Therefore the other day I was going through the photo album of the jeans and laughed at these bags that I used to wear high school. We’re talking JNCO-level ridiculous. And this made me start to wonder as to where all this hip-hop fashion actually originated from. Going beyond the conception of the baggy jeans or the harebrained excitement of hip hop culture, it has greatly coined the way the world is dressed.
Hip-hop fashion is everything that people wear – music and a culture but also an ethos entailing striking attitude, self-assertion, and standing at the top of the global fashion market worth over ten billion dollars originating from the block in Bronx. That, however, is another story and perhaps requires another paper to answer questions like: When did it all start? Let us embark on a historical breakdown of the phase through which remixed in altered terrain a style was evolved.
The Birth in the Bronx: Late 1970s to Early 1980s
Hip-hop fashion, therefore, did not just emerge suddenly but developed hand in hand with hip-hop music during the latter part of 1970s in South Bronx. While the grandmaster was mixing breaks and grand flash was cutting, this was evolving from the streets.
Hip-hop fashion started and developed from the hints of jeans and the clothes that were related to it to actual hints of statement that were economic. B-boys and the B-girls sported casual and loose fitting clothing that could be easily moved around in: loose track suits, sneakers and sporty wear, Nike and Adidas. Those shelltoe Adidas Superstars weren’t shoes; they symbolized that the individual was part of the new wave he or she was trendy.
It wasn’t just music for them – sure, Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five were feeding people tracks, but there was style in their moves as well. Their look was quite practical but at the same time kind of extravagant: leather coats and jackets, fitted pants and jeans, and the famous Kangol caps. Afrika Bambaataa and the Zulu Nation also superimposed Afrocentric clothing which comprises colorful and tribal prints and trims into the style blend.
The Run-DMC Revolution: Mid-1980s
If there is one particular moment when Hip-hop clothing called loud and clear, this was with the song “My Adidas” from Run DMC in 1986. This was not just a song – it was the initial project that portrayed hip-hop aesthetics as the cultivation of material urbanism that corporations could not overlook.
They shot the video of this track, during which they lifted their Adidas shoes during a performance at the Madison Square Garden to signify the company which was to later sign them for 1.5 million dollars thus being the first hip hop artists to be endorsed by a major clothing company. Suddenly, the Adidas Superstar without lace, black fedoras and gold chains stopped being street wear and became fashionable, acknowledged worldwide.
Not to mention their black leather jackets and straight-leg Levi’s jeans, not to mention that they sent a clear signal to the flamboyant funkiest stylish garbs and flared pant of the disco age. These dudes performed the clothes of the men in the society and not like artistes and that was it.
From Gucci to Ghetto Fabulous: Late 1980s to Early 1990s
It opened the floodgate for the variation in all the extensions of rap music and so was the fashion. However, hip hop proved that it was here to stay and in the mid/late 80s artists such as Queen Latifah and Public Enemy began to reflect ‘African’ medallion’s, kente cloth, patterns of old African attire, even black leather red/black green outfits which depicted black nationalism.
The next one was “Dapper Dan” Boutique in Harlem; Daniel Day created original outfits imitating luxury brands such as Gucci and Louis Vuitton before people have heard about the “streetwear”. He was able to outfit LL Cool J, Salt-N-Pepa and other hip-hop pioneers in these knock-off luxury items /stylish souvenirs that were, in every sense and spirit of the word, a giant ‘F-you’ to haute couture fashion.
The irony? The luxury brands that have, in the past, sent cease-and-desist letters to Dapper Dan now court him and appropriate hip-hop aesthetics. How’s that for a glow-up?
Baggy Revolution: The 1990s
This same trend found its way into the 90s and if you were alive then, you must have discovered that pants were enormous. Decade of the 90s also gave mont clothes, headed firstly by hip-hop men, who got used only an incolved piece of clothing, such as baggy pants. While some aspects of this style developed from functional and realistic reasons – receiving hand-me-down clothes from elder siblings, existence of the prison system that prohibited the use of belts – it evolved into a subculture trend and identity.
He introduced work pants from the Dickies brand, flannel shirts, and bandanas, which were associated with West Coast artists such as Snoop Dogg and Dr. Dre. However, rappers from the East Coast such as Notorious B.I.G, adopted the Coogi sweaters, Timberland boots with a much flashier attitude to their look.
However, for women in the hip-hop the 1990s was a landmark decade as they began to take more active roles in the production of music. New phases such as Lil’ Kim, Foxy Brown, and Missy Elliott depicted the new form of being a woman in rap; sexually provocative and half masculine. Missy in particular became a prostitute pioneer for futuristic-avant-garde clothing that could not be classified.
From Streets to Runway: The 2000s and Beyond
Hip hop fashion was no longer oppositional by the year 2000; it had become commercial. Musicians were no longer simply advertising logos they were fabricating them. It was not long and we find white T-shirt and Jeans (Rocawear by Jay-Z), Sean John (P? Diddy), Phat Farm (Russell Simmons), Baby Phat (Kimora Lee Simmons owned fashion dominating not only the urban, but also the normal markets.
This period of time gave the world white tee-shirts that were almost of dress length, throwback jerseys that were more expensive than my rent, and anything bedazzled. Both Pharrell Williams and Kanye West contributed to a change of pace and a more polymorphous influence that began to operate outside of the subculture, as skateboard culture, high fashion and specifically the Japanese streetwear aesthetics began to find foothold in the hip-hop aesthetics.
Today hip-hop impacted fashion so much, it can indeed be difficult to differentiate between the two, hip-hop fashion and mainstream fashion most of the times. Whether it is A$AP Rocky in the fashion luxury brands or the recent rapper, Cardi B coming up with her Fashion Nova line up or Tyler, the Creator in his Golf Wang brand, hip hop artist keep testing the fashion limits but at the same time staying loyal to the hip hop fashion culture.
Cultural Appropriation or Appreciation?
It is here that the real life style comes in consideration. Hip-hop fashion, in the same way as the music, has been subjected to a constant process of re-appropriation by ‘mainstream’ or ‘white’ culture, fashion industry and haute couture. One cannot wear something street from the runway or fast fashion and have it be recognized as coming from hip-hop culture because these dictates are stripped off their history.
What was once considered as opposed to brand image is now considered as gold and brands that embraced it benefitted greatly from it. Such outcomes are logically intelligible only if it turns out that what is defined and produced as “apparel” by urban youth out of necessity or as aesthetic by way of culture-appropriated by black bodies- becomes trendy and edgy when worn by any white celebrity or model. It is the tale of anti-culture, pro-aesthetic, profiteering from it, and turning a blind eye to the strife.
Still, the globalization of hip-hop fashion has led to the inclusion of the black people in the modeling and designing of fashion that they would not likely have access to. Musicians such as Rihanna through Fenty or Beyoncé through her Ivy Park definition have tried to come up with more versatile brands.
The Legacy Continues
Just like the hip-hop music which originated in Bronx, hip-hop fashion does not only express the same journey. This from practical necessity based on economics and conventions has developed into a multibillion-dollar business and intercontinental code.
Far from being solely wardrobe options, hip hop fashion itself is a form of innovation, Black endurance, and a tool of cultural change globally. It is one of utilizing what is possibly available and shifting it from one great use to a greater purpose in revolutionizing style.
Therefore, next time when you put on a fresh pair of sneakers or hoodie, it is not only a piece of clothing but it also carrying cultural history and values along with it. So that is the true story of hip-hop fashion.
What’s your favorite era of hip-hop style? Drop a comment below and let me know if you’re more Run-DMC or A$AP Rocky with your fashion choices!
