Evolution of Streetwear

Streetwear has evolved since its birth in the 1990’s. A style that was born in a skateboarding, hip-hop and graffiti subculture has since taken over the fashion world, and it is impossible to deny.

Evolution of streetwear originally broke bad with oversized silhouettes, baggy jeans, and graphic t-shirts. But as the fashion spread, it became influenced by high fashion and luxury as well as by athletic wear. This union resulted in more refined and diversified strikes of streetwear.

Streetwear fashion development has picked up in recent years as businesses and designers push the envelope of what is feasible. The look of today has had a lot of influence from streetwear influencers courtesy of social media. As consumer demand has driven us to the height of the market, built on strictly limited releases, all up here in prep & X hype beast culture.

Theses can range from sneakers and hoodies all the way to high fashion designer collabs and luxury streetwear brands. It is a global phenomenon. And so the fashion, characterised by it vibrant colours, trite imagery and even more trite slogans would come to represent youth culture, self-empowerment, and well, something to belong to.

What is Streetwear?   

Streetwear is hard to pin down. Tons of styles; baggy, functional, work wear, athleisure, vintage, and a lot of more ….

As Bobby Hundreds accurately stated, streetwear is about culture, not clothes. Streetwear is not a genre defined by style, but rather a culture, a scene.

Origin of Streetwear?

Hip hop, skating, surfing, hip hop music, rap, military/work wear, sportswear, pop culture, partywear, and a host of other places claim the birth of streetwear. However, we don’t believe there is a true right or wrong here. Certainly, there are important brands and milestones that we can identify, that streetwear has evolved over the years.

More than any other category, Streetwear Brands have really affected our culture so far. A few of the OG influential streetwear brands are skate/surf, Stussy, Thrasher, Vans, Quicksilver, BAPE, Supreme

Palm angels, Drew, Rip and Dip, Humankind and Market are Best New Streetwear Brands

What Makes a Brand Hype beast?

Hype beast brands are hype because they are exclusive, have low supply, and high demand…. this creates mystique and fanatic support around them. These brands often collaborate with famous designers, artists or celebrities to create limited-edition products that people of their background are likely to praise. Hype beast culture loves rare and unique stuff, with most items featuring bold branding and prints.

The ability of a Hype beast brand to capitalise on pop culture and reach a younger demographic adds another element to the mix. And oftentimes these brands achieve success on social media (thanks to trend-setters and influencers, who get a test of the trial brand strength). With that said, due to the hype beast phenomena, buying a limited-edition item has become a status symbol and a way to fit into a particular community.

Luxury Streetwear

The word “Luxury” Streetwear is of more western thing, to start with in America Streetwear didn’t start as a luxurious part.

India is still coming up and learning about streetwear, especially with Indian Hip Hop and Sneaker Culture emerging. We have to educate the culture, the community and the artists before you have brands that can tackle “Luxury” Streetwear. Streetwear is not meant to be a “luxury” and with evolution of streetwear, yes, it is a community, the very community in which the idea of streetwear was conceived and that is where “luxury streetwear” is growing to.

Off-White is the dean of all voguish creativity and minimalism of human history. They showed us: that you do not need to spend mad money to go toe-to-toe with Nike, Adidas, Supreme — but that what you do need is a well-executed design and a vision. Like how you can identify an off-white product by its logo, stripes, and design ethos.

What forms a Streetwear Look?   

• Hats & Caps
• Eyewear
• Oversized T-Shirts
• Hoodies & Sweatshirts
• Bomber Jackets
• Baggy Jeans
• Sneakers

 Hats & Caps

The use of hats dates back to the Bronze Age, with Otzi, a man frozen in an Alpine ice between Austria and Italy, discovered with a hat. He wore a bearskin cap, as well as the hides of other creatures. Evolution in Time for Fashion The fashion has also evolved with time and you can find different types of caps which suites sports athlete, skateboard Gang, artists, rappers, hip-hop dancers and typical street-style fashion. 90s Style Flat fill baseball cap — Every rapper (Snoop Dogg and Wu-Tang clan) adopted this style in the late 90s fashion. Buckets hats and baseball caps were a given, as were neck scarves and Stetsons Available in all kinds of caps – baseball caps, snapback caps, trucker caps, dad caps, bucket hats, beanies etc. New Era47 Hats Stetson Brixton Hats & Caps Brands in the World

Eyewear

 

Eyewear is on the rise. And that makes perfect sense. As the worlds of evolution of streetwear and luxury rub more shoulders — the arrival of Virgil Abloh at Louis Vuitton being the catalyst so far—and outdoor brands including Patagonia and The North Face maintaining partnerships with the likes of Supreme, there is an opportunity for technical, sport sunglasses to make an impact on the luxury streetwear market.

In Vogue Classic Frames: A great collection of classic eyewear glasses was in trend. It contains aluminium or metal lightweight frames with different shapes and colours. In addition to this, these spectacles also embody multiple protective attributes such as anti-glare, and 100% UV protection.

