Jeans Makers Looking for a Good Fit

With Gitano sponsoring Shania Twain’s concerts last year, Tommy Hilfiger fronting the Rolling Stones’ No Security shows and Levi’s outfitting Lauryn Hill for the Miseducation Tour, which stopped in Universal City last weekend, sponsorship of music acts is suddenly all the rage for jeanswear designers.

But buyer, beware: You may not be able to get this look at the mall. The fabulous dark-rinse cropped jacket and cuffed jeans that Grammy winner Hill sported onstage at Universal Amphitheatre were inspired by Levi’s existing collection, but they were created especially for the tour.

“We showed Lauryn Hill our entire collection, and there was a lot of it she liked. But we took her measurements and fit the pieces exactly to her body,” explained Levi Strauss spokeswoman Kim Sobel. Hill has been mixing and matching 10 tops, skirts and pants in leather, denim and twill to create different looks onstage.

Although Levi’s sponsored up-and-comers through the Lillith Fair Acoustic Talent Search, the Aware Tour and the Mammoth Mountain Concert Series last year, this spring’s Miseducation Tour is the San Francisco-based company’s biggest gig yet.

“Our goal is to reach 15- to 24-year-olds and to speak to them in their language,” Sobel said.

Levi’s furthered its commitment to music-related projects when it announced a deal with SFX Entertainment on Monday. Through SFX, the company will have access to the concert promoter and producer’s amphitheaters, musical groups and, it hopes, teen trendsetters. Levi’s announced last month it will lay off one-third of its employees and close half its plants. Many market analysts believe the denim company’s key to survival lies in reaching the teen market.