Cult clothing, polluting clothing: the exhibition that returns jeans

(AFP) - The most worn clothing in the world, jeans is also one of the worst polluters on the planet: the Cité des Sciences in Paris reveals the reverse of this cult object in an exhibition that invites you to take the way to "clean jeans ".

Born in California among gold researchers at the end of the 19th century, the jeans have spread in less than a century around the world to become the universal universal of the wardrobes.Today there are 73 per second.

Why such a success ?The Cities of Sciences and Industry in Paris draws the sons of this textile epic during an exhibition which finally opened its doors on Wednesday after six months of confinement.Come across history, fashion, industry, consumption and ecology.All in a setting evoking a sewing workshop.

Passe-share, inter-generational, timeless, comfortable and so endearing because he ages with us: the jeans are presented there all his seams-to start with those from behind since the visitor is greeted by a "butt wall".

A wink recalling that "it is the first time in the history of fashion that a mold clothing the buttocks", tells AFP Sophie Lecuyer, curator of the exhibition.

-Punks and rappers-Pants with five pockets-Down with the mini-front pocket once housed a pocket watch, today a metro ticket-was initially a work habit, designed in the 1870s for researchersAmerican gold who complained of constantly having the pockets performed by their tools.

Solid, steep, inexpensive, denim canvas has made it possible to design their pants, jackets and combinations in a more sustainable way.

Where does the famous fabric come from?De Nîmes (of which Denim would be a contraction), of the Genoa port (whose word jeans would be a deformation), or any of the Lancashire weaving factories in England?"Historians do not all agree," explains Sophie Lecuyer.

One thing is certain: it is the rise of cotton culture in the south of the United States in the 19th century, based on slavery, which allowed the rapid development of the fabric.

She ended up crossing the Atlantic, during the Second World War, to swarm in the world and become a legendary room.

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"Work clothing, jeans gradually became leisure and youth clothing, almost all cultures, have taken hold: hippies, punks, rockers, rappers...Because it represents everyone's identities and allows you to express themselves with each generation ", analyzes Sophie Lecuyer.

But today he is the victim of his success.This garment is now a symbol of overconsumption or "fast food", the textile slope of "fast food".

- "Another John" - entering the mysteries of its manufacturing complex, the visitor understands that almost all the stages are problematic.

The cotton ?Often intensive agriculture that consumes a lot of pesticides.Indigo dye?It requires immense amounts of water, and pollutes wastewater.Weaving ?The productions were relocated (China, India, Bangladesh...), with precarious working conditions.

The exhibition tells in particular how in the 1960s, the French stylists Marithé and François Girbaud developed a process to age the canvas (so that it is less steep) with pumice stones in a washing machine.This method of deputy, by industrializing, proved to be "an ecological disaster in view of the huge quantities of water required", according to the commissioner.

This same duo then invented a cleaner way to "damage" jeans: the laser method, used today.

Because yes, "another jeans is possible".Provided that industrial and consumers are responsible, we are told.There are thus short circuits, reliable sectors, less polluting textiles such as flax, hemp and even nettle!

You can also reduce the number of jeans in its wardrobe, recycled the used correctly.So many advice to meditate on a special Jean-List Jean concluding the visit, an air of David Bowie ("Blue Jean"), or Adamo ("in blue jeans and leather jacket")).

The exhibition is open until January 2022.