Tremaine Emory Wants Denim Tears to Teach You What History Books Won't
Watching Tremaine Emory pick out clothes from Denim Tears' Spring/Summer 2026 collection is like watching a scholar pick books from his personal library. The man has a story for everything. One minute, it’s how a metallic brown pair of shorts borrow their color from Statue of Liberty’s oxidized copper exterior; then, it’s the history of century-old London department store Liberty, whose world-famous in-house patterns inspired a new Denim Tears floral; next, the Olaf shorts he wore playing basketball in his youth. “The way kids look for Pokémon cards, cats would be trying to find the right Olafs," Emory laughs. "You know what I mean?”
Every item is informed by a thoughtful narrative that goes beyond its surface appeal. Of course, Denim Tears wouldn’t be half of what it is today were its clothes not a stylistic match to its substance.
“There are a million choices to make when you're making clothes, that's why I love the anchor of a story. It helps really narrow down the choices,” Emory says, pausing to choose the right words. “Denim Tears is a brand about America, constantly putting things through my view of America, my view of Black culture, and the way Black culture has helped build America from the very beginning. Just like many other cultures have.”
It’s this storytelling that sets Denim Tears apart. As he reveals in his conversation with Highsnobiety, Emory would be making art if he didn’t feel clothing was a more efficient way of spreading a message.
This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.
Where did the title for the Spring/Summer 2026 collection, "Libertas," come from?
It was inspired by a viral video of Dr. Joy DeGru, who is a professor, researcher, and so much more. It was about the true history of the Statue of Liberty, which was created by a French abolitionist who gave the Statue of Liberty to the United States to celebrate the end of slavery. In the original version of the Statue of Liberty, she was holding broken shackles from her hand. [America] was like, "We don't want that, we don't like that," so they forced him to change it, and that's why she has the book. That's a forced revision.
He clandestinely moved the shackles to her feet, which, if you go back to 1876, it was impossible to see those chains. Helicopters didn't exist and you could only see it from the ground, so ultimately those chains were invisible. Dr. DeGru talks about being invited to Ellis Island and she questions the ranger who's giving the tour. She sends an email and talks to him about [the true history] and he says they’re gonna include in every tour of the Statue of Liberty that it was made for them to celebrate the destruction of slavery. And they do, to this day.
What if Black folk grew up [knowing] this thing represented them? Things like that matter. Whether it's a monument, schools, on TV, in books… representation matters. The point of the collection is to be a bridge towards Dr. DeGru's work, a bridge over the algorithm, and also to show that she's one person who changed something. To me, that's pretty impressive.
How do you look at the Statue of Liberty differently since learning about Dr. DeGru?
I see it now as something that's hiding the truth. Something that's obscured. Like so many things in this country, things are obscured and not told because people don't want to be uncomfortable or to do what's considered hard work to appropriately show the truth and show history.
What are some of your favorite ways that you then translated that onto the clothing?
I love the leather jacket. It has the motif of the true Lady Libertas, with the actual shackle she should've been holding. Then I added some artistic liberties and gave her the visage of a Black woman. This is quite on the nose, right? I like to have direct one-to-one [depictions] of the story and then more indirect references.
The designers on my team, I give them references and sometimes they give me the references, so everything you see here doesn't come out of my mind. I couldn't do any of this stuff without my colleagues, my design team, and everyone who works for the company. The world is obsessed with creative directors and directors in general. Maybe people think it sells better by heralding one person, but that's not how things get made.
What indirect references that are really personal to you in the collection?
The varsity for the season is an homage to some legendary guys from my hood. It's a nod to them and a nod to Fubu. I'm putting in things like my time in London and my hood that I'm from, and then making changes. They’re little love letters to different parts of my life.
Patagonia is a brand that I love and its logo is based on the skyline of a famous mountain in Patagonia. [We flipped that logo using] the skyline growing up in my hood. I wasn't in Patagonia, I was in the hood. The mountain in my hood was Liberty Rock, I used to pass by it every day.
Do you go back there often?
On Farmer's Day, I go there. Part of me is always there, for better or worse. I wouldn't change anything growing up there. But, yeah, I've seen a lot. I learned a lot about the human condition growing up in a neighborhood like Farmers Boulevard.
And that connection to Queens really comes through in the clothing. How did Denim Tears get to the place it is today?
The brand started from my art practice. I was in an art show in London back in 2019 for Prada. I presented some work with Grace Wales Bonner and [A-COLD-WALL* founder] Sam Ross. I also had a collaborative artwork I did with Virgil [Abloh] at his mid-career show in Atlanta. I was making these artworks and then I made a decision. I felt that the art world, as cool or credible as it is, doesn't have a lot of access to the people that I wanted to reach. I felt I could get this message out and get these ideas out to more people through clothing.
Kerry James Marshall just had an incredible show in London. You go through the show, and there's the gift shop, you can buy the book, a t-shirt with the painting on it or a scarf, a coffee mug, a hat… I was like, "I'm gonna skip to the gift shop."
The wide plethora of people I see in the street [who] I don’t see in the art galleries. So I made a decision to put these works and ideas on clothing. Hopefully, I get back to making art. Some have said they see me as a conceptual artist, and [Denim Tears] is a conceptual art project. I agree with that. But people can call it what they want.
Trey Dickenson contributed reporting.
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