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Skinny Jeans

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Skinny jeans



 
 
Slim-fit pants or skinny jeans have a snug fit through the legs and end in a small leg opening. Other names for this style include carrot leg pants, cigarette pants, drainpipes, peg leg pants, pencil pants, skinny pants, slimjims, tapered pants, or ice-cream cone pants. Skinny jeans taper completely at the bottom of the leg, whereas drainpipe jeans are skinny but then the lower leg is straight instead of tapering and so they are often slightly baggier at the bottom of the leg than skinny jeans.






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Slim-fit pants or skinny jeans have a snug fit through the legs and end in a small leg opening. Other names for this style include carrot leg pants, cigarette pants, drainpipes, peg leg pants, pencil pants, skinny pants, slimjims, tapered pants, or ice-cream cone pants. Skinny jeans taper completely at the bottom of the leg, whereas drainpipe jeans are skinny but then the lower leg is straight instead of tapering and so they are often slightly baggier at the bottom of the leg than skinny jeans. In some styles, zippers are needed at the bottom of the leg to facilitate pulling them over the feet. Stretch denim
Denim

Denim 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....
, with anywhere from 2% to 4% spandex
Spandex

Spandex or elastane is a synthetic fiber known for its exceptional elasticity . It is stronger and more durable than rubber, its major non-synthetic competitor....
, may be used to allow jeans to have a super-slim fit. Skinny jeans are worn by men and women.

The style of pants originated in the 1950s, with popular stars such as Roy Rogers, Lone Ranger, Cisco Kid, Zorro and Gene Autry, Marilyn Monroe
Marilyn Monroe

Marilyn Monroe was an American actress, singer, model, and a sex symbol.After spending much of her childhood in foster homes, Monroe began a career as a model, which led to a film contract in 1946....
, and Sandra Dee
Sandra Dee

Sandra Dee was an American film actress.Dee began her career as a model and progressed to film. Best known for her portrayal of Ingenue , Dee won a Golden Globe Award for New Star Of The Year - Actress in 1959 as one of the year's most promising newcomers, and over several years her films were popular....
 wearing their pants very slim to the ankle. Skinny jeans became most notable with country music stars and with the birth of rock and roll
Rock and roll

Rock and roll is a form of music that evolved in the United States in the late 1940s and early 1950s. Its roots lay mainly in rhythm and blues, Country music, folk music, gospel music, and jazz....
 in the 1950s, when Elvis Presley
Elvis Presley

Elvis Aaron Presley was an United Statesn singer, actor, and musician. A cultural icon, he is commonly known simply as "Elvis", and is also sometimes referred to as "List of honorific titles in popular music" or "The King"....
 donned slim-fitting jeans and shocked the country. Skinny jeans and rock 'n' roll were inextricably linked to create the bad boy image that remains today. Skinny jeans were also worn by numerous rock bands, including The Beatles
The Beatles

The Beatles were a rock music and pop music band from Liverpool, England that formed in 1960. During their career, the group primarily consisted of John Lennon , Paul McCartney , George Harrison and Ringo Starr ....
 and The Rolling Stones
The Rolling Stones

The Rolling Stones are an English rock music band formed in 1962 in London when multi-instrumentalist Brian Jones and pianist Ian Stewart were joined by vocalist Mick Jagger and guitarist Keith Richards....
. Drainpipe jeans (as they were then called) were popular in the punk subculture
Punk subculture

The punk subculture is based around punk rock. It emerged from the larger rock music scene in the mid-to-late-1970s in the United Kingdom, the United States, Canada, Australia, and Japan....
 of the late 1970s, worn by many bands and scene leaders such as The Clash
The Clash

The Clash were an English Rock music band that formed in 1976 as part of the original wave of British punk rock. Along with punk rock, they experimented with reggae, ska, Dub music, funk, Hip hop music and rockabilly....
, Ramones
Ramones

The Ramones were an American Rock music band often regarded as the first punk rock group. Formed in Forest Hills, Queens, Queens, New York, in 1974, all of the band members adopted stage names ending with "Ramone", though none of them were actually related....
, The Sex Pistols and were sold by the revolutionary shop Sex, run by Vivienne Westwood
Vivienne Westwood

Dame Vivienne Westwood, Order of the British Empire, Royal Designers for Industry is a British fashion designer largely responsible for bringing modern Punk fashion and New Wave music fashions into the mainstream....
. The tight fit trousers were often customised with bondage-style zips or patches of other material, and were often worn tucked into industrial-style boots such as Dr. Martens
Dr. Martens

Dr. Martens is a footwear, clothing and accessories brand, and the footwear products are most often known as Doc Martens, Docs or DMs....
.

