Roy Roger’s Archive: 150 Years of Denim and Workwear

The Polimoda Library presents a curated selection of books, publications, and research materials to explore the key themes of the exhibition: blue, denim, workwear, subcultures, textile art, and photography. This collection, designed to spark curiosity and deeper understanding, offers visitors the chance to uncover unexpected connections between aesthetics, history, and innovation. The selected texts are available for on-site consultation, providing a valuable resource for enthusiasts, students, and creatives seeking inspiration.

Bleus de travail (2002–2003) explores vocational training environments as part of a broader collection of student portraits taken across several technical schools. The series is divided into subsets: student welders, boilermakers, industrial maintenance technicians, mechanics, agricultural mechanics, paper industry technicians, horticulturists, farmers, florists, roofers, carpenters, joiners, cabinetmakers, masons, plumbers, painters, stonemasons, bakers and pastry chefs, and finally butchers. It serves as a true catalog of workwear, photographed in training spaces. From attire to surroundings, everything is designed to protect inexperienced trainees as they learn their trade.

From the private archive of Roy Roger’s comes a selection of work garments that trace 150 years of denim history. Shades of blue, rips, stains, and signs of wear tell the stories of those who wore them, preserving narratives embedded in these lived-in pieces. From American miners’ overalls to railway workers’ trousers, from prison jackets to military parkas, they all share one common element: the identity of the person who wore them.

Like any other creative process, the production of cloth, and ikat in particular, creates a framework of limitations for the artist to work with. The yarns must be organized and handled to prepare them for weaving. Before dyeing, certain sections of the yarns are bound to resist the dye, creating patterns by preventing color absorption in those areas. When interwoven, the dyed and resisted sections become whole in the patterns that are revealed. These patterns reflect a deep understanding of ikat’s limitations as well as their creator’s ability to trick them into doing what they want.

In occasion of Pitti Uomo 107, Polimoda presents AN/ARCHIVE EVENT TWO: blue r/evolution, an unprecedented exhibition that transcends traditional fashion discourse and explores the evolution of blue, denim and its connection to work, identity, crisis, and revolution. 

AN/ARCHIVE is an innovative space for fashion research presented by Polimoda that hosts exhibitions, workshops, conferences and debates on some of the most relevant issues for today’s fashion industry, stimulating reflection on the future of the sector and helping a new generation of researchers to emerge. It is a space open to the city, designed to welcome researchers, curators, archivists, students, designers and businesses interested in studying fashion.

In the second episode of Fashion: The New Establishment, we delve deeper into the evolving landscape of the fashion industry by engaging with Tessa Griffith, the Managing Director of Molly Goddard. Curated by Mimma Viglezio, this episode continues the series’ mission to illuminate the journeys, strategies and insights of the new vanguards shaping fashion’s future.

Fashion: The New Establishment is a podcast series aimed at providing a broader perspective by featuring discussions with a new class of successful professionals in the fashion industry, including photographers, agents, art directors, influencers, editors and CEOs. We delve into their work and the past that lead them to success as we believe this young individuals are the one shaping the industry of tomorrow. This podcast series is produced and edited from a discussion which took place from the talent and Mimma Viglezio, conducted in front of hundreds Undergraduate and Master students inside Polimoda's Aula Magna in Florence. Our guest on October 12th, 2023 was South African designer and LVMH prize 2019 winner, Thebe Magugu.

What does fashion need? Advisor of Strategy and Vision Linda Loppa and Business Coordinator Eva Zimmerman e-met future Master in Fashion Critique and Curation students in an exclusive online talk. From developing a critical point of view on contemporary fashion to the importance of the written experience in this moment of change, the program aims to shape independent thinkers under the mentorship Tim Blanks, Editor-at-large of The Business of Fashion.

In November 2021, Massimiliano Giornetti and Linda Loppa headed to London and met up with Tim Blanks, the newest mentor of the Master in Fashion Writing and Curation. From fashion rebels to the weight of words, Blanks shared his thoughts on a variety of topics and talked about how he hopes to help students develop an independent voice. The Master in Fashion Writing and Curation aims to shape independent thinkers with an in-depth understanding of contemporary fashion culture who aren’t afraid of questioning the current fashion system and driving change. Fashion is a conversation.