Hip-hop Style

In the late seventies, a new and distinctive sound arose from the streets of New York. The sound was hip-hop, and nearly twenty years later, it has transcended the street parties and music clubs of New York to become a worldwide cultural force.

Simply put, hip-hop music consists of a DJ mixing rhythmic passages of albums on a turntable while a rapper raps over the beats. But hip-hop is a culture unto itself, equipped with its own language, lyrical style, visual arts (graffiti), dance moves and look.

Although hip-hop is the musical outgrowth of urban African-American culture, its popularity is not bound by geography or culture. According to Soundscan, the company that charts record sales, three-quarters of all hard-core rap albums were sold to white consumers in 1994.

Furthermore, more and more suburban teens, taking their cue from their urban counterparts, have adopted the style and the trends of hip-hop's artists and its adherents.

From city, to suburbs and beyond...

Baggy pants, oversized athletic jerseys, expensive sneakers, long a fashion standard of the hip-hop community, have become the unofficial uniform of suburban fans. And thanks to music videos, films and hip-hop magazines, teens in the suburbs and outside the U.S. can stay informed with "what's going on" in the city.

This suburban emulation of urban style not only confirms the cross-cultural popularity of hip-hop, but it also recognizes the importance of the "street" in determining fashion trends. In the world of hip-hop, "street credibility" means acceptance. And for the fashion industry, attaining "street credibility" can mean big profits.

Clothes + Music = Fashion

Fashion and music have enjoyed a creative relationship in the past, just think of The Grateful Dead and hippies in the 60s, disco in the 70s and Madonna in the 80s. Often big-name fashion designers are the last to jump on the boat.

It took almost 20 years for the mainstream fashion industry to experiment with hip-hop fashions. Critics claim that the fashion industry's sudden interest in hip-hop stems more from the enormous profit potential of this untapped market of brand conscious consumers than from any creative interest. But whatever its reasons may be, big and small players in the mainstream fashion industry are looking toward the hip-hop community for inspiration.