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Jeans
In 1991/1992 Mike age 14 was attending George Pearkes Middle School (now called Minnekhada Middle School (390 Laurier Ave, Port Coquitlam) in School District 43. This collection consists of blue jeans and the tags from other blue jeans preserved by his mother, and his sister Lori’s Halloween costume Spice Girls clear plastic backpack. The blue jeans and tags were purchased at the Coquitlam Centre shopping mall. For teenagers of the early 1990s traditional blue jeans by makers such as Levi Strauss were associated with parents, and so not cool. There was a popular phrase “Mom jeans”. Mike purchased High Sierra grey jeans and patchwork sewn and stressed Ikeda lock jeans. These particular jeans were but a brief moment in the mall of fashion history captured by these garments and the advertising tags sewn onto them when displayed in shops in the mall. In particular Ikeda lock jeans’ waist included a metal padlock hasp and miniature brass padlock of the same style used for suitcases. The spare key was given to the boyfriend or girlfriend to wear on a chain, much like a medieval chastity belt except the padlock did not constrain the zipper. Mike’s padlock was long gone but similar padlocks with keys have been located for this collection by the curator and are stored in one of the pockets of the first pair of Ikeda lock jeans.