Emily Bode was already a Levi's superfan before she even made her own pair. The New York designer references her own vast collection of vintage Levi's when devising denim for her label, Bode, and her collaborative Bode Levi's are draw as much from that archive as they do her personal history. The result is a pair of jeans that're the first of their kind and yet already a piece of history. Oh, and they're really, really good.

The Bode Levi's Barrel Racer Jean is not a barrel leg. Instead, its name comes from the fact that it's suited to barreling around rodeos atop a pony — one specific pony at that — with a utilitarian straight-leg cut that subtly updates the classic cowboy jean. And as per usual with Bode, the details go much deeper.

While Bode's Levi's are not shrink to fit like the denim pants of old, they are offered in two variations of handsome pre-washed selvedge denim trimmed with studs and stones in a manner that recalls the post-war "dude ranch" fashion boom, back when Levi's sold "Ranch Pants." But these jeans are not a mere repro.

Bode's name is chainstitched in place of Levi's jacron patch on the rear, the typical Levi's red tab is swapped for purple, and a photo of the designer with her childhood horse, Checkers, is printed on the interior pocketbags. Checkers is also directly referenced with the cute “Mr. Checkers’s Favorite Pair” on the rear pocket, making these an imminently wearable pair of cowboy jeans for any horse girl. (Or guy.)

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Even the jeans' name brings it all back home. Bode's reference to barrel racing isn't merely surface level: she competed in the sport herself, riding Checkers to rodeo glory back in the '90s.

And barrel racing was the first rodeo event opened to women, aligning how Bode's eponymous label personalizes — literally, with bespoke stitching or printing, and figuratively through updated cuts — gendered notions Americana.

“This collaboration felt very personal," Bode tells Highsnobiety. "It allowed me to celebrate the longstanding history of Levi’s while revisiting childhood memories of competing with my pony, Checkers, a retired barrel-racer who first introduced me to the culture and tradition of the American rodeo."

As such, these bespoke denim pants will be right at home when they launch at Bode's new Tokyo flagship store on April 3, before wider release on Bode's website and other stores on April 10.

Their aesthetic appeal also aligns with Bode's other high-profile partnerships. Its Nike collaborations come to mind, given how they modernized a forgotten sport shoe. In this case, though, Bode isn't merely drawing from the archive; she made a pair of jeans that's quite literally her own.

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