Not Fade Away.

Denim, that old standby, is back--if it ever left

Jeans are such a staple of the American wardrobe, it is almost impossible to imagine life without them. Although actor Marion Brando popularized jeans and a T-shirt as the uniform for young people in the mid-1950s, denim was used in the U.S. long before then, mostly in work clothes.

The history of the fabric is still debated among fashion scholars. It is widely held that the fabric sprang from the town of Nimes, France, where it was used to make tents. But a scholar at the Museum of Fashion and Clothing Arts in Paris has suggested that serge de Nimes, as the fabric was called, may have been made in England as early as the 17th century.

The genius behind fashioning denim into jeans was Levi Strauss, born Loeb Strauss in Bavaria in 1829. Strauss immigrated to the U.S. with his family in 1853, ending up in San Francisco. Together with a local tailor, who had been creating clothing with rivets for gold miners, he began manufacturing denim jeans in 1873. At the time, they were known as waist overalls.

Jeans were the sturdy work pants of choice until World War II, when leading fashion designer Claire McCardell bought denim when she couldn't find other material because of the war. Suddenly, everything from housecoats to evening dresses began coming up denim, according to Jimmy Newcomer, professor of design at the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York City. James Dean popularized the denim look in the 1960s, turning it into the uniform for everyone from students to older folks who wanted to feel young and hip.

This fall, the standard five-pocket jean is making yet another comeback on fashion runways. Jeans are showing up not just in denim, but in everything from cashmere to satin and leather. And denim can be found in suits, jackets, and even purses. But purists agree that no new variation can top your favorite pair of beat-up jeans, the ones that feel like an old friend.