Boundary-breaking women star in Cotton Incorporated’s new campaign, “Rosie Reborn.”
For National Women’s History Month in March, the campaign honors the strides women have made in the workforce over the past 75 years by paying homage to cultural icon Rosie the Riveter. Originally a character created by the U.S. government to recruit female workers during World War II, Rosie became a symbol of women working in male-dominated industries.
Championing the spirit of these women, Cotton Inc.’s Rosie Reborn campaign spotlights six “modern day Rosies” who break boundaries in their often male-dominated fields including: Emily Current and Meritt Elliott, founders of the women’s wear brand The Great.; professional soccer athlete and World Cup Champion Carli Lloyd; famed metal artist and welder Barbie the Welder; Black Girls Code founder Kimberly Bryant; and architecture thought-leader Julia Gamolina.
With the tagline, “Cotton Makes Denim Strong. You Make It Powerful,” Cotton Inc. aims to tell a story that encapsulates both the power of women and the strength of denim. In the campaign, each woman is featured in a World War II-era recruitment poster wearing a contemporary version of the ’40-inspired denim jumpsuit worn by the original Rosie, designed by The Great.
For this project, Emily Current and Meritt Elliott deconstructed an original ‘Rosie’ vintage denim jumpsuit and reimagined it to reflect a Rosie of today. “Each jumpsuit in the line includes denim from a vintage Rosie jumpsuit, connecting Rosies past with Rosies present, and beyond,” the designers said. “We wanted to create a legacy with this design.”
The jumpsuit retails for $350 and available in sizes 0 (XS) to 5 (XXL) at the brand’s Los Angeles store or online at rosiereborn.com.
“Cotton is the can-do fiber and embodies the versatility of women in today’s workforce,” said Kim Kitchings, senior vice president of consumer marketing at Cotton Inc. “Denim has empowered women in the workforce for decades and with the modern interpretation of the Rosie jumpsuit, we want women to channel that fearless determination.”
