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But the idea that jeans are "honest" clothing is exactly what attracted 50s and especially 60s "counter-culture" types to them. Previous rules of proper attire dictated that jeans were only worn by working-class men. Starting really in the 50s it started to become "cool" for people who were not working-class and who didn't need to wear jeans to wear them. Part of this is certainly due to the influence of the cowboy theme in the post-war era, I agree. Jeans in the 60s particularly were a statement by young people, again, people who were not workmen or largely even working-class, that they were rebelling against the establishment, and the "suits" and instead were going to substitute a more egalitarian and democratic fashion, drawn on the lower class in the same way that the era idolized folk music and folk art. The problem today is that the generation which wore jeans as a statement of their reaction to the establishment now IS the establishment. It is their children and grand-children who are wearing jeans today. Nobody wearing jeans today is wearing them as a protest against injustice or for democratic or egalitarian values. People today largely wear jeans simply because they grew up wearing them, their parents wore them, their friends wear them, celebrities wear them, and they are sold and seen in every possible store. This is why you see the proliferation of so many different styles, cuts, demin fabrics, distressing, embossing, painting, ripping, acid-washing, shredding and plain destruction of jeans. It isn't cool JUST to wear jeans as it was in the 50s or 60s. Today, you have to be wearing the right brand and style of jeans. Essentially you wear the jeans of the group you want to identify with. And because of this, jeans are no longer "honest" workwear. They are simply another status-symbol for label-concious consumers eager to impress people with the fact that they paid $285 for a pair of jeans which cost $2.85 to produce in China.

I wouldn't call mens clothing boring at all! Most men, of course, dress terribly, as do most women. But that is not some inherent fault in the clothing options available to men, but rather in the fact that modern society places no value either sex dressing well. From what I have seen most men don't even know how to tie a tie properly, much less coordinate pattern, color and cloth between 4 or 5 different articles of clothing. But for the man with an interest in clothes and style, mens clothing offers a wide array of possibilities.