Joan Jett on Her Favorite Jeans: The Rock ’n’ Roll Rebel’s Denim Style

Maybe you came to Joan Jett as I first did—were you also once a kid in a T-shirt and faded jeans, roller-skating at the local rink over a disco ball–lit floor to endless put-another-dime-in-the-jukebox-baby repeats of “I Love Rock N’ Roll”? Or like late-teens fan me, singing along to “Cherry Bomb” in a thrifted seventies shirt and ripped, toughed-up jeans—in some far-off mimicry of Jett’s own teenage Runaways guitar-playing self, touring with the Ramones, producing the Germs album, playing wildly sold-out shows around the world?

Or, confess, maybe you first heard her via Kristen Stewart’s dead-on portrayal in the movie based on the Runaways (which Jett executive-produced), alongside Dakota Fanning as Cherie Currie and opposite Michael Shannon as the diabolical (and recently much maligned) band manager, Kim Fowley. Maybe you just bought your ticket to Joan’s upcoming Madison Square Garden concert and tucked it into the frame of your full-length mirror, as subtle inspiration for all your outfits between now and then. Which, no doubt will consist of a killer leather jacket, a T-shirt, and jeans. But definitely the jeans.

It’s been a fashion year in which pivotal figures of seventies counterculture are being adopted as the faces of major brand campaigns—Joan Didion, for Céline; Joni Mitchell, for Saint Laurent; Neil Young, for Supreme. And now, in that vein, Levi's is tipping its back pocket to Jett. The brand recently created a collection, Levi’s New Women’s Denim, partly in homage to the singer’s rock ’n’ roll style and rebel spirit—and it all comes 80 years after Levi’s created the first pair of jeans designed specifically for women. It’s certainly not Jett’s first time playing muse: Marc Jacobs’s Fall 2013 models channeled her signature black fringe shag; and surely we can thank Joan, at least in part, for last fall and winter’s ubiquitous black leather biker jacket.

The tough, punk, slimmed-down silhouettes in the Levi’s line call to mind Jett’s current look, but the wide range of cuts on offer in the collection, available to shop now, speak to her diverse life in denim: Since she learned her first guitar chords at the age of fourteen, the singer has worn her jeans in every iteration imaginable: classic blues, faded, black, patched, ripped, straight leg, boot leg, flared, cuffed, you name it—throughout a career that spans glam, punk, classic rock, riot grrl; film, stage, and television. Who else can claim to look this good in so many different pairs of jeans?

Here, Jett talks to us about her approach to style, her own muses, and denim in particular.

Who is the style icon for someone who is a style icon in her own right? Who inspired you most, then and now?
Then, it was fellow musicians that I always looked to. David Bowie was always a big one and today I'm kind of locked in. I don't really look to anybody in particular now, although I do look at the fashion magazines from time to time. I think I can always find a piece to wear from any designer. It's a mix-and-match thing for me, high and low concept.

You spent your childhood in Maryland, and moved to Southern California around age fourteen, when your dad’s job got transferred. I know that opened up a lot musically for you—you’ve talked about going to places like Rodney Bingenheimer's English Disco on the Sunset Strip and getting turned onto glitter rock bands. Did moving out West also change or free you up in terms of what you wore?
Yes, I definitely felt freer because where I was going, people dressed how I wanted to dress. It carried over into school a little bit when people heckled Diamond Dogs!

Well, the Bowie must have worked! Your love of Levi's has been well documented in so many different styles over the years. But when it comes down to it now, what for you constitutes the perfect pair of jeans?
Low rise, tight, straight leg, and big front pockets (which a lot of girl jeans don't have).

One of my favorite photos ever taken of you is the one above, with the safety pin across the fly of your denim. What’s the story behind this picture, and these jeans?
Most likely my zipper was broken and certainly at that time it was a very punk rock way to close your pants. I didn't have to worry about the look because it worked. It wasn't easy in the bathroom though . . . !