]
Perhaps there are some great books on British subcultures written in Germany?
Maybe not Germany! Although Germany has done a good book on [screenwriter, Emeric] Pressburger…
Reel Art has done several books about mid-Century style. One theory suggests that men’s style peaked in 1968, with Steve McQueen. Why does that era endure above all others?
On Saturday night I was speaking to this guy who had a really groovy hat on, he had a [particular] jacket on, and he was saying ‘Oh this is the kind of hat they used to wear in the 1940s’ And I was thinking, you know, the 1930s had a look, the 1940s had a look, the 1950s had a look, the 1960s had a look, the 1970s had a look – the 1980s were just those disgusting jumpers that they’re trying to push again now – I don’t think that was great. But now [in 2024] it’s got to the point where it’s a free-for-all. So, when you’re out in the street you have people dressing like they used to in the 1950s, 1960s, 1970s – I can’t say in this current decade there is a particular look.
You don’t think there’ll be inspiring books on 2024 menswear in 50 years’ time?
Who knows? I don’t.
Do you have a favourite image from this book?
About 50 per cent of the photos in this book really excited me. The cover photo was one. I’ve done books with Magnum. I’ve done books with rock n’roll photographers. I know photographers pretty well. But there are a photos here that I’d never encountered before [and that’s what made this project unique]. They photographer Jack Delano, who did a lot of those railroad photos. They were definitely a distinct look. They’re amazing. Russell Lee, whose portraits are absolutely fantastic – and Arthur Rothstein who took the photo on the front cover. Again, he’s one of those people that no one ever speaks about but look at that photo! It could be a Dolce & Gabbana ad from this year.
Why don’t these clothes look dated?
Because they’re practical. When you walk into a clothes shop now, they try to be groovy and have three buttons up here [points to shirt collar] to do up your shirt, or they have two collars… and you think ‘What’s the point?’ Maybe it’s interesting. But next year you want to do something else. But the point of these clothes, when you actually look at them – they’re not fussy. They're practical.
Denim: The Fabric That Built America 1935-1944 is published on 29 October, priced £39.95
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