Ripped Jeans

 

Ripped jeans have tripped the honourable CM of UK, Uttarakhand. But obvious, it couldn't have been United Kingdom as they apparently do not have any qualms about genes forget about jeans. The genes are playing truant with Harry meeting his Sally (Meg...han) or may be it is more like "Harry met Sejal" after all with blue blooded prince ending up with the mixed race American. Anyway getting back to the original culprit, that pair of jeans which raised this storm in the knee cap in the first place.

Jeans have nothing to do with traditions, in fact jeans made their presence felt as the attire for typical blue collar workers, coarse, rough and tough. “If we were to use a human term to describe a textile we might say that denim is an honest fabric - substantial, forthright, and unpretentious,” as quoted in American Fabrics a magazine in US in the 60s.  Then somehow the bourgeois got wind of this piece of clothing and converted it to haute couture (high fashion).

 So the ripped ones pass the test with flying colours, ‘honesty’ in the fabric is a given with no sleight of hand here, as some of our desi shopkeepers are known to be expert in hiding the flaws in the materials for sale, with the flaws carefully camouflaged and subsequent denial and “Blame it on the “customeRio” types. Forthright is actually an understatement here, these are simple ‘ in your face’  and with absolutely no pretensions whatsoever. So just take a peek on the images of two of the finest specimens of this designer wear ……..

Somewhere down the line these tatters became a fashion statement, the beggars in India can now have their own line of prêt a porter (ready to wear) and can proudly boast of their high end attire while serenading on their daily promenades on the streets ‘walking the ramp’ rather than ‘street walking’.

Frankly to most of the people in and around our generation, this fashion statement is beyond our imagination, while we may not mind ogling at the exposed anatomy but as an attire worthy of being shown off….well well! I will of course refrain from  commenting on the knees, ankles or any other part of the anatomy, won’t like to be in the shoes of Mr Rawat.

Now taking a look at the etymology of ‘ripped’, the Mirriam Webster describes ripped as a slang “To be stoned or high out of ones mind by the means or weed/ To look very muscular and built/ To take information off a portable device. Usually a CD.”  The ripping of info is out of context here, as far as the other two are concerned I will leave it to the readers to decide if the definition fits the bill or rips it….. The jeans in question have been ripped threadbare in any case!