Who turned your blue jeans red?

With bright colours replacing the all-American blue shade of this timeless garment, here's a look at the new trend that's not bold, but bubbly

What are you rebelling against Johnny," a chirpy girl asks Marlon Brando, in the 1953 flick, he plays firebrand Johnny Strabler in, when she learns that the letters 'BRMC' on his jacket stand for Black Rebel Motorcycle Club.
"Whaddya got?" he shoots back, dressed in a pair of sexy, skinny jeans, unwittingly playing his part to brand the humble garment, that was originally designed to accommodate the lifestyle of the average Joe who worked his sweaty socks off to put food on the unpolished barn-wood table, with a reputation so frightening, American schools felt the need to ban it.



The ban, of course, only served to boost its popularity, and by the 60s, jeans were de rigueur, practically synonymous with American youth and culture. About that time, clad in jeans, singer-songwriter Bob Dylan wrote, "There's a battle outside, and it is ragin'; It'll soon shake your windows, and rattle your walls, For the times, they are a-changin," addressing his words to US congressmen and senators.



Dylan's words proved prophetic when, within a few years, in a demonstration that found a spot in American history books, dressed in bell-bottom jeans, over half a million young Americans flooded the Woodstock Music Festival of 1969 to take a stand against racism, disregard for women's rights and the war in Vietnam. And they did this, largely, by painting their protest on their shabby blue jeans.

So, when the quintessential American garment changes colour, and goes from blue to bright yellow, pink and purple, is it just another fashion statement or reflective of a changing sensibility? Telling us that she owns a coral pair as well as a bright green pair of J Brand jeans, trendsetting actress Mallika Arora Khan simply offers, "Colours are refreshing, a nice change from the same old, blue, white and black."

Even overseas, the popularity of bright-coloured jeans seems driven by little more than the weather, going by a comment made by Fiona Collins, director of communications at premium American lifestyle brand Tommy Hilfiger, to a London newspaper. "People are simply drawn to colour in the sunshine," she said, sharing that the look's most favoured by "30 and 40-somethings drawn to a more polished but preppy style."

While the brand Khan has been sporting also seems to be the most popular celebrity choice in the West, having been seen on the likes of reality Tv star Kim Kardashian, model Stacy Keibler, and Heroes' star Hayden Panettiere, bright, fruity jeans are also gaining popularity with men, according to Gordon Richardson, design director of Topman, the male-centric counterpart of apparel chain Topshop.

"Guys have been wearing coloured checked shirts with skinny jeans over the past few years, and now, shirts have gone plainer and suddenly the trousers need to change. It has flipped," Richardson told a London newspaper recently. Mala Hemnani of Denim Story, a jeans haven housed at Marine Drive that stocks bright-coloured J Brand and AG jeans as well as those from Adriano Goldschmied's GoldSign line (priced between Rs 9,000 and Rs 12,000), couldn't agree more. "Coloured jeans have been the rage this summer, and it's not over," she says, confidently adding, "We will continue to see colours in richer deeper tones through Fall."

Stop by stores like Zara and Mango, and you see bright-coloured jeans flying off the shelves, especially with a pair priced at just Rs 1,999 at Zara's ongoing sale. Originally priced at Rs 2,990, a cropped, bright red Mango pair now comes for Rs 1,790.

According to reports, Her Royal Highness, Catherine Middleton, bought herself a tomato-red pair last month, quickly joining the ranks of celebrities, Sarah Jessica Parker, Hilary Duff and LeAnn Rimes. While we love colours and welcome change, it's sad to acknowledge that the bold voice of fashion seems to have mellowed into something of a simpering commercial voiceover, but then, perhaps, the new jeans do stand for something deeperu00a0-- they might represent a generation that prefers to block out the ugliness of the world they can't change, and opt to flaunt the cheer they hope to spread.