Jean Fashions in the 1980s
Fashion in the 1980s was often bright and flashy. Jeans were no exception. A regular pair of straight-leg blue jeans were considered uncool in the 1980s. Jeans were often decorated or altered to create different textures, colors and looks. These jeans were then worn with certain accessories or clothing to complete the look.
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Colors and Washes
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One of the most common fashion trends in the 1980s was acid-washed jeans. Acid-washed jeans were intentionally bleached and faded by washing the jeans in chlorine bleach. The bleach would caused white or faded spots on the blue jeans and create an uneven color tone. Jeans were often purchased this way or created at home by bleaching regular blue jeans. Colored jeans were also common in 1980s fashion. Colored jeans were blue jeans that were dyed different colors such as white or black, or sometimes bright colors such as purple, pink or green. Acid washed jeans were also sometimes dyed these colors after bleaching them to incorporate two trends at once.
Cuts and Styles
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Jeans came in many styles and cuts in the 1980s. One common fashion trend was tapered jeans. After the 1970s, bell-bottom cut jeans went out of style and suddenly jeans with tight tapered legs became fashionable. These jeans often had multiple pleats at the waist, which created more volume at the hips and waist. Jean shorts were another common denim trend in the 1980s, and they were often worn with boots or sneakers. Jeans were considered unacceptable to wear in public during the 1950s and early 1960s. By the late 1960s and 1970s, however, they became trendy, and by the 1980s fashion designers jumped on the trend and started designing expensive, well-made designer jeans.
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Decorations
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Decorating regular blue jeans was also trendy in the 1980s. One of the most common ways to do this was to intentionally rip and tear jeans. Often times, bleaching jeans would damage the fibers badly enough that the fibers tore on their own. Many teenagers and young people also shredded their jeans with razors, scissors or simply by wearing them too much. Another trend in the 1980s was the paint splatter trend. Jeans were often decorated with splashes of fabric paint in various colors. Jeans with paint splashes or fabric paint were available for purchase in a craft store.
Ways to Wear Jeans
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Other trends in jean fashion involved the way jeans were worn or what they were worn with. Jeans that did not have a tapered leg were often peg rolled, meaning the leg of the jean was tucked and the cuff was rolled to create a tapered leg. Often times thick, brightly colored socks were worn over the tapered legs. Wearing denim-on-denim was also trendy in the 1980s. Jeans were often worn with denim jackets or denim shorts, or accessorized with denim purses or backpacks.
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References
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