35 denim style icons

Marilyn Monroe made the relaxed boyfriend style of jeans look casual but still feminine. Who could forget her jeans and denim combo in The Misfits ?

Punk icon Debbie Harry's wardrobe of thrift store finds made her a style icon - her double-denim outfit was our favourite stage look.

Bananarama made ripped, shredded and customized denim (including, eek, cycle shorts) acceptable in the eighties.

Another pair of 1980s denim heroes, Bros fans were so obsessed with the pop duo, they copied their penchant for stonewash, holey jeans.

White and red denim gained instant indie cool when The White Stripes burst onto the music scene in the early 2000s.

A controversial choice, we know but Britney and Justin's misguided all-denim ensemble at the 2001 American Music Awards will go down in red carpet history.

John Wayne was one of the first actors to bring jeans to the masses, popularizing the style by wearing Levis in all of his Western films.

Thelma & Louise is jam-packed with iconic denim moments, from Brad Pitt's denim shirt to the duo's pale high-waisted denims, pictured.

Brigitte Bardot gave jeans French sex kitten appeal, and was often seen in cropped, capri styles.

Bruce Springsteen gets our vote purely for this amazing album artwork.

Michael Jackson' coloured jeans were a staple on his 1981 Victory tour (and in the Thriller Video, pictured). He wore bright denim right up until his final tour.

In the iconic 1968 film Girl on a Motorcycle, Marianne Faithfull wore skin-tight, biker girl jeans with feminine pieces.

Nineties denim at its best comes courtesy of cult teen show 90210. They're all wearing jeans in this picture, and there were classic denim moments throughout - like Kelly's polka dot cut-offs, and Brenda's super cool high-waisted jeans.

The scene in Dazed and Confused where the girls use pliers to do up the zips of one another’s jeans is one of favourite film fashion moments ever.

Lauren Hutton and Robert Redford were denim-clad and effortlessly cool in the 1970 film Little Fauss and Big Halsy.

Farrah Fawcett (and all of Charlie's Angels for that matter) made fitted and flared jeans the style du jour for 1970s girls.

James Dean in Rebel Without A Cause helped make a pair of jeans the uniform of teenagers ( or 'rebellious youths', as they were known) in the 1950s...

...As did Marlon Brando, especially in The Wild One. Some schools in the USA banned students from wearing denim as a result.

As Daisy Duke in The Dukes of Hazzard, Catherine Bach made a teeny tiny pair of thigh-skimming hot pants iconic.

As Baby in Dirty Dancing, Jennifer Grey transformed from a awkward teen to Patrick Swayze's dance partner in a variety of denim styles, from skin-tight jeans to classic short shorts.

Want to know how to do a classic gamine look? Look to Jean Seberg for your denim inspiration.

Hip Hop made low-slung, ultra baggy jeans de rigeur from the late 1980s-1990s, and girl group TLC (along with All Saints) dared to wear their denim super-sized.

Ripped denim jeans paired with a classic leather jacket were the uniform of choice for punk band The Ramones.

Kate Moss already had denim icon status due to her breakthrough ads for Calvin Klein back in the 90s. But her denim influence was proved when she made skinny jeans the style to wear in the noughties. Shots like this convinced legions of jean-lovers to ditch their bootcuts and switch to skinnies, preferably with a ballet pump.

When jeans only came in three sizes, the trend for skin-tight jeans in the 1980s meant legions of denim addicts sat in a cold bath, waiting for their jeans to 'shrink to fit. The image below became iconic.

With her patched, embroidered waistcoat, Diana Ross sums up the 'Summer of Love' hippie denim styles of the late 1960s/early 1970s.

Now she's the leader of the West London mums flared-jean brigade, but back in the 1990s Claudia Schiffer was famous for her seductive Guess Jeans adverts.

Grace Kelly's preppy look in Rear Window (cropped jeans, a crisp white shirt and loafers) was the perfect look for a soon-to-be Princess.

Not strictly a 'style' icon, but Levis Strauss invented the first pair of 'jean overalls', Levis 501 Jeans in the 1890s - so respect is due.

Audrey Hepburn gets all the style icon plaudits for her role in Breakfast at Tiffanys, but we like it when she stripped off the little black dress and pearls, and sang Moon River in a pair of blue jeans.

Remember when low-slung, hip-skimming jeans were in fashion? You've got Alexander McQueen's 'Bumster' style of trousers (seen on Kate Moss), which appeared in 1996, to thank for that.

The Queen of Pop has been seen in many denim styles over the years (jeans and a tracksuit top, anyone?) but we thought her patched jeans for the American Pie video (during her hippie, Ray of Light years) were perfect.

In 1981, at the tender age of 15, Brooke Shields appeared in an ad for Calvin Klein jeans, said "Nothing comes between me and my Calvins", and caused mass uproar/sparked the huge trend for designer jeans.

Elvis Presley donned tapered slim-fitting jeans in the 1950s, and shocked America. Must have been the hips...

In Badlands, Martin Sheen was a modern-day James Dean-esque outcast, and looked incredibly cool in a denim jacket.