Forum From the Archives: New Levi’s Exhibit Proves Iconic Jeans Never Fade

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KQED

News Commentary, News, Politics

4.2 • 727 Ratings

🗓️ 26 December 2025

⏱️ 52 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Beyond just a wardrobe staple, jeans are often key parts of signature looks and core memories. Levi Strauss, the San Francisco company that brought jeans to the masses, has reopened its history museum, The Vault, with an exhibit called “Amped” that celebrates iconic denim looks worn by musicians including Kurt Cobain, Beyoncé, Britney Spears and Freddie Mercury. We listen back to our conversation about the exhibit and hear stories of your favorite pair of jeans. Tell us about the jeans that made you feel brave, the ones covered in patches that you refused to retire or maybe the pair that you were wearing when you met your first love. Guests: Gregory Climer, chair, fashion design program at California College of the Arts Audrey Kalman, created a denim archive for her master's degree from the University of Oregon Tracey Panek, Levi Strauss and Co. historian Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:43.9	Wherever you get your podcast.
0:46.4	From KQED.
0:49.0	Welcome to Forum. I'm Alexis Madrigal.
0:52.2	A nice thing about Friday shows is that we get here and sometimes we've had a week of hard shows
0:59.0	because legends have died, the heaviness of the world is upon us.
1:03.0	And so sometimes we try to pull back from the news and tap into more cultural currents,
1:08.0	the stuff that feels relevant and deep but a little less fraught, a little more personal.
1:12.6	Today's show is a great example.
1:14.6	Genes are huge part of daily life for many people, and they also manage to scale up to stardom.
1:20.6	Our whole team was gathered yesterday just sort of talking about the genes that made us feel like ourselves,
1:25.6	made us feel silly, made us feel like
1:28.2	Britney Spears. We're talking first today about a new exhibit at the Levi's Museum, and then we're
	...

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