Street fashion
Street fashion (also urban fashion or hip-hop fashion ) is the generic term for a series of fashion phenomena that originate from the ghettos of large American cities and are related to hip-hop music . Often - for example through KRS One - fashion is counted among the elements of hip-hop culture . In recent years, fashion is likely to be the most commercially successful part of hip-hop, ahead of music. Fashion developed along with all of hip-hop in New York City in the 1970s, and underwent significant changes both through gangsta rap and its increasing success in the mainstream.
In stark contrast to other youth cultures, these include :
- Very wide, low-hanging pants ( baggy pants )
- strong brand awareness
- Bright, colorful clothes
- White sneakers, sneakers
- Oversizes (T-shirts up to 9XL)
- Accessories: lanyard , chains worn outside (some with eye-catching pendants), eye-catching sparkling ear studs, headscarves (also called bandana ), head-stockings (also called durag), caps (often in combination with durag / bandana), eye-catching rings
Early street fashion
In the 1980s, fashion was one of the most important elements of old-school hip-hop and, as such, is still often celebrated in reminiscences of the time. Examples are Ahmad's single Back in the Day from 1994 or Missy Elliott 's single of the same name from 2002.
Along with the rest of the origins of hip-hop , fashion developed in the South Bronx . It represented a counterpoint to the disco trend that was prevalent at the time , was more connected to the daily life of the Afro-American community in the social hotspot, was supposed to place more emphasis on individual expressions and, like the entire development of hip-hop, was strongly influenced by the material restrictions to which the protagonists at the time were subject.
On the one hand, the fashion of that time was supposed to demonstrate personality, and it was therefore much more diverse than in later times. Kurtis Blow states in his memoirs that - even in contrast to later times - there was no dress code at the block parties . On the other hand, she also obeyed the practical requirements of dancing and especially breakdancing , and she was very sporty.
The typical fashion of the time included oversized glasses, Kangol hats, rings over several fingers and sneakers, first mainly from Puma , later from Adidas with oversized laces. Known to the public, they were by artists such as Run DMC and LL Cool J . In 1987, Run DMC were the first to sign a high-value sponsorship contract with a company, in this case Adidas, to wear their clothing in public.
By artists like Kurtis Blow or Big Daddy Kane it became popular to wear gold jewelry, especially in the form of necklaces. The wide range of colors of clothing at that time was probably based on an aesthetic that was shaped by graffiti .
Hairstyles ranged from the jheri curl of the early and mid 1980s to the hi-top fade of the late 1980s. The Black Pride movement was at that time still great influence on the hip-hop movement and thus also on fashion. The style that goes back to her included African necklaces, dreadlocks, and red, black and green (the Pan-African colors ) clothing worn by Queen Latifah , KRS One and Public Enemy .
Development in the 1990s
After hip-hop began to become more and more of a mainstream phenomenon, street fashion began to be worn outside of the scene, and hip-hop fashion changed: Will Smith , Kid 'n Play and Lisa "Left Eye" Lopes ( TLC ) popularized the wearing of bright, often neon-colored clothes and regular accessories like baseball caps in unusual styles. Some short-lived hypes also existed at the time, such as Kris Kross ' way of putting clothes on the wrong way around, with zippers and openings on the wearer's back.
In the early 1990s gangsta rap began to establish itself as the most influential sub-style of the genre, and fashion also experienced a significant influence through the typical clothing of gangsters and prison inmates. The typical baggy pants , often known to this day as the accessory of hip-hop fashion, had their origins in the rules of the prisons that belts were the first to be confiscated and accordingly the clothes were often very low. Hoodies and Timberland boots were particularly popular in New York, while the West Coast made flannel shirts and Converse All Stars popular. Artists from the south made gold teeth a typical accessory, some like Master P wore gold-plated teeth all over their mouths.
West coast gangsta rap also made the dress codes and identifying marks of street gangs known to a wider public. Gangsta rappers who belonged to a certain gang displayed the symbols of this affiliation in their videos: The two identification colors of the two largest street gangs in LA are particularly well known - red for the Bloods and blue for the Crips . Baseball caps of certain teams, sports jackets and the now popular bandanas in corresponding colors, which were also worn in a special way, made it possible to assign them to a certain gear. So played z. B. the West Coast rapper Snoop Dogg in 2004 in his hit single Drop it like it's hot with the line I keep a blue flag hanging out my backside / But only on the left side, yeah that's the Crips side on his affiliation with a Crips- Gear on.
With the rise of West Coast rap , especially G-Funk , in the early to mid-1990s, West Coast rappers like Snoop Dogg or Too $ hort also made the pimp lifestyle (e.g. the lifestyle of the Afro-American pimp) hip -Hop scene popular. Fur coats , expensive suits and bright colors like green, lavender or pink found their way into ghetto fashion. With its eye-catching, baroque outfits and exalted appearance, the West Coast rapper distinguished from the rather gloomy, ghetto and road-oriented style of the East Coast - a difference which continued in the music, where in the 1990s the grim reality rap of East Coast artists such as Mobb Deep , Nas or the Wu-Tang Clan , the funk-heavy G-funk sound of the West Coast.
