Wizard of jeans: This man is known among fashion brands as THE 'denim guy'

If fashion has a man behind the denim curtain – a wizard of jeans – Benjamin Talley Smith is it, a name that’s passed from brand to brand, designer to designer, like a secret password. Photo: The New York Times

One overcast Sunday morning, Benjamin Talley Smith, an apple-cheeked 45-year-old with a thing for a Canadian tuxedo, was at the Rose Bowl flea market near Los Angeles shopping for jeans.

He was wearing jeans – a beat-up pair of Levi’s and an equally worn Levi’s jeans jacket – and rooting through piles of jeans.