Let’s talk more about if hip hop fashion is about individuality or if it became more brand-driven.
It’s inspired from a question that was responded to earlier about hip hop fashion.
We’re gonna expand on the answer given to Alice’s question. Thanks for the inspiration!
Is Hip Hop Fashion more about individuality or became more brand-driven?
It starts with an individual but turns into unity as that person becomes more influential. Hip Hop’s Culture seemed to have an unspoken agreement in backing up clothing brands to help identify itself. It evolves to where individuals adopt different looks and synthesize something completely new to live under the umbrella of what’s considered Hip Hop.
It starts with the individual
The individual is what makes the society known as hip hop culture.
The society loses our on development when an individual doesn’t do what they can to perform at their true potential. It applies to hip hop in relation to fashion when those that are considered leaders don’t push the envelope with exploring new looks.
It might sound superficial, but personality in many cases only goes as far as the clothes we’re able to wear. It’s even more important when applied to hip hop since there’s so many characters that make the genre. What they do is represent oppressed individuals that are part of the culture, regardless of how much they don’t appear to be.
They’re the foundation of the entire organization and can influence the change that could happen.
This proves itself to be true if accountability is emphasized as a core belief.
That’s the case because it empowers the individual with ownership.
They believe that they have power when it comes to a certain section. In this case it’s fashion.
It brings up an interesting question in the wanting to know if intentional influence is more powerful than an unintentional one. I would say it’s a cyclical phenomenon. The creator of fashion often gains that ability to create from someone that dresses unintentionally. Most people that try to dress with intention typically do it in hopes of gaining the approval of others. At that point, the individual chooses to lean on the benefits of being in a group instead of working to become innovative and ambitious.
They push development and inspire personal growth.
Speaking ideally, that’s what the individual will do collectively if they’re active in the community.
Hip Hop’s Unspoken Agreement of Putting The Group Before The Individual
Hip Hop’s history has proven to be one that agreed upon backing up brands that would eventually go on to identify iconic individuals.
Jordan, Nike, Rocawear, Sean John, Addidas, the list goes on in where these clothing brands would play a pivotal role in styling some of Hip Hop’s greatest.
I can remember when I was able to finally wear street clothes after attending a private school for several years and got a chance to finally get in tune with some of the brands that would be cherished by my peers who were also products of Hip Hop.
South Pole, Enyce, Zoo York, Fubu were just a few to name that would style my neighborhood. The history itself though played out like a science in where you can predict what would be worn because it reflected what type of money was being made in your household.
I have a theory in where communities would inadvertently agree to push specific brands for whatever was affordable for the people that placed the (Hip Hop) community in a bright light. The quality of the clothing would increase as success grew too.
Synthesizing Looks To Create Something Completely Different For Hip Hop
This is where most get active when choosing to tackle different obstacles in Hip Hop fashion.
There’s so many different looks that are being pumped out by these companies that cater to our crowd, but for most it leaves them with the same question, how do you stand out from what’s being done already?
If I could share something that could connect the dots for someone in this area, I’ll take the opportunity.
Around the same time that I mentioned earlier in where I would finally be able to wear my own street clothes, it got to where this challenge would start to hit home even harder than ever.
Luckily I had a friend on the basketball team that was popular, talented, and charismatic.
She seems to dress the best out of all her female associates and seemed to take a liking to me that I could and would appreciate.
I mentioned Zoo York and she was actually one of the first people that influenced and shared a confidence for me in picking clothes on my own that wouldn’t break my already short bank at the time and still earn acknowledgement from my friends.
Part of doing this was figuring out what stores would be able to serve me the looks I wanted, and what my mother could afford.