In Italy, there’s an unspoken edict that favors style over fashion. While synonymous at first glance—let’s get one thing straight: Fashion’s fade; style is eternal. And what could be any more eternal than denim, the fabric that’s dominated our wardrobes since time immemorial—okay, well, maybe not that long ago, but you get it.
For decades now, denim has been everywhere. On pants, dresses, boots, bags, and even red-carpet ensembles (here’s looking at you, Britney Spears and Justin Timberlake circa 2001). Earlier this month, denim was indeed everywhere—but especially in Florence. In the Fortezza da Basso! In the Teatro Del Maggio! In the irises of eager onlookers at the biannual Pitti Uomo!
In the Cradle of the Renaissance, yet another renaissance took place. Denim was remembered and, at the same time, reborn. It went a little less Da Vinci and a little more Marciano as GUESS JEANS kicked off its revolutionary immersive experience. Dubbed “The Next 40 Years of Denim,” the exhibit, as with all innovations, started with a glance back to history, featuring an archive exploring the Californian brand’s role in catapulting stonewash jeans to the Olympian state of immortalized classics. Chronicled in snapshots, the venue's hallowed walls were lined with mementos of denim’s past. Picture the enthralling iconography that captured muses from the likes of Drew Barrymore and Anna Nicole Smith to Claudia Schiffer, all decked out in GUESS JEANS’ threads, recalling the bad girl va-va-voom of the 90s and Y2K. But enough of the past. Fast forward from the peroxide-laden aughts to 2024, where the real showstopper is just a short walk away
Where elements defy limitation to give rise to seriously smart denim, GUESS JEANS’ latest innovation took center stage. In a vast space ensconced in Lapis lights, a path lined with stones led viewers up flights of stairs to observe its process—quite literally.
Fittingly named “Stone to Air,” the exhibition displayed—well, what appeared to be floating stones at its summit to present the brand’s AIRWASH approach to crafting stonewash jeans—sans the wash. Whereas the stonewash denim of yore was brought into existence with copious amounts of water waste, GUESS JEANS’ latest innovation swaps sacrifice for sustainability. Replacing the use of coarse pumice stones for light and air when crafting their signature “Stone to Air” denim, the storied brand significantly reduces water consumption. Ethereal and irrefutably clever, the denim maven’s breakthrough technology seems to deliver on the promise of its exhibit’s name.
From a distance, Florence and its terracotta-tiled skyline couldn’t be any more disparate of a setting to kick off the next 40 years of denim. And yet, a simple zoom into the Californian denim empire reveals that perhaps there couldn’t be any more fitting a place to host its affair of denim-clad futurism. GUESS Europe, after all, did begin in Florence. And what better place to highlight progress than from a starting point?
