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Hip Hop And Fashion Essay

1421 Words6 Pages

Though many elements have led to the growth of hip-hop, its developing relationship with the fashion industry is a lot more evident. What was once an expression of the culture surrounding the music, is now a place where hip-hop artists are some of the biggest promotional influencers in the world. But how exactly did this happen? Like so many things, it is only a matter of time before the biggest trends fall victim to the next big thing. Today, hip-hop culture and media outlets are providing a way for icons in the fashion industry to live their own renaissance.
In the early 90s, the widespread presence of b-boy culture, one of the four original “elements” of hip-hop, enhanced the adoration of brands such as Puma, Adidas, Reebok, Fila and Nike. …show more content…

The mixture of influences is mostly why it’s so difficult to define hip-hop style; it is a reflection of personal history, regional taste, and contrasting conditions. Designer, producer and creative director, Frank the Butcher says that this fuse of inspirations is grounded in the fact that hip-hop was the shared creativity of an elevated class. “Hip-hop was one of the first music genres that was born of the common people. With any other genre of music there was potentially a costume or some sort of uniform that separated the entertainer from the average person. Hip-hop was the genre of music where it was accepted, promoted, and preferred that the artist looked like the fan”(Branch)
Perhaps the earliest symbol of hip-hop embracing a more desirable aesthetic was the development of “preppy” labels such as Tommy Hilfiger, Nautica, and Polo Ralph Lauren. While their prices was an indicator of wealth, a big part of the appeal of these labels lie in the fact that they did not normally sell to minorities. In this way both hip-hop and fashion became an ease to the harsh realities of life; even if you couldn’t afford a mansion or Bugatti, you could still indulge in the lifestyle, either through having the hottest clothing or living indirectly through your favorite hip hop artist’s

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The Impact of Hip-Hop Ever since its birth in the 1970s in West Bronx, Hip Hop has been known as “Gangsta” music and most commonly associated with black culture. Since its creation it has become a fast growing genre of music and has growing fame all over the world. The popularity of it has increased to all races, age and gender. However the growing popularity of hip hop has come with several controversies among scholars. Some scholars argue that the growing popularity of the genre is very helpful to low income families who can use this as their outlet into going to Universities, on the other side some believe associating the genre to black culture is bad for the culture as a whole and they should not be associated together.

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