| image from Gap.com |
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| can't find an attributable source for this |
Earlier in the month, I posted about my frustrations with my jeans wearing too thin too quickly. I blamed it on my extra weight, but in the comments section someone suggested it was the Gap brand quality and that I should try Levis.
Normally, I consider suggestions like that pretty seriously. But without a second thought, I marched off to the Gap and bought 2 pairs of jeans. I didn't consider looking at Levis, I didn't even try to figure out where there might be some I could try on.
This morning the reason why dawned on me. Cowboys wear Levis, people from town don't.
Wow, is that an old and very random prejudice rattling around inside my brain that I had NO idea was there. One along the lines of town people are much more sophisticated than kids from ranches, and sophisticated is of course, better. Shocking to me because both sides of my family are/were cowboys. My mom still wears Levis (she also did barrel racing). Assumably, being a town girl, I picked the idea up in high school where kids divided themselves into cliques and established odd rules to protect the order: cowboys, jocks, stoners, band/orchestra people, choir kids, activists.
Somehow to me, Levis became a marker of second class membership. Not like I was a model of sophstication or high social standing. I was in the band, for pete's sake. Reminds me of the star bellied sneeches. Maybe I'll go buy some Levis this week and clean some of the cobwebs out of the hinter regions of my brain.
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The barrel racing clip is actually really great. If you didn't click on it, you really ought to go back and look at it.
3 comments:
That's odd, because when I was in that high school-cliquey-trying to figure out where I fit era, Levi's were THE THING to wear! They had to be the button-fly version, and if you were even cooler you had a Levi's jacket also.
Funny. I guess different time, different place. I love how regional these things can be....
Funny. My dad was a farmer (in the Midwest) and would only wear Levi's. I still prefer them (though I don't own any). I like the way the pockets look on the butt. ;) Now, I see *Wranglers* as being the cowboy jean, and I have no interest in them at all. But again, it's how they look. ;)
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