Texas trends Rifle Trieste – Blue Jeans – My experiences in the former Yugoslavia and Serbia

Texas trends Rifle Trieste – As a contemporary of the ever-increasing global phenomenon of jeans, in this post, I will describe my personal experience of expanding that fashion. In my teens, jeans were the privilege of a minority of fashion fans in a small town. But now, half a century later, it is relaxing everyday clothes of the population less than 7 years old and significantly elder than 77. For modern generations, jeans have become ordinary and inconspicuous. I think it strives for effects with extremely tight stretch and ripped jeans.

In several chapters, according to my life stages, I am presenting the pieces I wore, as well as contemporaries from the environment. As much as I can, I am enclosing the saved photos. I have been writing about the state of supply and acceptance of early brand models since the 1960s. Starting from the Italian brand Super Rifle to the chaotic offer of a wide variety of jeans today. From the mining, livestock, and labor suits in America, it has become indispensable in the offer of famous world brands, as well as fake versions of original models. It is a common theme in designer collections, but also the subject of decorative finishing concepts (embroidery, lace, appliqué, even extreme jewel insertion). And what I am especially pleased about, are the various recycling programs.

Texas Trieste Rifle trends – Aleksinac, since the mid-1960s

All-time during my childhood and early youth passed almost absolutely relieved of the problem of imitating others in generational clothing. Probably possible because of my own individuality. But certainly, in additional comfort, because there were no dictates of the most influential ones among us in school society. In fact, only a couple of girls among us, were superior in their more lavish attire. As they were beautiful, smart, good pupils, their better dress reinforced the general impression. They were actually popular friendly pupils among us.

There was no envy of others because we appreciated our own family possibilities. We enjoyed our beautiful wearable things. So I did act the same, dressed neatly, according to the possibilities and aesthetics of my family. By the way, the main task for all, was to provide warm shoes and a coat for the winter.

When I have started school, in 1957,  my suit was marked by a white set inspired by a navy uniform, blouses, and folded skirts, decorated with dark blue stripes. At finishing my eight years of school, in 1965, for a longer-lasting excursion to Ohrid, I wore dark blue trousers made of simple twill cloth. They looked like jeans that were just starting to arrive, mostly from Italy, image 1. My topcoat in the image is a light blue jacket, actually, a shortened former coat of my aunt Ljilja, which she had previously worn for a few years.

In order to have to wear suitable clothes for that excursion, I got the first ready-made, as we said, “ready-made” pants. By the way, until then I had not received anything from ready-made clothes. Except for the heavy winter’s coat, at the tailor’s men’s suits. Until this time, all my clothes were sewn by our cousin, Aunt Mila.

Pioneers of the Jeans  New  Fashion were constantly coming to my hometown

Among the first portents of modernity, coming from the West, was Aleksandar Živković, the son of our pastry chef, uncle Mihajlo. As a successor, following his father’s craft, Aleksandar left for Italy to learn about business practices. He was interested in the innovations and recipes of the famous Italian ice cream.

And really, after his return, the interior of the shop was transformed into a modern café outside. And a special attraction was the introduction of new ice cream technology. They have developed an offer of even unheard, diverse flavors. So they left the traditional sweet stores far behind.

And Aleksandar himself, as we jokingly blamed him for sparing all our money, got the nickname Alex the “Robber”. In addition to a business model, he also brought in fashionable clothes from Italy, including jeans, image 2. In the late 1970s, Youth Day was a birthday greeting to President Tito. Time of mass popularity of denim. The second picture shows a procession passing through the city center, image 3.

After the mid-1960s, we saw guys wearing jeans in my town. Firstly those young men who had relatives abroad; or if they were procured in some way from Trieste, which was then a trade “mecca” on the border of the Western world. For example, local people rumored that a gypsy woman, Rifka, was smuggling jeans and coffee from Trieste. Wrapped around her body and in her bundles, about a dozen jeans pants would arrive every tour.

Students from Belgrade wore jeans (Texas trends Rifle Trieste)

Students from Belgrade were also striking when they were coming home in the new Super Rifle jeans. I have most often noticed them if they “hung”, for example, propped against a wall of the Balkan Hotel. Set themselves as a target of our views on the main street promenade. As generations changed, those polished places would be under constant reservation. I noticed them as trendsetters in the new fashion, which was still reserved for guys.

