What changed this spring ?

Today, Gap's challenge is mostly same -- being fashionable without alienating its khaki-loving base. "If we move towards super-trendy, off-the-runway, it's not going to feel appropriate," said Breitbard. "And if it's too basic, it's going to feel boring."For every fashion-forward shopper like Winsky who loves the new eye-catching colors, there's another who thinks they are unwearable. "Popular or not, colored jeans are still a little too bright and funky for me," said Lin Shackleford, 29, a blogger who works in a government office in Orange County, Calif.

In Lin's office, colored jeans are the only kind allowed by the dress code. Even still, "I don't think I could pull them off," she said.To some, a cooler image isn't worth the price. Over the past year, Gap has attempted to wean itself from discounts and promotions in order to elevate its brand image. Along the way, it has also alienated some customers, such as Charlotte Stone, who said she was shocked to find a pair of premium jeans costing $69 at a New York City Gap store two weeks ago.

"I was leaving work to go out and I wanted to grab some cute skinny jeans on the go," the 22-year-old PR assistant said. "Tried some on, good fit, good wash. But they were paper-thin. When I checked the tag and saw $69 I was so taken aback I left the store without even bothering to look for sale jeans.Janet Kloppenburg, an analyst at JKK Research, said Gap's colored jeans and its transformation came sooner than she expected. Gap "identified a trend and were on it more than their competitors," she said. Typically, retailers take more than a year to make such changes, she said.