Do you know the true story of La toile de Nîmes?

“The canvas of Nîmes” will be the next artistic inspiration chosen in unison by Brigitte and François. This is actually the revealing title of their upcoming collection from May 10 to 19.

“The canvas of Nîmes” is so called because it is the painting of the last guest artist, Jacky Robert, originally from and based in Nîmes. It is then a work, a place, a life, a collaboration with ARTIST.

(Brigitte and François, creators of ARTIST LE STUDIO BF)

“La toile de Nîmes ” will flesh out the next all-denim theme, a contraction of “de Nîmes”, another star painting, produced in the 16th/17th century. in Occitania. It is therefore the flagship material of the marine theme which will take you to sea.

A new story ARTIST composed of 2 paintings from Nîmes: that of Jacky Robert associated with the extremely famous cotton twill.

This timeless and unwearable piece has pride of place in the wardrobe combined by ARTISTfor mid-season. Bold models, ever more desirable, for which the brand is preparing an adventurous shoot.

But were the “bleu de Nîmes” jeans, renamed denim, originally made in Gard?

The Cévennes shepherds invented a canvas woven with white weft threads and the warp threads dyed blue, thanks to indigo, a plant grown in Italy. Jeans probably created between Genoa and Marseille. Hence the expression “genoa blue” which subsequently gave rise, through distortions and pronunciations, to the name “Blue Jeans”.

It is still unclear whether the term “denim” is an anglicized version of the French textile or whether the French name was given to an already existing English product to give it a certain prestige. Denim in English also means “jeans fabric”.

The term "jeans" appeared in the 1800s. Over time, the name of the textile, therefore "jeans", became by extension that of clothing.

Thanks to the exile of Nîmes traders who had built their fortune on this know-how, the robust canvas crossed the borders of all of Europe and the Mediterranean basin.

We know the rest: American manufacturers adopted it, to give birth to the famous riveted pants.

Levi Strauss, an American manufacturer of clothing for miners and gold prospectors, accidentally bought a lot of Nîmes canvas (meaning “Denim canvas”).

This first batch number 501 will give its name to the most famous pants in the world. Denim jeans, solid and inexpensive, will be adopted by the whole of America and will very quickly conquer five continents. It will become a symbol of freedom.

If its ultra-popular manufacture has colonized the whole world, in France, its transformation into indestructible work pants comes, among others, from Célestin Tuffery, installed in Florac , towards the very end of the 19th century. Subsequent generations have continued the family business which is still productive today.

Among other examples, let us cite the Ateliers de Nîmes which took on the challenge in 2016 of repatriating denim weaving to Nîmes, its original stronghold. It’s now done, since 2020 they have been producing their own canvas.

Next time, the story of jeans is essential before meeting the world of Jacky Robert.

Meanwhile,ARTISTis finalizing the final stages of its next collection “La toile de Nîmes ". Time to read these two articles, reunion in session from May 10 to 19.