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Greetings! My name is Anya – and I’m here to see what young Russians really think about the United States.
There – there’s a likely candidate. Excuse me – excuse me! Yes?!
Anya: What’s your name? Vadim. May I ask you some questions? Vadim: Sure. Why not?
Anya: What do you think about the United States?
Vadim: America sucks!
Anya: Why? Vadim: Because it does.
Anya: Hey Vadim. May I ask what kind of pants you’re wearing? Vadim: Don’t know. Jeans, I guess.
Anya: Will you show them to me? Great, thanks. That’s good. Zoom in on the tag. Lee. Cool. Hey, Vadim!
Anya: You probably see yourself as a bit of rebel, am I right? Vadim: Sure.
Anya: But do you know who was the first young rebel to wear jeans? Vadim: No.
Anya: Ever heard of James Dean? Star of the 1955 film Rebel Without a Cause? Vadim: No.
Anya: Well, fifty-five years after he died much too young in a car crash
Anya: He continues to serve as America’s very definition of cool. Let me show you. There are the jeans which shook the world.
Anya: Before James Dean, jeans were just working-class clothes for cowboys and other regular people
Anya: James Dean transformed them into an urban fashion statement
Anya: Speaking of fashion – do you know where jeans come from?
Vadim: No. But I’m sure you’ll tell me. Anya: I’ll be glad to
Anya: The fabric known as “denim” originated in Nimes, France – “denim” being a contraction of the French “de Nimes” – from Nimes
Anya: The word “jeans” is a corruption of “Genoa” where the indigo blue dye was once made.
Anya: But the first company to start producing what we know today as “blue jeans” was Levi Strauss
Anya: in San Francisco, California way back in 1853
Anya: Strauss was a German-Jew who immigrated to the United States.
Anya: The signature rivets, however, appeared only twenty years later in 1873
Anya: – thanks to a tailor from Reno, Nevada named Jacob Davis.
Anya: Davis, by the way, was born nearby in Riga, Latvia.
Vadim: I have a cousin in Riga.
Anya: And those Lee jeans you’re wearing …. Vadim: Yes ….
Anya: Well, they were first made in Salina, Kansas in 1889.
Anya: They don’t come any more American than that. And they also happen to have been James Dean’s favorite brand.
Anya: So, Vadim – what do you think of America now?
Vadim: Well, I don’t know. Maybe the USA is OK after all. Hey, want to go out with me?
Anya: Sorry, but I’m in love with James Dean. let me give you a free piece of advice if you want to impress women
consider buying a belt to hold up your jeans.
This is Anya – your intrepid YouTube reporter – signing off. And don’t forget to watch Rebel without a Cause at home!
You won’t regret it! James Dean’s a dream!