A
denim skirt, commonly known as a
"jean skirt," is a
skirtA skirt is a tube- or cone-shaped garment that hangs from the waist and covers all or part of the legs.In European culture, skirts are usually considered women's clothing. However, there are exceptions...
made of
denimDenim is a rugged cotton twill textile, in which the weft passes under two or more warp fibers. This produces the familiar diagonal ribbing identifiable on the reverse of the fabric, which distinguishes denim from cotton duck. Denim has been in American usage since the late eighteenth century...
, the same material as
blue jeans"Blue Jeans" is a sentimental popular song written by Harry D. Kerr and Lou Traveller in 1920. In the song, the singer is reminiscing about a long-ago young love that happened somewhere in the "hills of the old Cumberland." The chorus echoes the singer's longing:* The Parlor Songs Collection.* by...
. Some are modeled after the exact style of
jeansJeans are pants, or trousers, made from denim. Mainly designed for work, they became popular among teenagers starting in the 1950s. Historic brands include Levi's and Wrangler....
. Others are constructed more like other types of skirts. Jean skirts were first introduced in mainstream fashion lines in the 1970s, and since then, have grown in popularity. Today, jean skirts are one of the most common type of skirts worn by women in Western fashion.
There are a large variety of styles and lengths of jean skirts.
For example, full-length jean skirts are commonly worn by women whose religious beliefs prohibit them from wearing trousers. These include Orthodox Jews, some
Muslim:A Muslim , , is an adherent of the religion of Islam. The feminine form is Muslimah . Literally, the word means "one who submits ". Muslim is the participle of the same verb of which Islam is the infinitive. Muslims believe that there is only one God, translated in Arabic as Allah...
s,
MennoniteThe Mennonites are a group of Christian Anabaptist denominations named after the Frisian Menno Simons , who, through his writings, articulated and thereby formalized the teachings of earlier Swiss founders...
s, Pentecostals and others. In the sixties,
hippieThe hippie subculture was originally a youth movement that began in the United States during the early 1960s and spread around the world. The word hippie derives from hipster, and was initially used to describe beatniks who had moved into San Francisco's Haight-Ashbury district...
s first came up with the idea of recycling old denim pants or jeans into long denim skirts, by opening the inseams, and inserting pieces of triangular denim (or any other fabric) in the front and, unless a tall slit in back is preferred, also in the back of the opened-up trousers.
Shorter skirtsA miniskirt, sometimes hyphenated as mini-skirt, is a skirt with a hemline well above the knees – generally no longer than below the buttocks...
made of denim are commonly worn by teenagers and young adults interested in a more sexy appearance.
Styles of jean skirt
The classic style of a jean skirt resembles a common pair of jeans, with a front fly, a fitted waist, belt loops, and pockets. There have been a large number of other styles constructed over time to resemble other types of skirts.
Types of skirts more common in denim than in other fabrics include skirts with a variety of panels, going beyond the four panels most common with other fabrics. These include chevron, diagonal, diamond, horizontal, multiple vertical panels, and combinations of the above. Denim skirts not made from pants are often designed as though they were made from pants, i.e. with front and back triangular denim panels.
To tone down the rough and somewhat masculine look of the denim fabric, denim skirts are sometimes designed with alternating cloth panels, which can be diagonal, triangular, vertical, or there can be cloth panel trim at the bottom of the skirt. Also, to make the skirt look more feminine, denim skirts are (relatively more often than skirts in other fabrics), trimmed with fringes, lace, leather fringes, or decorated with embroidery, patchwork, rhinestones, writing, or even painting. Prints are quite rare on jeans skirts. Deviating from the front fly and button closure is common though, with
back or side zippersA back closure is a means for fastening a garment at the rear, such as with a zipper, hooks-and-eyes or buttons. Back closures were once common on Western female clothing, but, due to their inconvenience, have recently have become less commonplace in female casual and business attire...
or a column of front buttons being common.
One style jeans skirts shares with jeans is the ripped or destroyed look, which is more common with short denim skirts than with long ones.
Another style shared with jeans and jeans cutoffs, but maybe even more popular in jeans skirts, is the rough hem. This is achieved by not hemming the skirt (or undoing or cutting off the existing hem) and washing the skirt by machine several times. The resulting edge of the skirt will have a frayed or unraveling look, popular with teenagers and young women. The longer unraveled threads are usually cut off for an even fuzzy look, but some teenagers leave them hanging on their shorter skirts.