Trend Highlight: Painted Jean Jackets
While people typically wear a multitude of styles and types of clothing, one fabric exists as ubiquitously loved and worn by people of all genders, classes, races, ages, nationalities, religions and levels of education: jean. In my “Media in Context” class, the teacher assigned John Fiske’s article “The Jeaning of America” as a reading. The piece was less about the “jeaning of America” in a fashion sense, and instead more focused on the “semiotic richness,” the multitude of interpreted meanings associated with jeans and how jeans fit into the social landscape.
According to Fiske, jeans represent “freedom, naturalness, toughness, hardworking and leisure,” or in other words, "Americanness." The image takes root in representations of the West, and thus expansionism and individualism. While “whole’ jeans connote shared meanings of contemporary America," by "disfiguring them," people are able to find "a way of distancing themselves from those values,” Fiske states. Original torn jeans, or those actually worn down by work or other external conditions, represent the essence of popular culture— the point of contestation between dominant and subordinate culture. The worn down jeans are worn down because the wearer does not have the luxury of keeping them completely intact, nor, presumably, the means or energy to buy a new pair. Once the industry consumed distressed and ripped jeans, however, they “attempt[ed] to rob [the disfigured jeans] of any oppositional meaning,” Fiske writes.
This idea of jeans as oppositional when altered by the wearer resonated with me. The most interesting part of the reading, however, was Fiske’s paradox of jeans. The paradox of jeans comes from that fact that people seek “to be oneself” through the connoted freedom embodied by jeans, yet everyone wears them. They are part of a collective trend. Fiske writes that the “the desire to be oneself does not become the desire to be fundamentally different from everyone else, but rather to situate individual differences within communal allegiance.”
Now, the recent "painted jean jackets" trend seems like a revived component of Fiske’s argument. The jean jacket is a closet essential throughout all seasons— whether ripped, form-fitting, fringed, distressed or dyed— and most people own a jean jacket. Slight variations such as these begin to make the jacket individualized, however, since these popular individual styles eventually turn into trends, the jean industry is responsible for promoting denim into mainstream culture— making this movement less about ingenuity and individuality and more about conformity. The painted jean jacket, however, not only keeps in tune with this denim trend, but does so in a way that slightly separates the clothing item and wearer from the dominant culture.
The painted jean jacket is simultaneously an element of our popular culture, given its popularity, and our counterculture. The idea of this painted jacket both opposes (whether it is intentional or not intentional) the corporate sphere of fashion because of its uniqueness and one-of-a-kind artistry, while also utilizes the same industry and its reliance on large-scale trends to promote business from selling the jean jackets. The painted jacket fits into Fiske’s paradox by being a way to individualize one’s wardrobe with these hand-painted designs, while still maintaining a popular and socially-acceptable look; It conforms while simultaneously representing something new.
Sam Dewey, a sophomore at the University of Southern California, started a small painted jacket business called "Dewey Custom Jackets." At Coachella in 2017, Dewey wore a yellow jean jacket that she painted herself with a lion and the quote “beautiful man I’m the lion”— a fitting Beyonce lyric since the Queen was supposed to perform at the festival that year. Dewey said she received many compliments at the concert and even had Harpers Bazaar photograph her jacket. While it did not end up online or on the cover of a magazine, it helped spark Dewey’s idea to create a business making more jackets just like it. She even saw a painted jacket in Saks and said she felt she could do a much better job as someone truly passionate about art, and thus, the task at hand. So, Dewey began her own business— an Instagram business.
Sam Dewey in her custom jacket at Coachella, 2017
“I love how it turns into something so personal for the person whose jacket it is, it's totally one-of-a-kind for them, and I love giving people something that is really special for them,” she said. “It's always so exciting to hear the backstories of why they want the things they ask me to paint.”
— Sam Dewey, Artist
Another Dewey design
Dewey created the business as a way to combine her love for painting and fashion. She loves how she can share share her passion with others to articulate their interests and enthusiasm through a one-of-a-kind design.
For Dewey, the value and style of the painted jacket lies in the fact that it is artisanal. Each jacket is unique to the buyer, making the painted jean jacket very polysemic, as Fiske would say, and thus very counter-hegemonic because each jacket gains its own meaning based on the wearer’s requests.
Painted jean jacket companies can be bought online at Etsy, specific painted jacket websites, through Instagram, and even simply by word of mouth. By being on such a personal level with the buyer, the painting on the jackets is given personal attention and intense care. If incorporated in the larger industry, the painted jean jacket would lose the oppositional qualities that are derived from its artisanal production. The biggest painted jean jacket business that I noticed, Wren + Glory, interestingly had the lowest quality compared to other painted jean jacket businesses, suggesting that the more large-scale the businesses that produce the trends becomes, the less diligent the jacket painting; it becomes about profit from the sale, not the feeling the painter gets from using their skills and passion to provide an outlet for personality and individuality in fashion.
Which begs the question.... Where then can you buy a good painted jean jacket?
Because I know the owner of Dewey Jackets, I am obviously partial to her painted denim. Not only is Sam an amazing artist, but she is so kind, and such a diligent worker, who can truly carry out any design.
Dewey's jackets
A friend from high school just recently posted an Instagram in a Zenbyz painted jacket. Zenbyz’s designs range from realistic images, cartoony ones and even some abstract designs.
Zenbyz Designs
3. UsedPaintInc
Used Paint Inc just joined Etsy in 2018. While the jackets are a bit more expensive, as a special birthday or holiday gift, they’re definitely worth it. The detail, perfection, and vibrant colors used on the back most definitely make it a one-of-a-kind.
Used Paint Inc
4. MerrimentCo
MerrimentCo is run by a mom who just “loves to create and make fun things according to fashion trends.” She has a five star rating, and makes both customized orders as well as creates her own designs. Her pricing ranges from $40 to $100.
MerrimentCo Designs
Strauss Jeans also has a five star rating. One comment notes how she loved that Strauss Jeans offers a variety of denim washes while another writes that Strauss Jeans perfectly carried out her detailed requests.
Strauss Jeans Designs
Based in New York, the company “uses vintage denim jackets to create wearable art.” Many of the designs featured on their page are music related, however, Peace Love Soul and Co takes custom orders too.
Peace Love Soul and Co
Professor Jeffrey Sconce, who teaches the “Media in Context” class, said he, too, felt the painted jean jacket fit perfectly with Fiske’s argument. He said, however, that it was interesting how the jackets serve as representations of an individual's personality, yet they are not made by the wearer but instead “contracted out.” It reminded him of a California trend in the 1970s and ‘80s in which surfers would paint murals on their surf vans. Many surfers would hire artists to paint the vans since it took intense artistic skill and labor. The painted jean jacket, although a great example of popular culture (contestation against the mainstream), raises interesting questions due to the fact that it's the act of individualization through someone else, he said.
Nevertheless, the painted jean jacket is not only trendy but completely unique and original. It’s a great special gift that can have a lot of meaning to you or someone you buy it for because of its ability to be customized. Even if the painting is not a bold quote or a type of social commentary, through the painted jean jacket you participate in a form of opposition to the power bloc of the fashion industry whether intentional or not. In an age of revolution and innovation, the painted denim jacket, an example of popular culture (the struggle against dominant ideology) becomes an exciting trend that not only creatively expresses one’s personality but has the potential to stir both the jean industry and social landscape with its ability to communicate all sorts of oppositional meanings.