> When they first launched in 1976, Gloria Vanderbilt jeans had which animal ontheir iconic logo?And the answer is: swan. Evelyn Floret/The LIFE Images Collection via Getty Images/Getty ImagesGloriaVanderbilt jeans were the first "designer" jeans, featuring the designer'ssignature and a white swan embroidered into the jean pockets. As a model,painter, and heir to a railroad fortune, Vanderbilt used her celebrity to helpbuild her fashion design empire. One of her sons, Anderson Cooper, is a newsanchor on CNN.Vanderbilt began building her empire of jeans out of a simple assignment:"create a great fit jean." As a young entrepreneur, socialite and heiress,Vanderbilt's sights inevitably landed on the world of fashion in the early '70swith a mildly unsuccessful venture into home products and dresses. It wasn'tuntil she met and signed a denim deal with the clothing manufacturer MohanMurjani that she became known as the queen of jeans.Vanderbilt was met with enormous success upon the release of her 1976 denimline. Beyond marketing that appealed uniquely form-fitting jeans to women,Vanderbilt left her mark in a new way in the fashion industry: with a signatureand an embroidered swan logo on the back pocket of the jeans. While commonplacenow, Vanderbilt's name-branding on clothing placed at a higher price wasrevolutionary at the time, and set the industry forth in the practice ofdesigner clothing. By 1979, Vanderbilt had solidified her icon status in the fashion industry andbuilt a denim empire that generated her own substantial wealth. The Vanderbiltbrand remains a deeply influential player in the fashion scene and in the worldof jeans today.Watch the advertisement below to see the appeal of 1980 Vanderbilt denim.