Denim’s association with “sexy rebelliousness” started almost half a century ago across the globe when the hippies took to it and made it a symbol of protest and anti-establishment. Through the years, jeans became more mainstream, alternating between comfort wear and fashion wear. Closer home, in the last couple of years, the sale of western clothes in Tier II and III cities has been phenomenal, according to industry experts.

“The rise in sale of western clothes is less than 20 per cent but that’s still huge. Most of the demand is from the smaller cities. Kanpur is one of the fastest-growing cities in terms of western clothing, including jeans,” says Rakesh Vaid, chairman of the Apparel Export Promotion Council.
But then, as with any change, denim’s entry in small-town India hasn’t been without hitches. It was frowned upon, dismissed as a symbol of warped mentality, and denounced as being against the Indian culture. And the women, dreamy-eyed and totally in love with what denim promised, were pitched in a battle with those who guarded “culture” fiercely.

Neighbours asked Nancy’s mother, Mandeep Kaur,to tell her daughters to be “decent” and give up on jeans. Those things don’t look like nice in this area, they had said.
Mandeep, who has never worn jeans but buys them for her daughters, came up with a solution. “She told us to wear long kurtas with capris. We did. But that became a trend too,” says Nancy, who has her own “denim treasure” that she wants us to see. She takes us to the family’s modest quarters. From a cupboard, squeezed in between the living room and the kitchen, she pulls out her first pair—a pair of bell-bottoms with trappings and buckles. She was in Class 6 when she bought them. Those were in vogue then—high-waist, snug-fit and elephant flares. She gently tosses a greyish, slim-fit jeans on to the chair and turns to a hippie-style jeans with embroidery and a torn finish. These jeans were inducted into the collection just three years ago.

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