Skinny jeans were also very popular in the 1980s, with most heavy metal
Heavy metal music

Heavy metal is a genre of rock music that developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s, largely in England and the United States. With roots in blues-rock and psychedelic rock, the bands that created heavy metal developed a thick, massive sound, characterized by highly amplified Distortion , extended guitar solos, emphatic beats, and overall...
 bands, and in particular those in the thrash scene, such as Anthrax
Anthrax (band)

Anthrax is a New York City-based Heavy metal music band that released its first full-length album in 1984. The band was one of the most popular of the 1980s thrash metal scene and is notable for being the first to combine heavy metal with Hip hop music music....
, Megadeth
Megadeth

Megadeth is an American Heavy metal music band led by founder, front man, guitarist, and songwriter Dave Mustaine. Formed in 1983 by Mustaine and bass player David Ellefson following Mustaine's departure from Metallica, the band has since released eleven studio albums, six live albums, two Extended play, thirty single , thirty-two music video...
, Metallica
Metallica

Metallica is an American heavy metal music band that formed in 1981 in Los Angeles. Founded when drummer Lars Ulrich posted an advertisement in a local newspaper, Metallica's line-up has primarily consisted of Ulrich, rhythm guitarist and vocalist James Hetfield, and lead guitarist Kirk Hammett, while going through a number of bassists....
 and Slayer
Slayer

Slayer is an American thrash metal band from Huntington Park, California, formed in 1981. The band was founded by guitarists Jeff Hanneman and Kerry King....
. This was the trend for those who didn't wear spandex, which was popular with the dominant glam metal
Glam metal

Glam metal is a term used to describe the visual style of certain heavy metal music bands that arose in the late 1970s and early 1980s in the United States....
 scene at the time. They were often worn with white high-top sneakers or basket-ball shoes. By the late 1980s and early 1990s, many hair metal bands such as Poison
Poison (band)

Poison is an United States hard rock band that achieved great success and popularity in the late 1980s and early 1990s. They have become icons of the 80s MTV era and have had widespread commercial success....
, Guns N' Roses
Guns N' Roses

Guns N' Roses is an American Rock music band, formed in Los Angeles, California, California in 1985. The band, led by frontman and co-founder Axl Rose, has gone through numerous line-up changes and controversies since their formation....
 and Mötley Crüe
Mötley Crüe

M?tley Cr?e are a Grammy Award-nominated American hard rock band formed in Los Angeles, California, California in 1981.The band was founded by bass guitarist Nikki Sixx and drum kit Tommy Lee, who were later joined by lead guitarist Mick Mars and lead vocalist Vince Neil....
 to Kiss
KISS (band)

Kiss is an United States Rock music Musical ensemble formed in New York City in December 1972. Easily identified by its members' trademark face paint and stage outfits, the group rose to prominence in the mid and late-1970s on the basis of their elaborate live performances, which featured fire breathing, blood spitting, smoking guitars, and...
, Bon Jovi
Bon Jovi

Bon Jovi is an United States hard rock band from Sayreville, New Jersey. Fronted by lead singer and namesake Jon Bon Jovi, the group originally achieved large-scale success in the 1980s....
 and Slaughter
Slaughter (band)

Slaughter is an United States hard rock/glam metal band formed in Las Vegas, Nevada by lead vocalist/rhythm guitarist Mark Slaughter and bassist Dana Strum....
, ditched the spandex and wore the form fitted jeans. However with the rise of grunge and hip-hop music in the early nineties and the post thrash movement, skinny jeans quickly went out of favour although some people still wear them to have the "old school" metal appearance.