I remember from that time the striking inscription Super Rifle, on the light brown leather patch, on the back of the belt. It is the only brand I remember from those years, in the mid-1960s when jeans appeared in Aleksinac. Honestly, I wasn’t very much interested. It was because, at that time, unisex was not even on the horizon. On the contrary, I was enthusiastic about Twiggy’s mini style. So, I was slowly working on shortening my skirt a bit.

But, as I have mentioned, older boys wore jeans, even some of my peers too. In general view, jeans were already recognizable as a present western fashion trend. All of us could see rock musicians and hippies in a lot of youth magazines.

Texas trends Rifle – Shopping tours to Trieste

These individual cases preserved in my memory actually were typical at the market pattern of the time. The further predominant model was shopping trips to Trieste. Since the Prato jeans were marketed in Trieste in the early 1960s, the scheme has survived until the late 1980s. As long as the focus of market competition has changed in times of crisis.

Newmarket destinations are emerging, most notably Istanbul. The gray market is exposed to impoverished customers. That is how the solution is found in the offer of counterfeit goods. Copies of various brands were created in improvised plants in hangars in Turkey. Prices were determined according to sewn-on fake labels of well-known brands. As all this was well known, the trade went successful.

There were also some better quality goods, more faithfully copied, which were labeled as “original”. Generations after the 1990s have sunk deep into this “forced” self-deception at collectives of youth. Parents have often put a priority on the social acceptability of their children’s clothes. Which regularly burdened the household budget very much.

Let me remind you of the Trieste market in the 1960s, where billions of dinars were spent daily. And on the weekends, in multiple increases of trade, up to 100,000 people flocked for a variety of goods. For the most part, there were thousands of jeans and tons of coffee. As I have already mentioned, Rifka from Aleksinac was in the first waves of this business, during my teenage years. The youth of my generation slowly became the joyful winner in that cooperation between capitalism and socialism, which took place permanently on the Ponte Rosso market. On the Italian side, it turns out to be absurd that the wealthier Yugoslavs here easily satisfied their fashion appetites.

On the other hand, they actually supported the survival of the poor of Trieste. Metaphorically speaking, on the “red bridge” socialism was helped by capitalism. Thus, the Yugoslav youth received modern jeans from Trieste at about the same time as many of their Italian peers. Because, in contrast to the world behind the “iron curtain” of the socialist bloc, the local authorities did not pay attention to the problem with jeans. Here, jeans were the fashion of those who could afford to travel or pepper the prices of smuggled goods on the street, and especially the overpriced offer of the same import origin, in Belgrade commissions, image 4.

My friend’s “Rifle” jeans during high school time

I am glad because have got the reaction of my school friend after the previous post “Jeans – a timeless phenomenon – how to make raw denim then and now“. So I took the opportunity to ask him for help to describe his own experience wearing jeans. Now, it is a valid document, an example of the penetration of jeans fashion in Aleksinac.

Habe Branislav my friend from high school usually does active attention to social network content. Also, to my texts among others, and I am thanking him for that. But now he has done much more. Sharing his own distant memories with me, thus significantly contributing to this article, I am especially grateful to him for that. Warmly hope that he will not remain the “only swallow” of this spring. I exactly mean if someone is interested in texts, and will want to participate with some comments, suggestions, and possibly some contributions that would complete the content.

In fact, Branislav moved from Idrija with his family when was a child, but his separated family continued to maintain close family ties. My topic is also a valuable description of the activities of his grandmother Marija, his father’s mother, who has been making Idrija lace all her life.

She successfully sold her handicrafts in Italian cities, Trieste and Gorizia. For this money, she prepared gifts for her family in Serbia from her earnings in the lace trade. By the way, Idrija lace is on the UNESCO list of cultural heritage, and Marija Habe was at one time the oldest “lacemaker”, as the women in Idrija are called.

Thus, in addition to the parental love for her loved ones in the distance, there were large packages with gifts. She was sending gifts to the families of her children, her son Dragoslav in Aleksinac, i.e. daughter Marija married in Ćuprija. There were a lot of groceries, as well as various Italian wardrobes. Amongst which, regularly were blue jeans for the boys.

