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A Definitive Timeline Of Denim By The Decades

It's been a glorious century of jeans. Get the perfect pair of jeans at Express, where you'll find basically every awesome jean style ever invented.

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11. 1920s + 1930s: Dungarees & Working Jeans

http://A.Y. Owen / gettyimages.com
Peter Stackpole / gettyimages.com

They look so chill and nostalgic now, but it probably wasn't great to be laborin', regardless of attire!

10. 1950s: The Classic Blue Jean

gettyimages.com
Matt Carey / gettyimages.com

It looked super fly then, and it looks super fly today. May the classic blue jean live forever.

9. 1960s: Double Denim

Pavelle Jacobs / Stringer / Hulton Archive / Via gettyimages.com

It's an art to pull this one off, and you'll definitely have a better shot if you're a young folk singer. *ahemBobDylanahem*

8. Late 1960s: Bell Bottoms

R. Jones / Stringer / Via gettyimages.com

Paired with that fringe, it actually works.

7. 1970s: Tight Dark Washes

Aubrey Hart / Via gettyimages.com

What other pant looks better with a leather jacket? NO OTHER PANT. These dark jeans were perfect for '70s punks, and they STILL look perfect with a cool moto jacket and boots!

6. 1980s: Distressed & Ripped

REX USA/Giles Moberly / PYMCA / Rex

OK, they look cool on some people, but why put effort into ripping up a perfectly good pair of jeans? Don't your legs get cold?

5. 1980s: Bleached & Acid Wash

wonderferrett / CC BY http://2.0 / Flickr: wonderferret
shutterstock.com

It's not just that it looks cool... acid-washed jeans are also softer than regular jeans! Win-win.

4. 1990s: Overalls

thinkstockphotos.com
kater / CC BY http://2.0 / Flickr: allthishappiness

They're functional, cool, AND an awesome throwback. There's a reason overalls are still in, even after a century of existence.

3. Early 2000s: Embroidery and Rhinestones

Breanda Gottsabend / CC BY http://2.0 / Flickr: gottgraphicsdesign
naphat09/naphat09

Nothing wrong with a little bedazzling; it's super cute in small doses! But this era might have taken it TOO FAR.

2. Early 2000s: Flares

Chiyacat/Chiyacat

Just a little bit of flare — a perfect homage to the bell bottom craze of the late sixties.

1. 2000s: Skinny Jeans

Claude Truong-Ngoc / Via en.wikipedia.org

It's like a fashionable, attractive second skin. All hail the skinny jean!

We <3 you, jeans. Never change.

Re-live every amazing denim decade with Express Denim.