Streetwear on Culture and Culture on Streetwear
Streetwear as a concept goes back over 30 years between the late 70s through the 80s, with a lot of influence leeching out into the pop culture society created in those years. With some brands forming out of the skateboarding and surf culture of NYC and LA and others coming out of urban fashion designers, streetwear has been pulling influences from Punk DIY, Hip-Hop, Japanese fashion, and workwear brands as parts of its culture.
In the mid to late 90s, streetwear brands saw a significant rise in athletic wear and workwear becoming more en vogue within the fashion scenes from skateboarding companies and gangsta rap record labels like Def Jam Recordings selling branded merchandise on letterman and workwear jackets made by companies like Carhartt. The 90s also saw the twist of high-end fashion into the streetwear scene, such as Dapper Dan, who is now one of the most known names in both the high fashion and streetwear worlds, collectively.
He made outfits for dozens of influential singers, athletes, actors, and producers, from LL Cool J to Rakim (Wu-Tang), which culminated in a media buzz that garnered a supreme court case and press coverage. Dapper Dan’s fashion directly affected the allure of high-end fashion becoming a player in the hip-hop and sports scenes of the time. This can be seen in him being referenced in music directly and, more recently, being featured in a Marvel series playing himself and in his opening of Harlem's first fashion house atelier.
The influence of Dapper Dan and these other movements from skating and surfing caused the media itself to reflect the changing times. This can be seen with songs about streetwear, luxury brands, and specific styles, like Nike and Air-Force 1’s or high-end jewelry. The culture grew to have brand makers being referenced directly in music lyrics, photos, and videos throughout the 90s as a whole. Jump forward into the 00s, 10s, and 20s, and streetwear has seen a large growth in the existing brands like Supreme and Stussy becoming, in some cases, more desirable than luxury brands.
The hype of some brands has come and gone, with brands like Ed Hardy and Von Dutch popping up and becoming mainstream successes overnight and quickly falling off and becoming passe within a decade. Now, these brands are becoming noted as retro and seeing a small resurgence in vintage wear due to documentaries about their sordid past and the pop-cultural shifts both brands had for their time, with every celebrity and figure in the media wearing both brands at any time for the ’00s.
On the other hand, you had brands like Obey pop up and grow naturally with their cult following and mystique about their workings and the artist behind it all. Obey’s works even affected the media of that era, with spoofs showing up in The Simpsons and court trials about the fair use of images in Shepard Fairey's works becoming a media frenzy during the early 10s election cycles. These brands and media trends added together with the growth of social media and its effects on the world at large, both in art but also in human behavior, lead us to where we’re at now.
The 10s-20s era has seen a boom in streetwear popularity, as well as the growth of new brands. Brands like Supreme or Icecream continuously collaborate drops of classic styles and new takes on old looks. The world of streetwear is an ever-growing field with room for growth and change for every brand, new and old, as long as they can keep up with the pace of the social media platforms and new daily trends.