Answering my request, Branislav made an effort and found the photos. This one enclosed is an illustration taken in the summer of 1967, with his friends in Sokobanja, which means nearby Spa, image 5. As you can see, the tents are in the shade, the photo is obviously from camping. Grandma sent packages every year, around May 1st and before Christmas, from the 1960s, until the mid-1970s. After grandfather Jakob died, in 1961, while aged grandma was capable, came every other year to Aleksinac and Ćuprija. According to my friend’s memory, a label on pants was like this one, image 6. Obviously, the same label as on the jeans in image 4, above.

Rifle jeans were a part of clothes for all seasons. Even in winter, along with Rifle, a schoolboy from a mining family wore a warm large mining jacket and rubber boots with folded edges. Plus with a shawl, cap, and gloves, ready to go by foot from Aleksinac mines, often went to school (3 km) even in winter.

Italian brand Super Rifle, then changed to “Rifle”, from Prato near Florence

Now, from a distant time perspective, I can remember with pleasure how we cordially hung out. Dressing was not an important factor in relationships as it is, obviously, today. I didn’t notice that the boys’ company even took care that their friend, since he was a boy, regularly wore jeans as modern clothing. The Italian brand “RIFLE” had the most aggressive placement of jeans in Italy. Florentine designer Giulio Frattini and his brother Fiorenzo were determined to start the production of jeans, which until then was limited to America. Based on research into denim production in Cone Mills, North Carolina, they founded the Fratini Confection, in 1949 in the city of the textile industry, Prato near Florence. First, based on the import of first-class fabric, they launched several models, and in 1958, they registered the company, first under the name Super Rifle, and later changed its name to Rifle.

With a lightning-fast ascent, in a couple of years, Rifle became the best-selling lower-priced jeans brand in the neighborhood of Eastern Europe. Huge trade business in Trieste, in addition to Yugoslav consumption, was partially placed in the countries of the Eastern bloc. In 1968, Rifle was the first denim brand in the world to enter a communist country, Czechoslovakia.

The jubilee year 2008 was marked by the Company selling over 100 million pairs. At that time, only Lewis had a higher turnover in the world. This was followed by a decline, until 2021, when the Company went bankrupt.

The taste and style of clothing in my family

In my family, quality clothes were primarily valued. But hardly available for the majority of our poor population on occasions after the consequences of the war. The 1960s were a time of recovery, opening, and new possibilities.

As for me, I had no desire for any aspect of identification. My needs depended on possibilities that determined them. I enjoyed many other sensations, new music, dance, film. All of that enabled me to feel that I am a part and witness of the coming world perspectives.

For instance, at the dawn of a new lifestyle, of the two dominant world rock bands, I listened to the Beatles. Perhaps the subconscious inclination to the subtle music of the singing “bugs” is a little encouraged by the image of nice guys in modern suits. “Robust” Stones were preferred by “rough” guys. Aleksinac, on the main road, receives, as I wrote earlier, magazines, fashion, and teenage, and in 1966, I had the first issue of Jukebox. The idols of the youth spread their charisma, which acted as a window to the world and a projection of the future for the youth of the town.

All in all, the “flower children” with protest banners, in the intriguing jeans of the ’60s and ’70s, demanded equality in human freedoms.

But for us here, the concept of non-alignment has given a special quality. Then we had hope and confidence in the reality of our vision of the future. The dark “iron curtain”, the metaphor of the division of the two worlds, fortunately, was on the other side of my world. Staring at completely new sensations, I was not eager for the adventures of the sweet sixties. Also, even an available passport, without money, had no real significance for me.

Texas trends Rifle Trieste–Belgrade, my studies, the first half of the 1970s

As always, in our country, skilled individuals, as the first to “pull the leg” in the beginnings of the gray denim market. This market has grown with buyers among young people eager for change. Leaving for study in Belgrade, in 1969, fundamentally changed the whole of my life. Young people from all over the former Yugoslavia flocked to the Student City, a settlement for thousands of students. And around the entrance to the canteen, Super Rifle jeans were always stacked on the cardboard. Probably just arrived from Ponte Rosso. I also bought them the following spring, in 1970. My roommate Nada and I tried them out together and bought both. Image 7, Nada and I, March 1970. We are sunbathing, drying nail polish. We were filmed by a student who was supplementing his budget.

