Queen Latifah at the “Love Ball II” in New York, 1991. As hip-hop didn’t have a defined look at its inception, many designers in the community came forward to dress the musicians at a time before mainstream fashion took notice or wanted to be involved in the genre.
The early days of hip-hop were an era of creativity for both the musicians and designers.
I was dreaming big, but the tangibles were the easiest things I could talk about or think about doing and it was fashion, so that’s why you see a lot of guys from the community that are deciding to design because they have the same imagination, but they just can’t articulate it through words, so they do it through clothes.” “You can’t rap about properties - like when I was growing up, I wasn’t even thinking that big. “The substance of the lyrics is about imagining a bigger world beyond what we have and the most tangible things are accessories and fashion,” said Rhuigi Villaseñor, the designer behind Rhude and Bally, who recently has worked on hip-hop-inspired collections with Puma. “When people are reflecting and echoing what they’re seeing in the community, it will resonate with people because there’s more of the have-nots than the haves.”įashion has also become an extension of that expression, which furthered its symbiotic relationship with the musical genre. “Hip-hop and country are two similarities - they’re the voice of the haves and the have-nots, the voice of the streets no matter what streets you’re from,” said Daymond John, chief executive officer and founder of FUBU, one of the first fashion brands born out of hip-hop. “Basically what was happening back then was the colors in the stores were really dull,” said fashion designer Karl Kani, who founded his namesake label in 1991 and is known as the “godfather of urban streetwear.”ĭaymond John, founder, CEO and designer of FUBU at his New York showroom, 1999. Hip-hop’s emphasis on remixing extended to the clothing, where musicians and fans would mix trends and pull from different decades for their outfits. Rappers and DJs called out brands and designers in their lyrics, which influenced fans to buy their pieces. Fashion also took inspiration from graffiti artists, infusing the bright colors and graphic brush strokes into clothing. Early hip-hop style favored baggy silhouettes to offer more functional styles for break dancers. These five official pillars have in turn influenced fashion. The block parties of the early ‘70s also served as a platform for the youth to show off their outfits, with baggy silhouettes, nameplate jewelry, kangol hats, logos and bright colors, which helped define the fashion of hip-hop.īecause of its strong link to hip-hop from its early stages, fashion has historically been labeled as hip-hop’s unofficial sixth pillar (the other elements are: MCing, DJing, breakdance, graffiti and beatboxing.)
Then we see the graphic artists transferring their art from the walls to clothing and we see break dancers developing their own specific style, so it’s always been very intertwined.”Įve performs on the runway with a model in Sean John spring 2003 sportswear collection at the MTV Fashionably Loud Urban Sportswear Fashion Show and Hip Hop concert, 2002, New York City. “Very early on, we have so many artists rapping about what they wear and specific brands. “Even though isn’t really an official element of hip-hop, it’s really important and you can see that just by looking at the lyrics. “Fashion and style have always been really important to hip-hop because fashion and style have always been important to communities of color,” said Elizabeth Way, associate curator at the Museum at the Fashion Institute of Technology, who helped curate the museum’s “Fresh, Fly and Fabulous: Fifty Years of Hip-Hop Style” exhibit. And its fashion influence has only continued to grow. The Nordstrom Anniversary Sale Has an $80 Deal on the TikTok-Famous Béis Weekend Bagįifty years later, hip-hop has become the most popular musical genre in the U.S., with R&B/hip-hop having the largest share of total album consumption in 2022, according to entertainment data and insights company Luminate.
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