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 (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 zippers 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.

History

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.
In the sixties, hippies 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.