Since the mid-1990s, influences of stereotypical Mafia clothing have also prevailed, mediated by films such as the 1983 classic Scarface . Fedora hats were just as much a part of it as crocodile leather shoes . The Notorious BIG and Jay-Z especially wore them. Zootsuits (suits with long jackets) such as those from the Italian luxury company Il Padrino Moda are also worn by well-known rappers from the scene at performances and scene concerts.
As the hip-hoppers themselves and certain designers developed the commercial potential of fashion, clothing brands of their own for the style began to develop in the mid-1990s. Leading the way here was Puff Daddy with its Sean John brand. Karl Kani , whose clothing company had long been rooted in the Afro-American community of New York, began to expand internationally. Companies like Fubu also began to specialize in this market segment. The new generation of clothing they created included suits made of expensive materials, often with shiny surfaces, and jewelry made of platinum, which replaced the gold jewelry that had prevailed until then. As a large manufacturer, Tommy Hilfiger was able to enter the market. He managed to dress many big stars from Snoop Doggy Dogg to KRS-One . Snoop Dogg appeared in a 1994 Saturday Night Live episode broadcast throughout the United States and was dressed from head to toe by Hilfiger. Q-Tip from A Tribe Called Quest praised the company in a song And others couldn't figga // How me and Hilfigga // Used to move through with vigga. There is now even a hip-hop Santa Clause in the White House dressed in Hilfiger clothing. Hilfiger achieved success by being one of the first to concentrate on the market and courting the stars of the genre in order to enforce his clothing brand with them. In 1994, the year it made its breakthrough in this regard, the company is estimated to have increased its sales by $ 90 million.
Around the same time, African hair styles such as cornrows , Afros or the Caesar cut began to gain acceptance. To protect the cuts, the wearer had to wear a doo-rag while sleeping , which soon afterwards also became an accessory worn in public.
In the 1990s, fashion for women and men began to diverge. Before women often wore female versions of men's fashion or, like Da Brat , the same clothes, the first women began to wear special women's fashion around that time. Lil 'Kim and Foxy Brown popularized fashions in the style of flashy ball gowns, while Lauryn Hill or Eve dressed more conservatively, but still clearly feminine.
After platinum had finally established itself as the metal of choice, the successful rappers often wore platinum jewelry (the less successful silver jewelry) with set diamonds , often in larger quantities. The reference to jewelry became an important means of demonstrating one's success, and The BIG recorded a hit in 1999 that summed up the phenomenon with the slogan Bling Bling , thus creating the expression for this form of fashion. At the same time, platinum teeth began to replace those made of gold. The rapper and chairman of Cash Money Records , Bryan Williams , has had his whole mouth filled with permanent platinum crowns.
In connection with the bling bling ghetto fabulous style , luxury brands such as Gucci , Prada , Carlo Colucci , Louis Vuitton and Fendi are also finding their way into street fashion. Garments and accessories of different style levels are combined with one another.
Situation today
After fashion originally developed in social housing estates and ghettos, today's hip-hop fashion has little to do with the style worn on the streets, but rather represents its idealization. It is often made by designers and large clothing manufacturers especially for the market segment produces, and sometimes very high prices are charged for it. Clothing now plays a major role in the overall staging of the individual hip-hop artists. Well-known brands are often mentioned in their texts, which in turn indirectly influences their recipients. In the circles of that time, however, these dresses are still sometimes worn for the same reasons
Now that fashion for young people has achieved a significant market share almost worldwide, more hip-hoppers have shifted to establishing their own clothing lines and thereby silvering their names. These include Russell Simmons ( Phat Farm ), Damon Dash , Wu-Tang Clan ( Wu Wear ), Method Man ( Johnny Blaze ) and Jay-Z ( Rocawear ) as well as OutKast ( OutKast Clothing ), 50 Cent ( G Unit Clothing) in collaboration with Ecko and P. Diddy ( Sean John ). Important brands that do not come directly from hip-hoppers are and were Willie Esco , Ecko, Songs of Freedom , Karl Kani , Sir Benni Miles, Southpole , Nike , New Era Cap , Joker Brand , Timberland , 96 North , Mecca, pellepelle , Coogi , ArtistikWorld , K1X, Raw Blue etc.
Street fashion blogs
With the spread of weblogs , blogs for street fashion have established themselves as an independent subgenre. They are mostly run by private individuals in large cities - for example in trendy cities like New York or Berlin. Attempts are made to track down trends by publishing current photos of particularly unusually or fashionably dressed passers-by.
See also
Web links
- fashionrevolution.org
- truecostmovie.com ( ci-romero.de : A film about fashion, brands and billions )