The San Francisco room housing a $412,750 pair of jeans

""We had a real tough time getting a mannequin to fit in his jeans," Tracey Panek says, fishing the Sotheby's auction tag out of the back pocket. "Look how small they are!" Panek is referring to Freddie Mercury, the front man of Queen. About 34 years after Mercury's death, a (small) mannequin in a San Francisco room now wears his worn-down skinny jeans, leather jacket and red T-shirt."

"This exchange is taking place inside the Vault, a small museum dedicated to the history of Levi's. It's tucked inside the denim company's headquarters, which is located at 1155 Battery Street, a few paces off the Embarcadero. Levi's, which will turn 175 years old in 2028, was founded in San Francisco. On Wednesday, the Vault opened to the public for the first time since the start of the pandemic, one month after the company reopened its Levi's Plaza store nearby."

"The exhibit opened on Wednesday and is running through Dec. 18. On a denim suit that designer Bill Whitten stitched together for Elton John in the '70s, you can spot a Levi's waistband running up one of the legs, complete with the leather tag. There's also a Canadian tuxedo, studded with Swarovski crystals that Beyonce wore during a Levi's commercial earlier this year."

"That svelte Freddie Mercury mannequin is one of nine that comprise the current exhibit, a collection of denim outfits worn by pop, country and rock stars from the last 60 years. Mercury never wore those jeans on stage - if he did, they would have sold for much more - but was spotted in them at rehearsals, Panek said: "We like to say he was living in his Levi's. They're super worn-out.""

Levi's Vault in San Francisco houses a rotating collection of historic denim and reopened to the public after pandemic closures. The small museum sits at Levi's headquarters near the Embarcadero and runs the current exhibit through Dec. 18. The display presents nine mannequins dressed in garments associated with pop, rock and country stars from the last six decades, including Freddie Mercury's worn skinny jeans, a Bill Whitten denim suit for Elton John with a visible Levi's waistband, a Swarovski-studded Canadian tuxedo worn by Beyonce, and all-denim outfits worn by Justin Timberlake and Britney Spears.

Read at SFGATE