Iconic denim
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Levi Strauss & Co.
If you want to talk denim jeans, you've got to begin at the beginning. Levi Strauss introduced the first blue jeans when he and Nevada tailor Jacob Davis developed the denim pants with then-revolutionary metal rivets. They obtained a patent for their pants in 1873, and publicized them the next year with ads depicting the trousers being (unsuccessfully) pulled apart by two horses. The double horse image became the brand's logo.
Image: Levi's
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Rosie the Riveter
Rosie the Riveter ads got women amped to get working in the factories during World War II, with its star clad in a denim jumpsuit and red bandana. The image is classic Americana, and folks today are still recreating the ubiquitous "We Can Do It!" ads (Beyoncé, most recently).
Image: Getty Images
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Daisy Dukes
When you've got a pair of shorts named after you, you know they've made an impression. The teensy hotpants worn by Catherine Bach, aka Daisy Duke, in the classic TV series The Dukes of Hazzard still go by that name today.
Image: Fotos international/Getty Images
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Brooke Shields for Calvin Klein
Calvin Klein has a storied history of controversial campaigns, including the iconic ad of a then 15-year-old Brooke Shields asking, "You want to know what comes between me and my Calvins? Nothing." It raised a few eyebrows, but Shields didn't think it was any big deal. "The controversy didn’t surprise me because I’d had experience with it since I was 11," she told the New York Post. "The pants came above my belly button—even the one with my shirt open, you didn’t see anything."
Image: Calvin Klein
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Bruce Springsteen's Born in the U.S.A. Jeans
Bruce's anthem for working-class Americans was a battle cry for Average Joes in the 80s, and the singer's denim-on-denim looks with his signature bandanna became a look that even small-town America could get behind.
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CK Jeans
The 90s brought a slew of memorable CK Jeans moments, but none so impactful as the series of ads shot by Richard Avedon for the brand. The images helped make Kate Moss a household name, and the jean collection was so iconic, that Calvin Klein is doing a reissue of the old pieces with Kate's little sister Lottie Moss fronting the campaign.
Image: CK Jeans
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Guess Jeans
Guess was another favorite 90s denim brand, and its ads featuring Anna Nicole Smith helped bring the brand, and its dungarees, to prominence during the decade. Who didn't have a pair of Guess Jeans back then?
Image: Guess Jeans
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7 For All Mankind
In the early aughts, people were already paying more than they could afford for their homes — and the same principle extended to denim. Luxury jeans were all the rage around the turn of the Millennium, and 7 For All Mankind became extremely popular after launching in 2000 for its premium options and the fact that it was worn by just about every celebrity you can think of, like Jessica Alba, Katie Holmes, Kate Bosworth and more.
Image: Getty Images
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Britney Spears & Justin Timberlake
Britney and Justin's matching denim outfits at the 2001 American Music Awards will forever be etched on everyone's memories as one of the worst moments in Hollywood couple dressing. Their look is iconic only because it was so notoriously bad. But Ms. Spears must have been really into that denim gown, as she says she still has the dress. Here's hoping she never breaks it out again.
Image: Getty Images
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JLO by Jennifer Lopez
In the early aughts, Jennifer's jeans gave well-endowed women across the country hope that they might find jeans they could actually fit into. The actress' round derrière did what Sir Mix-A-Lot couldn't — make big butts fashionable to mainstream America. Her denim line catered to women of all sizes, telling E! Online, "I find it is difficult for women who are curvaceous to find clothes in stores that fit. The voluptuous woman is almost ignored. I want to offer clothes that are wonderfully designed and will fit women of all sizes. Everybody gets to be sexy."
Image: Getty Images
