A little bit of the backstory, and then we’ll cut to the chase: When it started in 1978, the jean company Closed was called Ca, like the French word ça – as in, ce’st ça! – “that’s it!” Ca was literally ‘It’ before fashion even had Its (It bags, It girls, etc). And it was loved.
Then there was a lawsuit – nothing scandalous, just standard – and, well, c‘est ça for Ca. They changed the name and the case was closed and that’s how Closed, the German-born/Italian-bred jeans line founded by the mastermind of modern denim design François Girbaud, got its name.
The reason we’re talking about Closed today is because it just launched a style called the Skinny Pusher, one of the best skinnies we’ve seen in a long, long time. A remake of a jean called the Pedal Pusher, designed by Girbaud in 1981, the new Skinny is almost identical to its predecessor, the Pedal – it has similar X-pockets and curve-flattering yolks in the front and back, but it’s made of stretch denim and has a slimmer leg and lower rise. Here’s how they match up:
THEN AND NOW The Original Pedal Pusher from 1981 (left) v. today’s Skinny Pusher, which has a skinnier leg, lower rise, and revised x-pocket angling.
We recently had the pleasure of meeting Larissa Giers, who works closely with Closed’s new owners – her brother Gordon Giers, and Til Nadler and Hans Redlefsen – to talk about Pushers, past and present. “Girbaud was a bit of a revolutionary,” she told us in the garden at the Crosby Street Hotel in New York. “He was protesting the classic, American five-pocket, which was really the only jean that existed at the time. He completely reconstructed denims.” Larissa was wearing her own pair of Skinny Pushers with a white t-shirt and chic Newbark slides, reminding us of how beautiful and sexy the basics can be. “It gives you a really good shape,” she said of the jean’s high, hinged waistline. “You have to get used to it – it makes you sit up straight – but it’s a lot more feminine.” On that, and Larissa’s conviction that the Skinny Pusher can make anyone look and feel amazing, we totally agree.
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