The 501, an ever-expanding story
Rik Rasos of Proudrace
“Levi’s 501s is a classic and iconic silhouette. It’s also very transformative and that’s how we see our alignment with Levi’s, especially when we rework them for our denim garments. As a brand that’s how we present our pieces to be future classics, just like the Levi’s 501s. For the Levi’s 501s anniversary collaboration we focused on heritage, like how 501 jeans have been around for 150 years. With its iconic presence in the fashion industry and as an everyday wardrobe staple, we reinterpreted this idea by looking at Filipino culture and what Filipinos have been very fond of for a very long time. We looked into pageants, a phenomenon that Filipinos are very passionate about. Our interest is rooted in the Manila Carnival Queen. From the big international competitors and even to their inter-barangay pageants, Filipinos are always excited to support the queen they are rooting for and enthusiastically watch beauty pageants. We reworked the 501 jeans into how we visualize that a pageant gown would fit in the Proudrace world. Injecting our brand’s DNA to a fishtail silhouette we deconstructed and reconstructed the 501s with recycled denim to create a gown that is a marriage between contemporary construction and classic techniques to produce a silhouette that is reminiscent of pageant gowns.”
RJ Santos of Randolf
“I love Levi’s 501s! I especially love how it fits. I chose to collaborate with Levi’s because, one, I love the brand, and two, the concept was exciting and the opportunity to be given a space where you can reinterpret Levi's jeans and infusing Randolf into it doesn't come often. I played with the pair of jeans and reimagined it to fit someone who loves to play with colors and silhouettes. Went back to my DIY days with Randolf and used paint, bleach and some tulle.”
Abraham guardian of Ha.Mu
“I see Levi’s 501 jeans as wardrobe essentials — something that a person builds up from based on their personal style. You can dress up with it, or dress it down; however you want to wear it, you can be creative, really. That's why this collaboration means a lot to me because I love the brand for that. I have been wearing Levi's for a long time now and it's not every day that we're being given the platform to give our own twist to a brand that we love. I've always wondered what their jeans would look like if I made it more fun in my own direction.
“My 501 Experience jeans are ‘a multitude of madness’ — a pair of jeans that I reinterpreted to represent how I have been feeling lately. I am all over the place, jumping from one adventure to another and in between these moments I experience a period of trying to get myself together and not be overly consumed by everything that is going on around me. But there’s beauty in it — these different details in my life all form up who I am today. A beautiful mess, a strong force of energy and spirit.”
Nina Amoncio of antonina
“The brand represents a long heritage, and has been a staple for the longest time. I wish to collaborate with brands that are aligned with my design principles and vision. I collaborated with the brand because it not only champions quality and craftsmanship, but also the potential there is in fashion and arts in the local scene. I thought the piece was very versatile and timeless. The cut is something I would personally wear. I love that it’s not too fitted on me.
“Antonina played around the silhouette of washed Levi’s 501 denim jeans. Carefully hand-sewn, the jeans' height was doubled to cater to the draping. The designer wanted to reshape the original jeans; in order to do so, parts of the actual and added panels were artistically twisted and pinned onto places to create an illusion.”
Kendrick Cay and CP Garcia of construction layers
“For us, the Levi’s 501 is a symbol of rebellion and self-expression. It has become a blank canvas for various forms of class and cultures, transcending its humble beginnings as functional workwear pants. As part of families that swore to the Levi’s 501 as their choice of jeans, this collaboration not only hit home for us, but it also served as a challenge and opportunity to incorporate our identity as designers into the iconic jeans.
“501s are originally made as an answer to the needs of miners for durable pants during the Gold Rush in 1850. For our piece’s design, we looked into photos of found Levi’s jeans from abandoned mineshafts. Some of these jeans date back from the late 1800s to the early 1900s, with some being currently archived in the hands of Levi’s itself. Upon browsing these photos, we noticed a key characteristic that seems to be common among these found relics: a brown/copper-ish tint that covered the surface of the fabric. This sparked the idea to experiment with rust-dyeing as the chosen process for our piece.
“Furthermore, the piece was elevated by distorting its shape, lending a specific drape and fit to the fabric when worn. The legs of these 501 jeans were modified by applying multiple pleating techniques on both the inseams and the outseams, resulting in a curved and sculptural shape on the final piece. This design choice also nods to the Ruched Crossbody Bag, one of our best-selling pieces from our last collection.”
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The cropped version of the 501 Original for Women, the 501 Original and the 501 Shorts will all come in new colorways. The 501 Shorts for Men and 501 ‘93 Shorts, as well as the 501 Mid-Thigh Shorts will also be released this month.
