Senior Cords

Painted corduroy pants inspired by vintage 1920s Senior Cords

I made these pants, inspired by the holy grail of vintage: Senior Cords. Basically, there

was a trend in Indiana around the 1920s where high school seniors would paint on

their corduroy pants. They included imagery of school mascots, club logos, or

anything symbolic of their interests and time in school. I wanted a pair, but they are

such a rare and pricy find, plus the iconography wouldn’t be meaningful to me.

They would be cool to have, but it would feel more like wearing an artifact than something

personal to me. So, I decided to make my own to wear for my high school graduation.

When coming up with the subject matter, I took heavy inspiration from my hometown and memories from my childhood. Each little painting has its own backstory and meaning and I love explaining the lore, so if you see me wearing them around campus do come ask me about them!

Process: I started with having my grandma help me tailor some old 70s corduroys I

found on ebay. I ended up using the scraps from the tailoring to make my grad cap

match. I then made my design in Procreate by taking a picture of the pants laying

flat and then cutting out reference photos I took and laying them out in the

composition I liked. To sketch the images I lightly used a fabric marker, and for the

painting I used a set of Jacquard fabric paints. They really tested my painting

capabilities because I had never painted on fabric before, but I am so in love with

how they turned out.