If there is one thing we are very, very very, VERY concerned about these days its soap. So the naming of the latest Levi’s collection could not be more appropriate. Soapbox. But it’s not what you think.

Levi’s Vintage clothing look to the long and illustrious history of the brand to inspire their collections. Over the last 140 years, Levi’s has been at the heart of American culture and progress. So the well in which they can draw from is deep.

Levi’s look to their home town

This season they look to their home town San Francisco. In 1975 the San Francisco Museum of Art became the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. To celebrate this, the folks at the museum decided to have a little fun.

What dreams are made of

Local artists from across the Bay Area were given $250 to build the soapbox racer of their dreams. They would then race their creations down an 800-foot path in John McLaren Park. The race was sponsored by a number of local businesses, and yip, you guessed it Levi Strauss & Co. was one of those businesses.

“Levi’s® has a strong connection with SF MOMA, and we were one of the original sponsors of the derby. The SF MOMA has an incredible archive of images from the event that we were lucky enough to have access to during our research. We also went through our own archives and found pieces from that era that we could use to tell this story through faithful reproductions. We were really inspired by the washed-out colours from the MOMA images, so the collection features a lot of pastels and softer tones found in those old photos. It’s all very ‘70s Bay Area boho.”—Paul O’Neill, Head Designer for Levi’s® Vintage Clothing at Levi’s Strauss & Co.

The event was the perfect mix of fun, excitement, culture and eccentricity that defined the place and the time.

Transporting us to the time and place

Like every season, along with the collection, Levi’s release a lookbook that perfectly transports us to time, place and vibe. It shows the lineup of tees, tops, jeans, and jackets drawn from archival Levi’s pieces from the ‘60s and ‘70s. The images portray the looks inspired by the artists who took part in the SFMOMA’s Soapbox race.

Very California, very bohemian, and very 1970s

The colour pallet runs to a range of yellows, browns, oranges, indigos and pastels faded and washed out from long days under the San Francisco sun. It’s all very California, very bohemian, and very 1970s, with a spirit of joy, creation, and rebellion that has long been a hallmark of the Bay Area arts scene.