The Power of Blue Jeans

Who doesn't like wearing denim?

Denim as the sartorial symbol of democracy. Think about the politicians, and known celebrities (locally and international). When they want to reach people, they are usually seen wearing jeans, and a simple top. Jeans are the easiest way to connect with people - it's friendly, down-to-earth image makes your presence important, and well appreciated by common people. NO intimidations, just plain democracy.

There's something about slipping on a pair of jeans that gives one an aura of instant, effortless stylishness. This stems partly from their cut, which emphasize the hips and thighs, and sexily packages the crotch between two J-shaped pockets; and partly from their chameleon-like ability to look good with everything from a T-Shirt to a boned corset, a combination that jeans lover (like me) and rock-star progeny Stella McCartney - has helped turn into a uniform for fashionable young women around the world.

Couture separates the haves from the have-nots; jeans break down the barrier.

The potential elegance of jeans does not depend on wealth.

*Whole outfit, courtesy of UNIQLO Philippines

*Shoes: Butterfly Twist Philippines, and Follie 

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Our heritage and fondness for denim go hand-in-hand - jeans and rock n roll are as natural a combination as wine and cheese, or basic black and pearls. Rock stars are perceived as rebels, as are cowboys, bikers, and hippies, some of the other groups we associate with denim. Put on a pair of jeans, the thinking goes, and a little bit of their outlaw glamour will rub off on you. Jeans are a way of symbolically thumbing your nose at bourgeois ideas about proper dress, and asserting that you're casual, carefree, youthful, a rebel at heart and not one to be stifled by convention. Now that jeans are acceptable attire pretty much everywhere, this message has been diluted somewhat. But when politicians and celebrities want to show that they're just folks, they still wear jeans.

Nowadays, denim was no longer a symbol of the cowboy, the rebel or the hippie, but the choice for an increasingly casual society. Because jeans were emblematic of a lifestyle that was free of middle-class trappings, by wearing them every one was able to "drop out" a little bit, even if the most controversial thing he or she ever done was to return a library book late. Consequently, denim was the most popular fabric of the decade.

For myself, the perfect pair of jeans remains an elusive prize; I don't know if such a treasure exists. Every pair  I own or admire has some characteristic that enthralls me. I love perfectly faded indigos, pockets that curve with the body, time-softened flanks, legs that flare just so over the instep of the pointed boot. Like a hopeless womanizer, I don't know if I could ever commit to one pair. Even when I find jeans that fit with the requisite mix of pocket and fade, the question of length remains. Should I hem them to wear with high or low heels? Perhaps, as one magazine suggested, I should buy two pairs and hem one for heels and the other for flats. But such profligacy seems antithetical to the spirit of denim. And that's what really draws me to jeans - their lack of artifice. I like solutions that are simple yet elegantly wrought., and that's what jeans offer.