Why holes became a fashion statement

Dubai - Madonna, pushing 60, is still wearing them while Mumbai Colleges have banned them. Most wear them to re-engineer their fashion genes

Since Instagram is the last word on everything cool, trendy and - sigh - 'millennial', it merits a mention that there are 1,592,127 posts with the hashtag ripped jeans. You'd think there'd be more. And in real life - on the streets, in the malls - of course there are. Too many people roam around in torn clothes, documenting and glorifying their wardrobe choices. I have to admit, when some Mumbai colleges earlier this month banned tattered clothes on campus, I felt none of the indignation I did when, some time back, an uptight committee in India was droning on about how girls shouldn't wear skirts. That's different.
A fortnight ago, I was at a plush-ish restaurant (The Maine Oyster Bar & Grill Restaurant, Hilton JBR) with four others, two of whom were wearing massively ripped jeans. One was a Sudanese woman who'd been in Dubai two years and works in the media. She'd nattied up her look with a black blazer and white wedge heels. Knees were well-ventilated. She told me it was a natural tear. "They wore out! I've had this pair for 10 years!" I felt relieved that a pair with gaping holes wasn't paid for at least. A triumph for sustainable fashion, I say. The other wearer of rags was a childhood friend visiting from New York, who was once not allowed into a club till he came back in a collared shirt. He was amused that I was asking all these questions for an article. His pseudo-American explanation for the bedraggled look (torn jeans, grey tee, sneakers)? "That's how we roll in Brooklyn, yo." Just as well there wasn't a dress code that evening.
In eight years of working as a flight attendant in Dubai, Nandita Mehta says she sees ripped jeans all the time, in every city in the world. Sometimes, the rips are so glaring, she says ,"beggars would be embarrassed for the people wearing them and probably offer them their clothes!" The countries of slight exception? Italy and France, apparently, where you see a more acceptable level of rip. Folks there simply don't believe in torn clothes.
Yes, yes, we're all for self-expression, but...
Never has society been more accepting of what people come up with in the name of personal style and creative freedom. Hurray! Good for them. I suppose we should celebrate with a pair of scissors and a shiny blade. We're told tweezers is the way to go though. A long, painstaking process, people actually do embark on this exercise of carefully pulling apart fabric, one thread at a time. A large rip on the upper thigh and another a little lower (with scissors) and then you pluck at vertical threads so the ones across are intact. If you don't trust yourself, find a tailor in Satwa or Karama who'll do it for you for Dh50, depending on how well you bargain.
Really? Smart formals?
Outside Al Barsha Mall in Dubai, Sharjah-born Natalie Coelho, logistics co-ordinator, sports a ripped pair from American Eagle, bought on sale for Dh150. Every time a family member sees her in them, they offer to buy her a pair. She's wearing them to the mall on a weekday, as she doesn't have to go in to the office. Not even on a casual Thursday to work is it a suitable look. Praise the lord.
French national Cyril Zammit of Dubai Design District says he's too old for ripped jeans. The trend that has outlived itself. Zammit says he was distracted at a business meeting recently when someone turned up in a pair of torn jeans. He wasn't offended, no. "I need more to be offended," he says. "But it was misplaced and inappropriate."
Celebrities and their classic choices
The destruction of denims is not new. Madonna in the 1980s posed for a bunch of polaroid shots for photographer Richard Corman. We got to see them only in November. A young Madonna is languorous across a kitchen stove, so sure of herself in her white tee and ripped jeans - despite which, it has to be said, she looked fabulous. I was most struck by the lace stockings she had on under the jeans. Got to hand it to her for pulling off self-styling with such aplomb. Thirty years later, she's still wearing torn jeans (no lace) and hitting London's party scene with Kate Moss and Naomi Campbell.
Threadbare, but at least that
Celebrities are one thing. But, for the mortals, how much is enough? "A little bit of rip is okay, but not as though a mad animal has been let loose on you," says Dubai-based fashion stylist Ujala Khan. Hers is another family that always remarks on such jeans and, although she's "beyond the point of taking those remarks with grace," she sticks to un-ripped pairs when meeting them. Khan rips her jeans at home. All you've got to do, she says, is plonk down with a tweezer, watch four back-to-back episodes of Game of Thrones, and keep distressing. To achieve the perfect grade of rip, technique is essential, as is patience.
It should surprise no one that people have more than one pair of ripped jeans. Iraqi national Shahd Al Jumaily, an architect and fashion blogger in Dubai, has 10 pairs of ripped jeans, and about 25 pairs in all. She thinks the right ripped pair is a classic, like the Little Black Dress. Her jeans come from Topshop, Zara, Salsa Jeans, even H&M and American Eagle. Her advice? Don't spend too much on a pair: Dh250 to Dh500, tops. Not a fan of too much colour or too much bling - the rips have to be just right, around the knee. Less is more, she says. As far as we're concerned, least is better still.nivriti@khaleejtimes.com
HOW TO RIP YOUR PAIRAT HOME (If you must) 
Old-timers used to throw their jeans on the road so cars could run over them and lend an authentic battered look. We're giving you a less hazardous way. You'll need chalk, scissors, sandpaper, tweezers and (optional) steel wool and a pumice stone.
Find a flat surface (floor's great) and spread your jeans flat out. Make sure you're not wearing them.
Figure out areas you want to rip - the sensible approach.
Use chalk for the markings.
Bear in mind: less is always more - for beginners especially. So, go easy.
For minimal distress, bring on the sandpaper, and scrape away till you like what you see.
For a look with threads showing, grab scissors and make your incision. Horizontal is a wiser choice. If you want holes, slice vertical. Then pluck at vertical threads with tweezers.
Let some threads remain. Ripped is just a bit more acceptable than torn.