Levi’s 501s birthed the denim revolution. Today, 150 years later, the jeans are a classic clothing must-have and a wardrobe staple revered by the international fashion cognoscenti.

They’ve been worn by James Dean, Steve Jobs and Kurt Cobain; styled by Marilyn Monroe, Cindy Crawford and Winona Ryder; and were featured on Bruce Springsteen’s 1984 Born in the USA album cover. Levi’s 501s are one of the few fashion pieces that have maintained a cult status for more than a century.

May 20, 1873, marks the birth of the blue jean. The timeless design has since been worn by film stars, freedom lovers, punks, pedestrians and even princesses.

In 1873, the now-iconic 501 jeans were developed and patented under the Levi’s label by German-born, San Francisco-based businessman Levi Strauss and Latvian-American tailor Jacob Davis. They were first known as ‘waist overalls’, work pants secured by copper rivets and worn by US labourers, car mechanics and dairy farmers.

The simple yet sturdy design was revolutionary: the metal fastenings reinforce the trousers at stress points, denim is a long-lasting material, and the mid-waist rise, straight-leg fit, button fly style is comfortable enough to wear all day long. But it wasn’t until Marlon Brando paired his 501s with a leather jacket and boots in The Wild One (1953) that they became synonymous with an effortlessly cool style.

When the psychedelic ‘60s rolled around, 501s were the bohemian uniform of choice for Summer of Love and Woodstock attendees. In the ‘70s, the punk movement wore the desirable denim, but scuffed and oversized, styling them with chain belts, safety pins and doodled designs.

Levi’s were seen on Vietnam War counterculture protesters at the fall of the Berlin Wall (a pair believed to belong to Patti Smith is even preserved in the Levi’s archive), and even secretly traded between countries during the Cold War.

The versatility of the slouchy, hip-hugging jean became the perfect base for teenage rebellion, youth empowerment and subculture style, with the world’s socio-cultural stories woven into the brand’s history. Then, in the ‘90s, the jeans became a part of the cool girl style code, with Drew Barrymore and Nicole Richie wearing them loose and low or paired with faded band tees.

Today, 501 campaigns feature Hailey Bieber, and sisters Gigi and Bella Hadid have been snapped wearing theirs while walking the streets of New York. Over time, the classic composition of the jeans was toyed with but never radically changed.

In 1981, the first 501s for women hit the shelves, yet still retained its uniquely unisex style. Different dyes, shapes and fits – from tapered to cropped and skinny – have also since been introduced, and countless owners have even used them as a form of self-expression, drawing on, distressing, slicing into shorts or ripping at the knee.

Now, global fashionistas sift through piles of decade-old, discarded denim in hopes they’ll find the perfect pair of worn-in 501s. Price tags for the jeans, resold on platforms like Depop, eBay and Poshmark, can fetch double what they were worth in the year they were made.

From 1873 to today, 501s have been co-opted by international ‘cool girls’, supermodels, tech gurus and changemakers as the jean of choice.

Time will only tell when, how and who will fashion the next legacy of Levi’s. But one thing is certain – they’ll never go out of style.