Fashion is a Practice That Individuals Use to Express Identity

Introduction

Fashion can be defined as the mode of dressing that represents a certain lifestyle. People use fashion to express their Identity as individuals or as a group. It is commonly argued by people from diverse backgrounds that "you are what you wear." People from diverse professions adhere to a specific fashion in clothing because of a particularly desired impression that they want to create. Besides profession, everyone has an impression that they desire to give out on a personal level. It is this impression of themselves that is known as personal identity. Different aspects of identity in fashion can be expressed by different types of clothes, shoes and hairstyles convey differently. People also wear different clothing to capture their moods. This essay will discuss the various ways fashion is used to express identity.

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Theoretical Framework

Fashion is largely informed by social attitudes emanating from a cultural background. Clothing designers frequently tap into these cultural and social attitudes of a given people from a particular geographical area to inform their fashion designs. Fashion designers can be argued to be the link between subculture and mainstream fashion. These fashion designers do not work alone but jointly with celebrities to popularize their fashion trends.

History and Background

Hip-hop is understood to have hailed from New York. The clothing at that time was not informed out of fashion but out of the necessity of street culture. During its nascent stages, Hip-hop began as a way of life that captures the struggles, aspirations and the persevering spirit of the black people living in the Bronx neighborhood. The genesis of Hip-hop as a culture was expressed through various art forms such as Rapping, B-boy dance, Disk Jockeying, and Graffiti. The preferable dress code was baggy jeans. Ing (2013) in his article states that: "Trends such as baggy jeans and not wearing shoelaces were created by the disenfranchised black communities." Timberlands were worn due to the cold weather that drug dealers had to cope with all night and day pitching and waiting for customers.

Mainstream Trending Fashion

In the Hip Hop's early days, it used to be considered as subversive to the mainstream culture. Due to its irresistibility, the mainstream fashion has been picking elements from Hip-hop street culture to blend with mainstream fashion. A practical example of street culture losing its subversive quality is when high fashion trousers worn by young White females are designed with a low hung towards the crotch was ideally inspired by low sagging trousers by black men as a reflection of prison life (Shaw, D. 2006, 28).

Runway fashion shows organized by top fashion designers such as Marc Jacobs like to present their trending fashion wear that is inspired by Hip-hop culture. In 2016, Jacobs presented his latest clothing design for women that reflected early Hip-hop trends. The female clothing designer acknowledged that his 2016 design was directly influenced by 1970's and 1980's Hip-hop trends. His runway models were adorned in striped tracksuits and thick golden chains around their necks. Hip-hop celebrities that influenced fashion trends during the 1970's and 1980's included but were not limited to LL Cool J, RUN DMC and Salt-N-PepaCITATION Mar18 \l 2057 (Merlinger, 2018).

Other American mainstream fashion houses that came to embrace the Hip-hop culture in their clothing products include Calvin Klein, Polo, Ecko Unlimited, Southpole founded by American South Korean and Dickies. These fashion brands do not stem from the streets. Apart from Southpole, the brands above are white owned and originally reflected the culture imbued with White Americans. Their decision to embrace Hip-hop culture is clear evidence of the influential nature of Hip-hop.

Hip-hop insiders were also not left out on the craze. Big Hip hop celebrities were able to begin their fashion empires that were solely grounded on Hip-hop. These Hip-hop rappers included Puff Daddy also known as P. Diddy who founded his Hip-hop clothing line Sean John in New York. Jay Z is another New York-based rapper that co-founded a successful clothing brand called Rocker Wear. The WU Tang Clan rapping group from New York came up with their fashion wear that was popular in the 1990's and early 2000 that went by the name Wu Wear. Russel Simons is a renowned music mogul that co-founded Def Jam music group and also successfully started his fashion wear dubbed Phat Pharm.

Modern Hip-hop Fashion Idols

Some notable Hip-hop artists are currently buzzing and influencing the fashion trends. These artists include but are not limited to Rae Sremmurd, Lil Pump, 21 Savage, XXXtentation, and Lil Peep among others. These rappers imbue a modern style of Hip-hop that is recognized to be different from the 1980's and 1990's Hip-hop. These rappers nonetheless are the leaders of the new-school Hip hop music and bear a lot of influence. International fashion brands are desirous to have their products identified together with these young and new rappers.

Lil pump. One of the Hip-hop rappers to have taken the music and fashion scene by storm is Lil Pump. The artist has taken fashion to new heights by making Gucci his theme song. His song Gucci gang was a hit in 2017 and its video is meant to market Gucci. The video is shot around a high school market in graffiti "Gucci Gang High" while the rapper is also wearing Gucci clothing with visible Gucci logo.

Lil Pump is known to the most infatuated Gucci lover in the arts scene. This infatuation was visible during his birthday party where he had the birthday cake designed with the Gucci logo on it. He wore Gucci clothing from top to bottom and was seen with a Gucci messenger bag. The close association between Lil Pump and the Italian fashion house shows how Hip-hop culture is influential (Tasjien, 2017).