Texas trends Rifle Trieste – My handicrafts that filled my current wardrobe

I took the bus for the Old Town, across the Sava river, and then on foot, to reach Knez Mihajlova Street or Captain Miša’s Mansion, two main my lectures attendances locations. But on the way back from the lecture, I was most attracted by the window of the Jugoexport Haute couture store. Of course, just to watch, away from the thought of some shopping. Exceptionally important shopping matters caused rigorous money savings. I was able to buy the best, high-priced pair of shoes, also a beautiful, quality bag, and eventually the leather belt.

For almost all the rest of the wardrobe, I have completed pieces of the sewn and knitted garments myself, handmade. That was my way to complete my own seasonal styling. When leaving for home, I would sew almost all the time. I would sew my mini-collections according to my own design, but combine basic model cuts from Burda.

On the other hand, in my Student`s city flat, I always worked with knitting needles. I took it and knitted, in the breaks of learning, enjoying it, and recovering my mind after studies. So I knitted various shirts or blouses made of thread or wool and matched them with skirts, and pants. Among other things, with jeans. Here is the knitted blouse, made of dark blue cotton thread with a group of white narrow stripes, image 8. Jeans have always been a necessary piece of clothing for my travels. This photo is from a summer vacation, hosted by my aunt in Zadar, in 1971.

Selvage denim jeans in years became fashioned skirt

This type of fabric is categorized as hemmed denim. The name Selvage derived from “self-edge” means prevented from unraveling. The edges produced by these old looms are simple edges that are woven with a continuous weft, which prevents them from unraveling and does not rip. At both ends, stripes of characteristic color for a certain brand are inserted between the longitudinal threads. Those colored lines are called Selvage IDs, used to indicate the mill which produced the denim. Denim fans, being proud of that, are often worn their trousers folded and rolled up so that the hem is visible. Selvage as the category refers to the process of making fabric, therefore, if woven in this way is always selvage denim.

Wearing texas for a few years, my dark indigo jeans, classic cut, and straight trousers legs were slowly wearing out. The paint was rubbed off, worn on the seams, knees. Texas trends Rifle Trieste – Already at that time, in the ’70s, “fierce” guys were bleaching their new jeans with fishing brushes to look worn out. And I, after a few years, when they cracked at the knees, I cut them into a skirt. That is how my first branded jeans continued to serve me. Finally, became part of the “daily dress”, as we jokingly called everyday clothes. Photo shut about the end of our studies, with current husband, in 1974, image 9.

Texas trends Rifle Trieste–Wearing denim since employment 1975, Novi Sad

As a young museum curator, I wore jeans of more feminine forms. There were a lot of pieces, especially since the change of status and somewhat financial situation allowed me more choices. Unfortunately, more complicated photography caused a rarity of spontaneous shooting. So I have a few usable photos. Image 10. On summer vacation in Split, 1976, I wore a classic cut, denim skirt with a matching bag.

Texas trends Rifle Trieste -Just on only one occasion, in the company of friends, I have experienced a shopping tour myself. It was actually a fun, relatively relaxed weekend in Trieste. After a few minutes of borderline nervousness at the border has long been counted. We booked a night at the hotel, so on the first day we investigated the terrain, visited elegant shops, and figured out a shopping plan. In addition to a couple of new jeans, we bought numerous selected items, some of which we still have today. These are still current pieces, in excellent condition. Some pieces became useless because of our resizing, after almost half a century.

I was still combining classic jeans from Trieste in my wardrobe, for travel, image 11, photographed, in Bar (Montenegro) on the transitway to Bečići, in 1977.

Texas trends Rifle Trieste, as denim is primarily a practical and indestructible material, its shapes are constantly changing their purpose. In the process of change, shorts belong to the typical final forms. People usually shorten their pants legs when are torn at the knees. That’s how summer shorts become. For adults at home, for work, beach; But they are most use it as children’s summer clothes. As well here Marko, the son of my friend Ružica, wears. Image 12, the photo of our children playing on occasion our families meet in the hometown Aleksinac, 2005.

Pleated loose jeans pants, 1979.

