As globalisation continues to intensify, technological advances enable wider access to

Fashion and Capitalist, Western ideologies are transferred through Fashion across
national borders, a world audience and market is created, hence changing the
consumption of this popular culture. A defining characteristic about a popular culture is
that it produces associated products or merchandise that is to be consumed by the masses.
This response will analyze how globalisation, access and ideology have influenced
change in the consumption and control of Fashion, more directly, Blue Jeans.

To be recognised as a popular culture, something must be able to progress from a local to

a national to a global scale. This can be recognised in the source "rebirth of the blues"
where it talks about Levi Strauss in his home town discovering the wonders of denim at a
local level. As a result of increased globalisation, Blue Jeans has significantly changed, as
has the consumption of merchandise associated with this popular culture. In source 1, an
article from trends magazine called Jean Mutations, the effects of globalisation can be
seen "now worldwide, jeans have taken over from T-Shirts as the blank canvas for
personalization." Many of today's popular Australian Jeans advertisements were adapted
from American prototypes, which in turn were influenced by successful European traders
such as Levi Strauss. The material, denim, originally came from Europe, before it arrived
in America and eventually influencing the rest of the world with the introduction of mass
media, or more specifically, television. Originally working gear for miners and farmers,
the wearing of denim found local popularity, then national and later global consumption
with people of all classes, gender and walks of life. As American soldiers took their jeans
with them to many developing countries in the period from 1941-1950, jeans became
more associated with leisure than with work. Much of the popularity of jeans is related to
successful marketing strategies. Whether it be the brand names of Levi Strauss, or Lee,
Calvin Klein and Guess or even Gene Autrey, the success of jeans as a popular culture
has focused on myths, legends and icons related to Westerns and Rock 'n' Roll. More
recently, jeans have been marketed through Street groups and fashion models which
further demonstrate the progressive change of this population culture and ultimately how
globalisation is influencing Blue Jeans as it has now attracted a world audience. With the
establishment of a global audience, a global merchandise market has been created, thus
explaining how globalisation has changed the consumption of Blue Jeans as its
merchandise is now not only sold nationally but also internationally. Further examples of
consumption can be recognised again in the source article "rebirth of the blues" where it
specifically talks about the multicultural, popular mass consumption in relation to jeans
"a look conceived by the French, a technology perfected by the English, a form of
clothing invented by two Americans- one recently arrived from the Baltic's, the other
from Bavaria".

Access is a necessity for any popular culture, as it enables it to progress from a local to
national to global scale. As technology continues to advance, so too does the ways in
which a popular culture can be accessed, thus influencing change in the consumption of a
specific popular culture, in this case, Fashion (blue jeans). The origins of blue jeans and
the early production of it as clothing in the early 1700's could only be accessed in
Western America and rarely read about in the newspaper. However today blue jeans,
specifically Levi's, have utilized recent technological advances in order to make this
popular culture and its associated merchandise more accessible. The history of blue jeans
is perfectly depicted in source 4, where James Dean a popular teen idle, is shown in jeans
with a chronologically ordered array of pictures behind him. These pictures signify the
historical events that are related to blue jeans, for example, the mythology of the west, all
the way to the changing and evolving nature of jeans where women are wearing jeans,
commenting on gender, feminism and the attitudes to women's clothing and there greater
access to this popular culture. Previously discussed, the world market, opened through
globalisation, is strengthened through the greater access to Blue jeans, that these
technological advancements have created. Consumers can now purchase associated
products such as matching belts, shoes, hats, shirts, different types and styles of jeans,
create there own jeans through excorparation and are encouraged by the Transnational
corporations to experiment with all the possible, available styles that blue jeans has to
offer. A certain webpage encourages consumers to vote online, giving opinions to people
who can literally show themselves on the webpage, trying on a pair of jeans. Information
about jeans can now be accessed by purchasing a large variety of magazines, and
catalogues for example, Vogue. By making Jeans more accessible through a diverse range
of media, the consumption and control of this popular culture increases, demonstrating
how wider access influences change in the consumption of Blue Jeans.

As Blue jeans are accessible to a global audience through a range of different media, the
predominantly capitalist, western ideologies portrayed within Blue jeans, are promoted to
people from different cultures which may have conflicting ideologies. Hence, Western
ideology is transferred to non-western audiences, encouraging consumerism,
individualism and materialism. This in turn increases the global market for related
merchandise as consumers purchase the associated products of this popular culture; belts,
shoes, hats etc. This demonstrates how ideology influences change in the consumption of
Blue jeans, as the spread of Western ideologies increases its consumption.

Through the combination of increased globalisation , improved access as a result of

technological advancements and promotion of Western ideologies, particularly
consumerism, materialism and individualism and control, the consumption of blue jeans
has changed significantly, as persons of different cultural backgrounds and countries can
now easily access this popular culture through various media, and are encouraged to
consume associated merchandise. Globalisation , access and ideology have increased the
global market for the consumption of Fashion (blue jeans).