It’s like getting access to the best denim museum in the world.

You should also visit the discussion thread on the Superfuture – Superdenim forum. I think that Michael Allen Harris has been posting numerous updates and additional pictures to the discussion thread.

Jobsey got me the latest issue of Free & Easy which has a focus on denim.

I love these illustrations in this issue.

And I want this Duckdigger 1873 Riveted Vest.

The Take Ivy book has become pretty famous. It’s a 1965 Japanese photobook of the fashion/lifestyle at Ivy League Universities. In recent years it became rare and quite collectable. Now it has been re-released and translated into English.

I think there might be a bit too much hype around the book. Probably hype around its previous rarity, rather than what it contains. It does seem to have captured some of the feeling of what it would have been like to live in the original preppy ivy league.

From Azerbaijan to New York City, a human-scale view of global trade. In the business of making and selling clothes, “Made in” labels do precious little to convey the constellation of treaties, countries, and people at work in the assembly of a simple pair of jeans. In Fugitive Denim journalist Rachel Louise Snyder reports from the far reaches of this multi-billion-dollar industry in search of the real people who make your clothes. From a cotton picker in Azerbaijan to a Cambodian seamstress, a denim maker in Italy to a fashion designer in New York, Snyder captures the human, environmental, and political forces at work in a dizzyingly complex and often absurd world. In a disarming and humorous voice, she ponders questions of equity, sweatshops, and corporate social responsibility through narratives of individual people, making an often academic subject accessible and compelling. Neither polemic nor prescription, Fugitive Denim captures what it means to be at work in the world in the twenty-first century.

I personally think that the cover design is shit.  The Japanese version of the book has a much better cover.





It’s a similar size to a regular magazine, denim covered, and the first two thirds of the book is just full of photos of worn-in denim. The image captions include the denim grade and style number.



The last third is a bit boring (for me) with more artistic fashion shots.

(Sorry, I posted the same pic twice, here is the other one I meant to post)

I was surprised they arrived so fast. My experience with Amazon USA has always been a wait of approx. one month for the international shipping. I reviewed the international shipping costs, and Amazon Japan charges are more expensive but the cost per item is cheaper. If you are buying five or more books, then it is actually cheaper.

Anyway, I’ve got a pile of new magazines to look through. I’ll post some quick reviews over the coming weeks.

ps. The Evisu Tateoti book is quite spectacular!

I haven’t seen it before. It looks interesting.
Does anyone have it? Is it worth getting?

Here’s the article:
http://outside.away.com/outside/culture/200901/brit-eaton-hunting-for-vintage-denim-1.html

You may remember seeing Brit in the Blue Jean Confidential documentary by CBC.

It’s quite an exciting article with interesting stories about remote places and funny characters.

Perhaps when I get through my shelf of reading material I might get Rinella’s book on the American Bison/Buffalo.