Texas trends Rifle Trieste was at first. Then, a major change in the design of jeans began in the late 1970s, and in time there was unlimited freedom to design denim clothing. I had a direct encounter with that fashion on the horizon, in the summer of 1979, in Paris. I even bought one pair in a miniature Parisian boutique. In addition to those weird jeans, I have got a few more eccentric fashion items then. So I got a few more novelties for myself. I was younger, much thinner, and able to experiment. Later times showed that some ideas did not even reach our area. I didn’t even present some pieces myself, which I still keep as unusual. Maybe I’ll write about some of them later.

Instead of classic jeans, that’s when I first saw and got wide “balloon” cuts, narrowed around the ankles. At first, there was curiosity and turned to me in wonder. But later they seemed ordinary in relation to the new extreme forms. Then I wore them with pleasure for years. They were comfortable for me, shaped at the waist, with an anatomically cut belt and adjusted folds that widen them, so that they give freedom of movement. I wore them as long as they fit my dimensions. Too bad I didn’t find a good photo. I am attaching this one where my baby is the main model in the focus of the camera. It certainly wasn’t her mother’s clothes. Still, I hope it shows how comfortable my jeans are, image 13. Many brands in recent times, launch similar comfortable models again, this one is in image 14. The shot can serve as an illustration, but my pants were more precisely tailored.

Texas trends Rifle Trieste–My thoughts on the matter of jeans in recent times

In a couple of decades of the previous Century, influential designers, starting with Kelvin Klein, Gloria Vanderbilt, Vivian Westwood, Alexandra McQueen, and others, also created jeans. At the same time, the coexistence of the commodity market and countless counterfeit brands lasts. In that match, the companies were looking for a new desirable “must-have” offer. In the late 1990s, the quality of denim significantly changed. New, very popular stretch material, also woven primarily in twill weave. But it was a mixture of cotton with a certain percentage of elastin. This completely freed up the design and made it possible to design extremely tight-fitting models.

We shopped at boutiques that sprouted in all places, even at us in Novi Sad. The goods were of unknown origin and certainly of doubtful quality. For me, the challenge was more or less successful in directing the choice of my daughter, a teenager, image 15. For the summer months, she chose light variants of jeans. In the early 2000s, we had a diverse range of goods sewn in Hungary image 16. Non-stop trading took place in the “mega-market” in a huge tent, in the border zone near Subotica.

The companies that produce jeans are “hand in hand” with designers

Companies, manufacturers of jeans with designers, “hand by hand” probably have done everything possible with denim clothes.

In colors, black and white, then various, brights and pastels. Indigo varies in shades, from dark, medium, faded, bleached; in cuts, after flat, bell-bottoms, followed baggy, narrow, skintight. Decorated with various techniques and materials: embroidery, applications, and even “jewels” made of plastic. Finally, there was a complete chemical degradation of the fabric and factory-torn jeans.

I think those torn jeans are primarily a whimsical but at the same time very lucrative invention. Of course for the manufacturer because the already destroyed material is short-term usable. Although without any rational function or style or beauty, it arouses enormous consumer interest. In that sense, I share some opinions of the forum members, about tearing denim clothes. The targeted effect of such jeans may be primarily showing the own skin. In further, wrote how pleasing might be a view of exposed beautiful female legs.

However, it’s still weird to me, why people would buy rotten and torn new jeans, instead of wearing their own equally torn old pair. In that sense, the young man explicitly claims that he would never buy torn new jeans, but he continues to wear his old ones even though they get new holes and rags. He is going to carry them to a certain limit of the measure and decent taste.

Designer collections, as opposed to cheap copies, often contain similar models, but they are decorating them with Swarovski pearls, silver or gold, for instance. All this is frequently formally similarly combination with holes and shreds. Collections combine with fur or decorative feathers. Texas is a universal material for making everything: shoes, bags, jackets, corsets, overalls, skirts, dresses, and certainly the most diverse models of jeans.

Texas trends Rifle Trieste–My experience with newly bought jeans but torn soon

To my surprise, ripped jeans don’t even decline in popularity today. In the previous post, I wrote about the revival of vintage denim. However, new or old, but certainly torn jeans still dominate in sales, as well as they are very much worn on the street. My fashion interest from youthful days in attractive new designs has long since subsided. I was no longer concerned about the latest fashion trends. I have stuck to the standard jeans, for travel and everyday wear.

