Possibly the world’s most popular item of clothing, the denim jean has been a mainstay of fashion ever since its invention in 1873. Originally just a practical piece of workwear, denim jeans were popular because of their famed durability, and were worn mostly by miners, ranchers, and cowboys- in other words, by men! While the men wore their denim jeans as they worked, the women of the time had to adhere to the restrictive silhouette of the bustle. Famed fashion designer Coco Chanel pioneered a shift in women’s clothing in the 1920s by designing free-flowing trousers, but these were the province of fashionable young women lounging about the beach, or as evening wear for summer garden parties, the baggy trousers main purpose purportedly being to keep the mozzies at bay, difficult to do with one’s legs bared! The idea of women wearing pants of a style similar to men’s was nearly unheard of, confined to those pioneering women who lived and worked on farms and ranches where riding a horse was a necessity!
It wasn’t until 1934 that women would have the pleasure of wearing womens jeans that were designed specifically to fit the female form. Levi Strauss introduced their Lady Levis, quite a bold move at the time, but happily embraced by the working women who no longer had to buy their jeans from the men’s clothing section and could enjoy denim made with them in mind. They were still quite similar to men’s jeans in their construction, with a high waist and straight leg, and were made from the same heavy denim, which made them a bit hard to move around in, but women gladly purchased those early versions despite their limitations, pleased to wear them a symbol of female independence.
In the 1950s, women’s jeans became a staple of women’s fashion, their increased popularity due in part to the influence of Hollywood starlets like Jayne Russell and Marilyn Monroe who made wearing women’s jeans glamorous and sexy. Jeans were also commonly worn by male anti-establishment icons like Marlon Brando and James Dean in that era, and established themselves as a fixture of casual fashion and pop culture, they were the blue emblem of every rebel without a cause.
In particular, the daring and sensuous Marilyn Monroe’s iconic ensemble in the 1961 film “The Misfits” with its figure-hugging, high-waisted Levis women’s jeans and tucked-in shirt led to a seismic shift in the perception of women’s jeans away from just workwear for farm girls to a highly fashionable item of clothing for sophisticated and well-to-do women as well. Even so, many powerful elements of society (men) still expected women to be dressed in what they considered to be a feminine manner, so denim jeans usually ended up being paired with traditional women’s tops like frilly blouses.
The late 1960s and early 1970s saw new styles of jeans emerge as their popularity continued to grow. The eye-catching new bell bottoms and flare jeans were a huge hit with both men and women. These styles were set apart from more traditional jeans by having a much wider leg opening that flared out from the knee down, making a very distinctive silhouette. This fashion trend grew out of the hippie flower power movement and the more relaxed and comfortable fitting clothes its adherents preferred, but bell-bottoms and flares spread far beyond counterculture Haight-Ashbury and Woodstock!
By the mid 1970’s the new styles could be seen regularly on TV worn by teen idols male and female alike, often paired with funky platform shoes and glowing fluorescent-coloured tops to create a playful, bold look. Bell bottoms and flares continued to be popular throughout the 1970s until they abruptly fell out of style like a meteor in the 1980s when the youth of the era suddenly wouldn’t be caught dead wearing them!
With the advent of the 1980s, denim jeans had long established themselves as a staple of casual clothing, and although new acid wash and stone wash finishes provided some refreshing variety, the fashion actually moved backwards in time to the 1950s with no-nonsense straight-legged skinny jeans and button flies being de rigueur for anybody of either sex that wanted to be cool! The rebellious punk rock music scene’s sneering stars like Sid Vicious and Wendy O Williams crashed into the spotlight with shrieking vocals, screaming guitars, and pounding drumbeats while wearing tight, straight-legged skinny jeans! Black nearly eclipsed blue as the most popular jeans colour choice since it matched the dark, edgy vibe of punk’s angry, nihilistic disdain for all things the establishment held dear.
Nowadays jeans are still going strong, having achieved global dominance in the realm of casual wear. The world of hip fashion is a bit more open-minded now, so you can wear skinny, high-waisted, low-waisted, straight-legged, bell bottoms, flares, bleached, light, or dark in any colour you like, it really doesn’t matter which women’s jeans you prefer because you will always be in style!
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