Thursday, November 20 2008 @ 03:29 PM ICT

Contributed by: news

Anyone who recalls disco-era designer jeans knows you could spot a pair of Gloria Vanderbilts across a dance floor. Or Calvins. Or (ooo, la la) Sassoon. Each brand’s back pocket bore an unmistakable squiggle or swirl.

Not so today, when stitches skitter across derrières according to designers’ moods. Some sew it old school, with distinctive symbols – True Religion’s “U” stitch; Guess’ classic triangle. But Guess jeans also bear arches, script “Gs” and rhinestone roses. James Jeans backs up its brand with buttons, pleats or stitched loops. Victoria Beckham is gaga for glitz: Her 2004 collection produced with Rock & Republic embellished rumps with crystal crowns; her new dVb line, mega stars. Antik Denim, Marc Ecko and Coogi splash loud designs over the seats of men’s jeans.

“Jean makers in the past used to be known by a specific back pocket,” notes Stefan Miljanic, founder of the men’s denim and sportswear line Gilded Age. That changed in the 1990s, he said. In the last five years, everyone has been using the back pocket “as a canvas, adding more and more stuff, till there’s no room.” Miljanic suspects the pendulum is swinging back. Gilded Age jeans bear a simple back pocket with angled double line and burgundy tab. Beckham also offers a quieter, horizontal stitch. Babakul, a women’s line from True Religion co-founder Kym Gold-Lubell, couldn’t be plainer. She sums it up in three words: “Less is better.”

Denim’s most recognizable design – the “arcuate” (or arched) pattern, used on Levi’s since 1873 – is a mystery. Some believe it represents birds in flight, but Levi’s historian, Lynn Downey, says that’s a myth. Records that might’ve explained its origin were destroyed in the great San Francisco earthquake and fire of 1906. Same goes for the meaning of “501.”