A couple of nights at the hotel facilitates the long bus journey. On the way back, as I adjusted myself in the seat, destroyed the condition of the rotten fabric. It cracked in the backside, the width below the buttocks. Until the end of the trip, with a longer tunic and tying a jacket around my waist, I avoided the “scandal”. My luck was because the excess happened to me at the very end of my return home.

After all, I subsequently determined the origin of the production. Convinced of my tactile assessment of the quality of the fabric, I didn’t even pay attention to the brand. They bear the Max & CO brand mark. Which is part of the Italian fashion house Max Mara image 18. According to the declaration, they were sewn in the then SCG (Serbia and Montenegro). But, the button (also image 18) and the rivet with the inscription Maxers Jeans, image 19, mark them as a product of Maxers, founded in 1986 in Novi Pazar. It means that my pair was a copy of model no. 010200, Italian brand.

In 1998, this confection from Novi Pazar promoted a brand under its own name, Maxers Jeans. The brand is still launching its seasonal clothing collections today.

My jeans, how did I repair the broken denim?

Now I’m going to show you how I patched, this completely ruined a pair of my jeans. I will actually reveal to you how I’ve cared about damaged denim over all the previous decades. Starting since my first Super Rifle pair from Student residence. For a few years, I maintained them with meticulous patching machine stitching, following the relief of the textile surface. As I have once used the basics of this technique, it continuously similarly happens when is necessary even nowadays.

If originally a thicker, stable raw denim, I would put on the reverse side, some soft fabric, image 20. The larger area was sewn with rare stitches, then, I have supported the fabric placed in this way more precisely in places, in case of damage. The real patching is from the face, with a fine stitch sewing machine, image 21.

In this way, I have stabilized weakened partially damaged areas. This is imitating the texture of ribbed twill. Such a “restoration” is hardly visible, only up close. But from a normal distance, the patching was inconspicuous, balanced with the whole piece of clothing worn.

Private repairs, as opposed to a restoration of textile heritage

My primary need was to prolong the function of the damaged wearable piece. In the procedures determined by this purpose, is important to strengthen the fabric with a base that provides strength for safe wearing. Which is certainly a priority in the process. Thus, the eventual insistence on aesthetics, by close imitating the appearance of the canvas texture, is absolutely less important.

In this case, careful patching was an extreme “project”. I could consider my stubbornness to renew an almost completely destroyed item, in the condition of throw away. The fact is, if it was worthy of so much work, at all, that I have really achieved my ambition.

On the other hand, it can find the possibility to solve technical protective restoration problems. Of course, keeping in mind all museological standards. Decisions in restoration procedures primarily aim at retaining visual documentary. Which is the opposite of function as a priority. Textile heritage restorers, when recovering textiles, primarily support original appearance, less internal technical composition. Thus, secondary support with additional fabric is standard in museum restoration. In contrast, for example, machine sewing has an extremely selective use. Especially for interventions in the tissue of archaic textiles, it is inadmissible.

Many years later, by losing weight, I was wearing the patched light blue pair again. But by combining with the appropriate upper clothe image 22.

Now I have a favorite, gray pair, with color connecting a large part of my wardrobe. Additionally, with a low percentage of elastin, they are comfortable and suitable for all casual occasions, image 23.

Until next reading

Like all posts, this one focused on Texas trends Rifle Trieste I am concluding this one with the wish that at least some of my ideas on textile culture will be of interest to you. I hope for you to move from mere information about reading to a more active relationship. Undoubtedly, I have made some gaps, maybe you have ideas worth considering as a contribution to these subjects of mine. Easiest through the comments at the bottom of the Post. Think about it, perhaps my effort deserves so much of your attention, and it may please you.

Do you imagine how I can find a motive for such a commitment to topics that are far beyond my professional routine? Instead of extracting and considering my completed topics, I try to take a step forward.

That is why I dive into myself, extract and record personal experiences of time and environment, which is now a historical category. For this purpose, I try to set up a personal angle of observation, instead of citing and considering my previously completed topics.

Sincerely, Branka on Textiles