The coolest style statement today still remains a pair of true-blue jeans, which continue to inspire a cult following believes Shirin Mehta

Little could good ole Levi Strauss (Leob changed his name later to Levis) have imagined that the brown tenting material he carried to gold prospectors in California (in the 19th century) during the gold rush, would metamorphose into the fashion fabric of the century. The prospectors, as it turned out, needed not tents, but pants and so was born the first Levi's, the jeans that the fashion conscious still love to pour themselves into. The diehard jeans buff even today remains uncharmed by other brands, staying faithful to the original button-fly 501 (named after the lot number of the tenting material) immune to the seductions of labels and brands. (My husband, a product of the confrontational '60s who has lived his life in 501s, had this one wish for me - to make a wedding sari in denim. Did I oblige?) Hubby definitely approved of the newly-crowned Jennifer Hawkins, posing for photographers with her Miss Universe sash over a pair of hippy blues.

Since Levi's astute business turn around, denims have been stitched over and under, riveted, pocketted, slashed, ripped, shredded, splashed with paint and encrusted with lace. (The '30s saw cowboy jeans made popular on the big screen; the '50s saw the teenage rebel battling his cause in blue; the '60s and '70s flowered into the hippie age; the '80s saw the designer label emerging….) And today, jeans have been washed…mist wash, cloud wash, sacred wash, chic wash, jeans in steam and even a chicken catcher wash is what I discover in designer catalogues. They have been bell-bottomed (a cool 22 inches around each leg was mandatory when I was a teenager) laced up, low-strung and clinched at the ankle. Beaten, sand papered, pre-shrunk, distressed, preserved, dyed bright and faded light. And the spectrum of blues range from the natural to the bizarre - powder blue, dark dirty, light dirty, dark used…. Not to be outdone by designer fashion and in keeping with current trends, retro is the latest on offer.

Levi's and Wrangler, the true blue-blooded, were joined by fashion rip-offs which appeased the label conscious. Guess is a perennial favourite and The Gap has entered the hallowed almost-blue-blooded legions. A myriad labels made their own statements from the rebellious to the body-hugging stylish. Check these out: Evisu regularly featured in Vogue; Diesel for the outre; Ms Sixty, a self-confessed favourite with model Joey Matthews; Seven, a brand that designer Monisha Jaising prefers; Earl Jean, a must-have with fashionistas in style-conscious Mumbai. And on the indigo bandwagon, jump the couture houses: Giorgio Armani has exclusive Armani Jeans stores in all the major fashion capitals of Europe and the US while Max Mara has cashed into the jean craze with its label Max and Co. Dior stocks denims woven with their upmarket logo and Louis Vuitton's Marc Jacobs displays a fine selection of denims for both men and women in his Marc by Marc Jacobs line. Closer home, Ritu Kumar does an embossed line; Rohiqua Mistry stocks embellished varieties at Ensemble; Rocky S puts Bollywood into rock star vintage and Arun Nanda decorates with elan.

There's enough indigo here, I decide, to make an inkpot blush. Yet, I grew up in jeans, turbulently teenaged in them and finally zipped them up firmly in middle age. Nothing indicates that I will not wrinkle serenely into a pair of designer cut-offs, far from the rebellious indigo of my earlier days. And, as I grow into, grow out of and grow forward to the newest cut - bootleg, straights, flares - I realise that the thing about jeans is this. That they mellow like very fine wine. That they grow old with amazing sensuality. That the blanched bits reveal the person that you are, outside and in. Who can pitch out that old, bleached, tattered pair that has moulded with time into a second skin? The ones that saw all life's little ups and downs. Joy, sadness and passion are imprinted into those discoloured bits that adorn butt, thigh and seam, irrevocably. Every curve, telltale bulge, muscle line is sculpted into the fabric and outline of your form-fitted blues.

So, I wonder, shrugging into my pre-faded low-waisters with the silver rivets, does pre-washed, pre-shrunk, pre-everything-else seem like I am squeezing into a ready-made personality? Am I jumping the years and looking for easy answers? I pull out my oldest, almost-faded-to-white pair of Levi's from the back of my closet and realise, yes. I have succumbed, much to my own dismay, to a ready-made mould.

