Hip hop fashion has changed significantly from the 90’s Tupac, Biggie and NWA days to present day luxurious styles. If you rewind and take a minute to think about how the style was 20 years ago, you would remember how baggy clothing or denim was in the way rappers dress. Walking on the streets of Compton or Brooklyn, rappers wore gold chains from thrift stores, grills, denim jeans or sweats hanging lower than they should be, oversized t-shirts graphic or not, and just basically anything baggy was the style that portrayed themselves as a “gangster” or “thug.” Now, if you were to look at the ways rappers dressed, you’d notice a different approach in the men’s music industry. What was once an innate manifestation surrounding music and culture has now enriched their art, music, and literature into something more eclectic.
Rappers once were considered to have a lack of mannerism because they didn’t care what they looked like, regardless of the event or situation. Hip-hop has always been a competition; one rapper has to out do the other rappers. The basis of high-end pieces being incorporated into rappers appearances started around the time Pharrell Williams teamed up with Louis Vuitton in 2008 selling jewelry. The following year, Kanye West also teamed up with Louis Vuitton with a pair of sneakers. From that point, it’s become an everyday aspect where high-end fashion is embracing the rap industry -- from Fashion Shows in Paris, to Vogue or Harper’s Bazaar magazines, to designers like Dior’s Raf Simons or Donatella Versace. From an economic standpoint, high-end brands are probably becoming enthusiastic about rappers because they recognize the power and the large influence they have upon modern day audiences. Their fan base is so large that luxury brands are more than capable of having them promote their products and have rappers create their own lines.
Kanye West has always been an egotistical character of confidence, and took high-end fashion to a more complex level than others. Showing up to galas, events, and Fashion Week Shows on his own broke other rappers out of their shell to start attending some as well. A$AP Rocky promotes Dior’s Raf Simons and rise to stardom designer Rick Owens in one of his popular songs entitled “Peso,” quoting “Raf Simons, Rick Owens is usually what I’m dressed in.” A$AP Rocky’s attendance to shows started when he dated his former girlfriend and Victoria’s Secret model Chanel Iman. A$AP Rocky has also promoted the high-end brand Chanel with models Jordan Dunn and Cara Delevingne in the past. Besides Pharrell, Kanye and A$AP, other rappers such as Kendrick Lamar, Drake, 50 Cent, Jay-Z, Schoolboy Q, MGK, LL Cool J, and others (the list can go on) have dressed more sophisticated, spiffy and now have a clean cut look to their everyday impression.
Nobody knows when this will end, or if it’ll continue to inspire other people to try new looks. The impression this brings to the table has been getting positive reactions to fashion bloggers, fans, fashion designers and publishers, and has enveloped a more erudite culture. Street style will always be in-style, but for now, having rappers that used to be the face of street style now wear expensive and lavishing pieces has blown the mind of the media. Maybe this is just a trend that’ll simmer down, maybe it’ll go downward and flop, maybe it’ll stay at a horizontal flow for a bit, or maybe it’ll even drift upward and continue to inspire others to dress the way that they dress. Whatever the case, popularity by celebrity association has always been a major way to edict trends and form growth in the industry.
