How it All Started[]
Hip-hop fashion and specifically ‘streetwear’ has been a fashion staple for the past 30 years. It’s a form of self expression through the way you dress. It combines sportswear with high end brands and creates what we now call “athleisure”, it combines comfortable clothes with evening dress and gave everyone a chance to be expressive. It started in the 80s with surfers and skaters, the way they dressed was very laid back and effortless, but appealed to many. From then to now it’s always been targeted towards the youth and that’s who it attracted anyways.
It started with Shawn Stussy, a surfer, who used to make T-shirts and print his skate logo on them. He needed the money to create custom surfboards and thought his business had the potential to succeed. His shirts were hard to find because he only sold them out of the back of his car, which is a trend now in the streetwear industry when it comes to limited edition sneakers or hard-to-get handbags & belts.
Later in the 80s and 90s was when Hip-hop music combined with streetwear and changed the whole industry. Bright colors and graffiti-inspired prints were e
verywhere.
Today[]
Streetwear rules the fashion world today, you’ll see it in hip-hop music videos, on the runway and in all television shows. Your favorite singers, models, actresses and even your friends are sporting streetwear. When it comes to the long-awaited sneaker-drops or the new off-white collection, people will pay thousands of dollars just to wear these cool outfits.
Purposely distressed, dirty or damaged clothes sell for even higher prices because it’s “a look”. Putting a name brand or a celebrity on the face of basic t-shirts causes prices to go through the roof and people are willing to pay those amounts. This just goes to show how big of an industry streetwear is.
Zain AlMutawa.