{"id":68470,"date":"2022-12-02T22:45:53","date_gmt":"2022-12-02T22:45:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/graziamagazine.com\/us\/?post_type=articles&p=68470"},"modified":"2022-12-02T23:09:21","modified_gmt":"2022-12-02T23:09:21","slug":"hip-hop-fashion-exhibit","status":"publish","type":"articles","link":"https:\/\/graziamagazine.com\/us\/articles\/hip-hop-fashion-exhibit\/","title":{"rendered":"The Museum at FIT Celebrates Hip Hop’s Influence Over 5 Decades of Fashion"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Fresh Fly Fabulous: 50 Years of Hip Hop Style, By Elizabeth Way and Elena Romero, rizzolibookstore.com<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Upon hip hop\u2019s golden jubilee \u2014 the music style was born in a Bronx rec room in 1973 \u2014 the Museum at FIT<\/a>, on Manhattan\u2019s 7th Avenue, salutes the always- envelope-pushing sartorial genre it inspired with the exhibit Fresh, Fly, and Fabulous: Fifty Years of Hip Hop Style<\/em>, which runs February 8 to April 23.<\/p>\n

The exhibition examines the evolution of the hip hop subculture\u2019s influence on the fashion industry via the largest and most comprehensive retrospective ever to capture the innovative style, and marks FIT\u2019s first- ever show focused on fashion through the lens of a singular musical genre. The show even boasts an accompanying Rizzoli tome that includes a foreword from \u201880s rap legend Slick Rick, and an open-to- the-public symposium that takes place February 24.<\/p>\n

The sweeping display by the only museum in New York City entirely dedicated to the art of fashion comes courtesy of co-curators Elizabeth Way and Elena Romero. (Way is the associate curator of the museum, and Romero has covered hip hop as a fashion journalist since the 1990s and acts as an assistant professor of Marketing Communications at FIT.)<\/p>\n

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enty x Puma, Spring 2017. The Museum at FIT, gift of Puma. \u00a9 The Museum at FIT<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

To celebrate the now-iconic looks of five decades of hip hop, these esteemed curators started at the beginning, at that legendary 1973 Bronx party. \u201cKool Herc threw a \u2018back-to-school jam\u2019 with his sister Cindy on Sedgwick Avenue,\u201d Way tells GRAZIA USA<\/em>. \u201cThat\u2019s where we start to see the DJs mixing the music and the MCs rapping over it. This is popularly recognized as the birth of hip hop.\u201d<\/p>\n

Spearheaded by the Black and Brown youth of the era, hip hop took off, bringing with it a new style that swiftly spread from the Big Apple to the West Coast, and eventually to mainstream media. Once dubbed the \u201curban\u201d uniform, the look heavily concentrated on customization with an emphasis on popular luxury brands. Everything from DIY creations and custom Dapper Dan jackets to Kangol hats, Timberland boots and even Tommy Hilfiger and Ralph Lauren designs were chosen by the most revered rappers and their loyal fans.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor us to talk about the relationship that fashion has with those that have helped create hip hop culture, we have to talk about socioeconomic status and access of brands,\u201d Romero says. \u201cLuxury brands were not brands that were accessible to Black and Brown communities.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Aaliyah during Aaliyah at The Forum at The Forum in Inglewood, California, United States. (Photo by Jeffrey Mayer\/WireImage)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

While the reliance of DIY creations was born out of the lack of accessibility to coveted, high fashion labels, aspiration played a huge role in the style as well, sparking an interest in logos and brand insignias. Loyalty to brand names quickly became tethered to iconic rap hooks, from Run-D.M.C\u2019s \u201cMy Adidas\u201d in 1986, to Cardi B\u2019s 2018 ode to Christian Louboutin with \u201cBodak Yellow.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was so much about do-it-yourself,\u201d says Way of the early years. \u201cThe subculture was young kids who were not the most socially economically elite, so there was this raw creativity and a lot of personalization \u2014 iron-on letters, nameplate necklaces, fat lace sneakers, crease jeans.\u201d<\/p>\n

In more recent years, it has become commonplace to see hip hop personas sit front row at big-name fashion shows (Gucci and Christian Siriano, to name a few) and create influential partnerships with luxury designers, a far cry from hip hip\u2019s humble beginnings, when \u201cthose doors were closed,\u201d Romero says. \u201cThe artists were initially dressing themselves. When we think about the idea of luxury in our Black and Brown communities [in the \u201880s and early \u201890s], custom tailors such as Dapper Dan immediately come to mind. He brought trademarks and logos that had this status symbol to the communities to give them access.\u201d<\/p>\n

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American hip hop musician and rapper Roxanne Shante, wearing an outfit by Dapper Dan, circa 1989. (Photo by Michael Ochs Archives\/Getty Images)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Daniel \u201cDapper Dan\u201d Day was a bona fide streetwear pioneer, who rose to fame after opening his iconic boutique on 125th street in Harlem in 1982. Dressing hip hop\u2019s shining stars, the couturier gained a reputation for remixing high- end monogrammed materials from MCM, Fendi, Louis Vuitton and Gucci into his own one-of- a-kind sportswear confections. Eventually, his appropriation of the fashion house\u2019s fabrications and logos led to litigation. His beloved storefront was shuttered in 1992, but not before he earned his due credit for bringing high fashion to the fledgling but booming hip hop genre. He went on to sign countless luxury partnerships, most notably with Gucci in 2017. \u201cHe was really important in creating a dialogue between American fashion and European luxury brands,\u201d says Way. Footage of the Harlem designer is included in the FIT exhibition, of which Romero says, \u201cWhat Dapper Dan did in fashion is what young people were doing in music.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Salt-N-Pepa, NYC, 1987 \u00a9Janette Beckman<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Conversely, brands marketed to a \u201cwaspy\u201d all-American audience found themselves in favor of the hip hop aesthetic as well. \u201cRalph Lauren was a Jewish kid from the Bronx, and he had this American dream that he built through his brand, which really spoke to the aspirational aspect that resonated with people who embraced hip hop,\u201d Way says. \u201cHip hop kids styled it in a different way, wore it in a different way, and made it their own. But they were looking at what was happening in mainstream fashion.\u201d<\/p>\n

These days, you can\u2019t think of Tommy Hilfiger without picturing Aaliyah in the 1997 Tommy Jeans campaign. The same can be said for Ralph Lauren and the Lo Lifes, who \u201creally brought the popularity of Ralph Lauren to the urban center,\u201d Romero says. The Brooklyn-based crew of young people formed in 1988, emulating the affluent lifestyle while implementing their own hip hop twist. The collective quickly garnered a reputation for boosting apparel, especially from Polo Ralph Lauren.<\/p>\n

Read GRAZIA USA\u2019<\/em>s Winter issue featuring cover star Lizzy Caplan:<\/strong><\/p>\n

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