The Met

In America: A Lexicon of Fashion, the current exhibition at the Met’s Costume Institute in New York features an ambitious overview of American Fashion. Amongst the vitrines devoted to the palatial and opulent designers spanning the past eight decades, stands three pieces by Tremaine Emory, founder of Denim Tears. Before we understand the Denim Tears contributions to the exhibition, one has to (as singer Cher once sung it) Turn Back Time. In 1989, Ralph Lauren debuted his American Flag Sweater. The print consisted of the 1777 version of the flag, with 13 stars representing the original US colonies accompanied by the RL signature logo on the bottom left side of the knit. For Lauren, the jumper represented his archetype for a new America. Being the son of immigrants from Belarus, the design ignited his visceral desire to define what we now so often call “Americana.” Fast-forward to April 2021, Tremaine Emory, whose designs are deeply rooted in shining a light on Black History and African American history through slavery and racial persecution, has evoked an off-kilter fever dream-turned-reality of “Afro-Americana.”

A historical haze marks the tapestry of Emory’s cultural influences. From being inspired by his own family’s history, transitioning to a distinctive vision tapping into a conscious collective of African American conceptual conceptualism, his designs for Denim Tears have become a vivid tribute to a 20th century US cultural blueprint, all mapped onto a bold call-to-question view of America’s chequered past. In appropriate geography, Emory’s Tyson Beckford Sweater, a reinterpretation of the 1989 Ralph Lauren sweater which replaces the original American flag with a version of African-American Flag by prolific artist David Hammons is ironically and intentionally situated next to the Ralph Lauren sweater at the exhibition. Emory fittingly labelled his design after black model Tyson Beckford, who was not only the first black male model to work with Ralph Lauren, but was the first black male model to receive supermodel status. The Denim Tears Tyson Beckford Sweater acts as a natural aesthetic counterpart to the original Ralph Lauren knit.

The exhibition also features the Denim Tears Cotton Wreath Signature 501 and Trucker Jacket from Emory’s first collaboration with Levis.