In the early 2000s, they became favored by garage rock
Garage rock

Garage rock is a raw form of rock and roll that was first popular in the United States and Canada from about 1963 in music to 1967 in music. During the 1960s, it was not recognized as a separate music genre and had no specific name....
 revival bands, most notably by The Strokes
The Strokes

The Strokes are an United States rock music band formed in 1998 in New York City who rose to fame in the early 2000s as a leading group in the Garage rock#Revival....
. Model Kate Moss
Kate Moss

Katherine "Kate" Ann Moss is an England Model . She has appeared on over 300 magazine covers. She is known for her waifish figure, uncommonly short height for a fashion model, and appearances in many advertising campaigns....
 has been credited with reintroducing the jeans to women. Among women, skinny jeans are most often worn tucked into boots or scrunched up over the wearer's footwear, and are also often paired with ballerina flats. The Libertines
The Libertines

The Libertines were an English rock music band. Formed in London in 1997 by frontmen Carl Bar?t and Pete Doherty , the band also included John Hassall and Gary Powell for most of its recording career....
 (particularly Carl Barat
Carl Barât

Carl Ashley Raphael Bar?t is an England musician and most recently, actor. He was the Lead vocalist and lead guitarist of Dirty Pretty Things and the co-frontman with Pete Doherty of the indie rock band The Libertines....
 and Pete Doherty
Pete Doherty

Peter Doherty is an England musician, artist and poet. He is currently a singer and songwriter in the band Babyshambles, but first came to fame with punk band The Libertines, alongside Carl Bar?t....
) used skinny jeans as part of their image. This was later adopted by more mainstream indie pop
Indie pop

Indie pop is a genre of alternative rock music that originated in the United Kingdom in the mid 1980s, with its roots in the Scottish post-punk bands on the Postcard Records label in the early '80s such as Orange Juice and Josef K and the dominant UK independent band of the mid eighties, The Smiths....
 and indie rock
Indie rock

Indie rock is alternative rock that most notably exists in the Independent music underground music scene. It primarily refers to rock musicians that are or were unsigned, or have signed to independent record labels, rather than major record labels....
 acts such as Kaiser Chiefs
Kaiser Chiefs

Kaiser Chiefs are an English indie rock band who formed in 1997. Hailing from Leeds, the group consists of vocalist Ricky Wilson , guitarist Andrew White , bassist Simon Rix, keyboardist Nick Baines, and drummer Nick Hodgson....
, Kasabian, The Kooks
The Kooks

The Kooks are an United Kingdom Rock music band, formed in Brighton in 2004. The band currently consists of four members; Luke Pritchard, Hugh Harris, Paul Garred and Peter Denton....
 and The Horrors
The Horrors

The Horrors are a British garage rock band who formed in mid-2005. They released their debut album Strange House, which reached #37 on the UK Charts, on 5 March 2007....
, as well as comedians Russell Brand
Russell Brand

Russell Edward Brand is an England comedian, actor, columnist and presenter of radio presenter and television presenter.Brand achieved mainstream fame in the UK for presenting a Big Brother spin-off, Big Brother's Big Mouth, and for his The Russell Brand Show , among other television series and award ceremonies....
 and Noel Fielding
Noel Fielding

Noel Fielding is an English people artist, comedian and actor. He is known for his role as Vince Noir in The Mighty Boosh, which he also co-writes with fellow actor Julian Barratt....
, increasing the popularity of skinny jeans amongst men. The skinny jean became very popular in Britain when Topman started producing their own. The buzz later hit America and has now become a staple item of clothing for anyone who wants that Rock 'n' Roll look. Some skateboarders
Skateboarding

Skateboarding is the act of riding and performing tricks using a skateboard. A person who skateboards is most often referred to a skateboarder, skater or skate rat....
 prefer to wear the jeans because of their ability to stretch, thus making it easier to move around whilst skating. Skinny jeans are also now very prominent in the BMX
BMX

Bicycle Motocross or BMX is a name of a cycling sport in which the main goal is extreme racing on bicycles in Motocross style on tracks with inline start and expressive obstacles....
 scene resulting in greater maneuverability and less instances in which the pants are caught in the bike's moving parts. They have grown in the latter half of the 2000s to become associated with a scene
Scene

Scene may refer to:...
 and indie rock
Indie rock

Indie rock is alternative rock that most notably exists in the Independent music underground music scene. It primarily refers to rock musicians that are or were unsigned, or have signed to independent record labels, rather than major record labels....
 trend. Skinny jeans are now worn by many stars today such as The Jonas Brothers. They now come in colors such as red, bright blue, gray, green, and purple, other than black.

See also

  • Wide leg jeans
    Wide leg jeans

    Wide leg jeans are a style of clothing popularized in the mid-to-late 1990s, especially by men trying to achieve an "alternative" style. For men, the style is also called hip-hop clothing and remains popular with this subculture in 2008....
  • Bell bottoms