Designers Wooing Denim

Falguni and Shane:

Denim look, jet set embroidery.

Shane says: "I am a jeans person - every day, day in and day out. They are so comfortable, even wearing a dirty pair does not matter. Our jeans are different because of the work on them - thread work, turquoise stones…these are very popular with the younger crowd."
Favourite pair: I mostly wear Levi's. Also Lee Cooper.
Fantasy denim: I would love to design a G-string in denim and Lycra. That's the only thing you don't get in denim. We export a lot of embroidered bikini tops to Spain but to get a matching G-string is difficult. There is a huge market for this…."

Rocky S:

Denim look, vintage-meets-rock star.

Rocky says: "Rocky S Jeans are doing fab business. Denim is very very fashionable and we are treating it as the new look for the new fashion. It is a comfortable fabric and you can make it look different every season. My fall/winter collection has a very rock star feel with lots of screen printing to give a washed look."
Favourite pair: I am the biggest fan of denims and own 80 to 90 pairs of jeans. It is major in my wardrobe. I just bought a really cool pair of Diesel jeans, my favourite brand, which are new but look like you have worn them for years and years…."
Fantasy denim: I want to make ball gowns in denim. I would add laces and ruffles to give an old Victorian feel but the base fabric would remain denim.

Aki Narula:

Denim look, in overshirts, jackets, jeans….

Aki says: "Personally, 80 per cent of my wardrobe is denim."
Favourite pair: Every year, the favourite changes. This year, it is an off-white Diesel with mud stains and mud streaks.
Fantasy denim: I would make the best pair of jeans that would completely hug the butt and that would be the new 'Butt pair of jeans by Aki'.

Rina Dhaka:

Denim look, considering denim styles in her new collection.

Rina says: "I lived my life worshipping fads and jeans. I know jeans better than any designer. Most of my cupboard is jeans, I have about 40 pairs. I buy old 20s jeans from all over the world. Today, embellishment is out. They are distressing them, dyeing them and fitting them perfectly." Seven, Humanity for Mankind and Dona Karan are the best.
Favourite pair: My new Chip and Peppers from Barneys. I love grey washes.
Fantasy denim: Currently, I would go in for a cool distressing - denim shredded into a lace-like pattern, yet where it does not fall apart.

How to wear your new blues

• Keep them hip-hugging, the lower-riding the better to show off those navel rings and hip tattoos.
• Accessorise with bright colours - orange, pink, yellow - be contemporary.
• Neon handbags and bright-hued stilettos carry your day blues to night. Sequinned tops and halters make them glitter.
• Embellish your latest buy with Swarovski, lace or stick-on sequins. Go crazy with a paintbrush. Do it yourself and use your imagination.
• Fold the hem and pin it up with safety pins. Great for the monsoons. Reference: Max and Co's current collection.
• Tapes of Swarovski crystals attached to hem, pocket, belt tabs, can dress up jeans to advantage.
• Pair with body-conscious T-shirts in vibrant colours; show skin this season

Fact File

• Arvind Mills is India's largest and the world's third largest producer of denim. They roll out more then 120 million metres of the fabric.
• Summer of '99, Tom Ford's feathered, beaded, beat-up, torn-knee Gucci blue jeans, seen globally, sell out instantaneously at $ 3715 a pop.
• Helmut Lang's silver-sprayed pants, irreversibly put jeans into the realm of high fashion.
• The word, 'jeans' comes from a kind of material made in Europe and named after sailors from Genova in Italy, who wore clothes made from it.
• The word 'denim' came from the name of a French material, 'serge de nimes'.
• Jacob Davis had the idea of using metal rivets to hold the pockets and jeans together, since the miners found they tore off easily. Davis did not have the finances to patent his idea and so he struck a deal with Levi Strauss who payed for the patent.
• Denim is unique in its connection with one colour. Until the introduction of synthetic dyes in the 19th century, indigo was the most significant natural dye known to mankind, linked with practical fabrics and work clothing. In 1894, a synthetic substitute was successfully perfected.