Oversized T-Shirts

What defines streetwear is the fact that they are the garments most comfortable, in essence, their clothes are baggy and feature bold graphics. Early hip-hop fashion defined the early 1990s into the late 2000s so as having a lot of Long silhouettes and Loose fits. In 2013, A.P.C. made a capsule collection in partnership with Kanye West and it contained this white t-shirt styled very baggy, they called it the “hip-hop T-shirt”. The ginormous white t-shirt was also the uniform of choice for 90s hip-hop. For our times, when evolution of streetwear styles have such a strong impact on fashion, the wide fit t-shirt is indispensable to our wardrobes. No one wants to wear a tshirt detailing a restaurant like as an example underminan, everyone likes to put on casual clothing, like a collarless t-shirt.

Hoodies & Sweatshirts

Oversized hoodies and sweatshirts – Oversized hoodies paired alongside a pair of skinny jeans is one of the biggest street wear trends that continues to adapt over the years. They slip perfectly inside an oversized hoodie and with your chunky trainers (you can wear any chunky trainers) and the right accessories, it is one of the coziest and trendiest piece on the market now.

Sneakers and hoodies are as likely to be seen on the streets of India today as they were considered subcultural on skater kids Thanks to the present day fashion revolution, you can now choose convenience or fashion and not even have to compromise on comfort.

Bomber Jackets

The history of how the bomber jacket evolved and how it was adapted into popular culture is a story of practicality turned military precision; of growth and development; and of cultural significance. The bomber jacket is one of the hottest outerwear trends at the moment & also the most iconic military apparel item to transition into streetwear.

As diverse as a demonstration of its popularity can be; the go-to bomber jacket had always captured the imagination of the budding youth culture; the planet and the version to universal casual wear at the streets. Bomber jackets, despite being pretty conservative in evolution of streetwear when it comes to a price tag, are not just on-trend but also a Bonafede outfit that lasts for a decade or more. This is when a number of significant subcultures emerged around the world over the years that would adopt these jackets into their uniform.

In the late 90s/2000s which was when streetwear was really coming into its own, Alpha Industries went on to do some successful collaborations with a range of street labels like New Era, Stussy, and BAPE.

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Baggy Jeans

Those are the days when baggy jeans, baggy pants were frumpy. This is a major stereotype that hip hop is associated with when most rappers dress in such manner, we stereotype baggy clothes to hip hop. Although it did not surface in 8 Mile, the most widely recognized hypothesis is that baggies are by-product of black gang members out of California known as Cripps and Blood. This music style became popular in the 1990s with the hip-hop musicians and skaters.

For the past 15 years, people have become accustomed to wearing slim, well-designed garments to form-fitting. Unfortunately, Fitness Gains taught us that being most comfortable was the number 1 choice as we will be more likely to choose an easy-going pair of bottoms over a fitted one, when going back to work.

No matter who you are or where you are, the baggies are for everyone because they are both cushy and strong and the colors of white, brown and black are the epitome of the mighty street-hop that made streetwear the style that it is today; couture for the people wrapped up in a three pack, made by the good folks at Hanes.

Sneakers

Its presence in streetwear fashion has been well documented and sneakers have become a key element in the style’s global appeal. Globally, sneakerheads comb the earth looking for rare and limited-edition drops of what were once mostly just functional sports and exercise shoes but have since become collectible fashion items.

The Role of Collaborations

Well, collaborations have played a HUGE part in sneaker culture becoming such a subset of streetwear. Since then, trainer company, designer and artist collaborations have become something of a global phenomenon, with excitement levels ramping up with every new drop.

Sneaker collabs, though, have also served as a way for brands to venture into other territories to tap deeper into many various industries and cultures. 2020 would see the Nike Dunk revisited again — this time around from Japanese evolution of streetwear label Comme des Garçons, who put their own twist on the iconic sneaker. Yuketen – The Yuketen brand began with Yuki Matsuda acquiring the rights to a name which was patented by a Russian immigrant before WWII; that immigrant is who we should be thanking for this brand existing today.

Air Jordan Release Dates The brand was created for former NBA legend Michael Jordan and released its first sneakers the Air Jordan in 1985. The Air Jordan line has since become one of the most famous and highly sought-after sneaker collaborations of all time and with each new release, collectors and sports fans alike can anticipate something exciting to come.

What We Can Expect Next Sneaker Culture In Streetwear

And Evolution of streetwear fashion, as it were, has become an inextricable part of sneaker culture; While both are on the rise, in many ways the success of sneakers hinges on collaborations. This same penchant for coming together has not only created the genesis for sneaker collaborations but has also fuelled a culture of anticipation towards each release. With the way the sneaker culture is changing dramatically, it seems this won’t be the last we see of crazy, cool, and limited-edition sneakers.

Infographic: What forms a Streetwear Look