Assignment 2-1: Weekly Written Analysis 2

Form fitting jeans are the latest fashion trend in America. They are highly sought and many people are willing to pay excessive amounts of money for them. Contrary to current popular interests, tight jeans have not always been in such high demand. In fact, denim is rooted in very humble beginnings. It is only a matter of time before a new fashion trend comes to the forefront in popular culture.

Mick Jagger, David Bowie, and Iggy Pop have all proudly flaunted skintight jeans (Zappia, 2005). They are three pop icons that very much embody rock. Form fitting jeans were at the height of fashion in the 70s and 80s. It was not until the late 1980s and early 1990s that they had fallen in popularity with men. With form fitting jeans gone, baggy jeans took over the male denim market. Carpenter jeans, with their purely aesthetic hammer loops, rose in popularity toward the late 90s and pre-“weathered” jeans (including but not limited to: grass stains, paint splatters, oil spills, and fraying holes) soon followed. It was not until a few years into the new millennium that tight jeans gained in popularity again. This rejuvenated interest is due almost entirely to music-scene male hipsters wearing tight “girl jeans” for camp appeal. Irony faded and the trend soon spiraled out into the mainstream.

Before the recent rebirth of form fitting jeans and even rock fashion of the 1970s, denim existed as a type of trousers worn only by the blue-collar working class. Jeans were tough and inexpensive but certainly not vogue. The hippy counterculture movement of the 60s adopted bell-bottom jeans and the trend was soon diffused into mainstream culture; designer denim was born (Heeney and Shen, 2003).

Everything has an origin in popular culture. Trends ebb and flow with the ever-changing interests of the societal whole. One must keep this in mind to remain fashionable.
References

Zappia, C. (2005). Real men wear it snug. The Village Voice,
Retrieved November 12th, 2007, from http://www.villagevoice.com/nyclife/0514,zappia2,62697,15.html

Heeney, A. (Producer), & Shen, P. (Director). (2003). Flight from death: the quest for immortality [Motion picture]. Los Angeles, CA: Transcendental Media.