Mary is a cultural critic, educator, and historian specializing in fashion and its relationship to music, sport, dance, and visual arts.
November 19, 2025
NPR: What we can learn about Kurt Cobain, Freddie Mercury and Beyoncé from their denim.
Mary Davis, a fashion historian and musicologist at Yale University, said musicians use denim in many different ways to construct identity and share messages.
Beyoncé's Levi's 501 Curve Jeans & Levi's Trucker Jacket from 2025. The artist wore this ensemble as part of an ad campaign for Levi's, having performed the song "Levii's Jeans" on her album Cowboy Carter.
"There's a way in which you can see denim being almost a blank canvas for anything that anybody wants to make it," Davis said.
Davis points to Bruce Springsteen's 1984 album Born in the U.S.A., with its songs about the struggles of the working class – and its memorable album cover. It shows Springsteen from behind in worn blue Levi's, a white T-shirt and a red baseball cap stuffed into a back pocket.
November 19, 2025