Before his death, Lil Peep was a rapper that perused his style of Hip-hop and dressing. He did not confine himself to the popular social norms and trends. His many tattoos was a clear sign of a unique Hip-hop artiste that believed in himself and his uncommon style of music. The uniqueness of his character and his personality is another factor that Hip-hop embraces. Hip-hop is dynamic since it moves with trends and encourages artists to bring fresh ideas to the industry.

The world of fashion took notice of Lil Peep's unique style and enlisted his new fresh style of Hip-hop to boost clothing sales. Amarca (2017), notes in her article that:

"During the Spring/Summer 2018 menswear fashion week circuit, Peep became a regular front-row attendee. He sat next to the creme de la creme of the fashion industry shows like Balmain, Fendi, and Haider Ackermann. The artist also made his catwalk debut, walking at both Marcelo Burlon and VLONE's runway presentations in Europe. Shortly after, Peep would go on to land spreads in style bibles such as GQ, V Magazine, and PAPER, the latter of which would mark his final recorded interview."

Other modern rappers to have graced the New York Fashion Week run way are Rae Sremmurd and 21 Savage. Lil Peep's fearless style inspired fashion designers to dare and come up with new styles in fashion wear. His bold approach to fashion was the main reason why he was enlisted by Haider Ackermann to be part of their Wunderteen associates. Hip-hop pundits acknowledge that it is hard to categorize Lil Peep's emo-rap style.

During a GQ interview with Hine (2017), Lil Peep stated that:

"It's my mixed influences and my morals that makes no other Hip-hop artists are willing to make the moves that I'm willing to do in fashion. I can say with confidence that breaking boundaries is my main goal. I never dress the same way for a week-I'll dress like a whole other person the next week. I like to get weird and mix things. Not necessarily draw on the streets, but mix darker, dirtier cultures with high class appearance. I like to fuse them together and see how they can become one. Eventually, I want to have my clothing line. I think the fashion world needs me right now."

Global Trends

Globalisation enlarges communication network and intensifies commercial and cultural exchanges borrowings and adaptations. Of all the industries, the textile and apparel industries are the largest single industrial employer in the world. The apparel industry employs laborers in third world countries while consumers are found in the first world countries (Maynard, M. 2004, 15).

The powerful influences of Hip-hop are not only visible in America but the world over. Foreign countries, notably in Europe have realized the necessity to identify themselves with the Hip-hop culture to remain relevant. The only way global brands in the world of fashion could increase popularity and maintain relevance and market share was by designing fashion trends that reflected the Hip-hop culture.

Some of the European fashion companies that have been designing their apparels with hip-hop cultural influences are the popular French brands Balmain fashion house, Luis Vuitton, and Yves Saint Laurent. Popular Italian brands that have embraced hip-hop culture include Gucci and Versace. Barberry is a British fashion brand that has also designed clothes and other fashion accessories that reflect the Hip-hop culture.

Adidas, Puma, and Nike are other international brands that joined the Hip-hop bandwagon. These are sports brands that for a long time had exclusive engagements with sports personalities in Basketball, Hockey, Soccer, and Baseball. The growing influences of Hip-hop culture in the 1980's and 1990's also caught the attention of the sports brands. Celebrity Hip-hop rappers have been receiving endorsements from these sports brands. Hip-hop has also influenced the kind of clothing design that sports brands manufacture.

Cross Cultural Appropriation

Hip-hop also has its influences felt in Asia. The Big Bang quintet music group from In South Korea has adopted a stage presence that is Hip-hop in nature. They are also known to have picked the old school Hip hop image through their custom printed hoodies and high-top sneakers. Big Bang band inspired the formation of the Chinese band OKBang and have been selling out concert tickets throughout Asia making them arguably the most successful Hip hop singing group in Asia.

From Subculture to Mainstream

The Chinese youth have also embraced the Hip-hop culture through rap music. American Hip hop sound of trap music has greatly influenced the Chinese rap group GO$H and other rappers like PG ONE, GAI and Bridge. The hit TV show "Rap of China" has been accredited for bringing the underground Chinese Hip-hop into the mainstream. Unfortunately, Rap of China has been banned from Air by Chinese authorities for airing music with foul language and propagating a lifestyle that disrespects women. PG ONE had to issue a public apology for addressing women using derogatory terms while glorifying the use of illicit drugs and sex in his music. He went further to claim that it was the influence of black American Hip-hop that made him record such songs. The widely publicized incidence is clear evidence of cross cultural appropriation (Ing, E. 2013, 7).

Conclusion

A critical examination of these modern Hip-hop artists reveals the lack of street credibility. Originally Hip-hop fashion was directly influenced by real street life. Lil Pump, Xxxtentatation and Lil Peep's fashion sense is not inspired by the streets and thus can be argued that it is not Hip-hop. Nonetheless, we ought to appreciate that Hip-hop is no longer a New York culture but a culture reflecting the various lifestyles in streets and neighborhoods of different countries all over the world. We also need to apprecia...