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FFrom Rome’s Professor X hat to Spike Lee merch and Thom Browne’s dress Doja Cat wore on the red carpet in 2022, Hot, Fly and Fabulous, a new exhibition at the New York Museum at FIT traces the history of hip-hop style through the 50s. years. Elizabeth Way and Elena Romero, the show’s curators, talk about the significance of eight items that changed fashion — including one from Romero’s own archive.
Shell fingers
Sneakers have been central to the hip-hop scene since its inception — Romero says people wore brands as diverse as Adidas, Converse and suede Pumas. Adidas Shell Toes without laces were a Run-DMC favorite. The band loved the shoes so much that they released the song “My Adidas” in 1986. Their admiration for the shoes was shared by their fans. “Sing it. [at a concert] And everyone put their sneakers in the air. That’s really an amazing time in hip-hop,” says Way. “Adidas saw a huge increase in sales; they sent a marketing person to New York to find out. And it ended up at this concert.”
Collaborations between hip-hop artists and brands are common these days, but this is the first of its kind. “This is the first time this hip-hop group has signed a deal like this, it’s gotten them multimillion-dollar endorsements,” Romero said. “A lot later, hip-hop becomes a business. This was organic.
Bucket hat
The bucket hat was brought back from farming communities and was worn on the TV show Gilligan’s Island in the 60s. His relationship with hip-hop lasted until the late 70s. In the 80s, LL Cool J and Run DMC wore Kangol hats. Wei says the choice of British brands is just one example of “cross-pollination.” “We see a lot of European influences.”
Romero adds that the bucket hat often completes the look: “It’s part of what we call a ‘hookup’.” brand or where you wear head-to-toe color.”
“We see this constantly in communities of color,” she added. “It’s an audition for their parents and older generations wearing hats. These are generational ideas of what it means to be stylish.
Jordache jeans
In the early ’80s, the designer jean market was exploding with brands from Gloria Vanderbilt to Calvin Klein. Labels like Jordash, Calvin Klein and Lee were popular in the hip-hop community. “Jordash represents a lot of things — funk and disco, even salsa,” Way says. “So a lot of musical references, again, to their parents and what their parents did, to their older brothers or uncles.”
Romero — who grew up in the hip-hop scene in Brooklyn’s Sunrise Park — says Lee was especially popular. She says, “Youths cut and collect for the maintenance, just for bragging rights. “It’s going to be like a baseball card set. We wore a lot of colored jeans. It wasn’t just indigo, it was gray and marus and hunter green and black.
MCM jacket
Designer Dapper Dan opened his shop in 1982 and his designs – boots that recreated the logos of Fendi, Louis Vuitton and MCM on sportswear – became popular. While this item wasn’t made by Dapper Dan, it does show its influence. “He was printing his own skins and pioneering this conversation between European brands and American sportswear,” Wei says. “Other professionals worked on a smaller scale, creating their own custom fashions.”
While Dan’s designs are boots, they represent luxury to his customers. It was a habit for them. This was one of those, a special piece that only they had — it was highly sought after,” Romero said. “all of them [Dapper Dan’s] Their customers were thugs and thugs, people who emulated hip-hop and wanted to dress and look like them. While Dan’s success eventually led to legal action by luxury brands, it has recently come full circle. After finally getting the recognition his work deserves from the fashion industry, He opened his atelier in 2017 in collaboration with Gucci and in 2018 with the support of the company.
Sean John’s outfit
The exhibition also explores hip-hop’s relationship with the fashion industry. This is as It includes the Chanel chain in 1991, the “Dokie” chain of aesthetics and designs including Baby Fat, 5001 Flavors and Sean John, a label founded by Diddy in 1998. Shawn John marked an inflection point, Way says. “From the beginning, it was really integrated with mainstream fashion. The brand was supported by Anna Wintour and Andre Leon Talley, and [Diddy] He was the first black designer to win a CFDA award. Crucially, as this outfit attests, Sean John doesn’t embrace clichés. “It’s not a typical quote-unquote hip-hop look,” Wei says. “One of the things Sean John did was elevate the style of hip-hop and make it not just jeans and jeans.”
Elena’s belt
Romero contributed her own name belt to the exhibition – an example of the early ’80s trend of wearing your name on equipment. “There were these little mom-and-pop stores in different counties,” she said. “How many letters are in your name, your horoscope, your staff, and then you customize them.”
The regulator says this was out of fashion. “Shouting your name was a way of being seen. Black and brown people from marginalized communities here in New York City and around the world were being marginalized and wanted to be seen. What’s better than flaunting your name with your clothes and jewelry?
Earrings
Hoop earrings are synonymous with hip-hop style — worn by everyone from Salt-N-Pepa to Lil’ Kim and Cardi B. Way says it’s just another thing rooted in broader black culture. We see the likes of Betsy Shabazz, Angela Davis, wearing hoops, and we’ve seen it continue with women in hip-hop.
“A lot of them are paying tribute to our mothers, our aunts, the babies of the civil rights movement,” Romero added.
Earrings were the first way for women in the hip-hop world to put their own stamp on their looks. “So much of the early hip-hop style was androgynous for women,” Wei says. “When they danced, they wanted to dress like boys, but jewelry, nails, makeup, hair—these were ways they could promote their own feminine style.”
Kazals
Pictures taken by the photographer Jamel Shabazz in the early 80s are presented in the exhibition. Documenting the youth of the hip-hop scene in Brooklyn, the images feature the large-lens cazal glasses now associated with this era. Romero says they were a status symbol and could be seen as an early example of geek chic. “Glasses don’t always get a good response from little kids,” she recalls. But now suddenly, what people hated was so beautiful and so popular. “You wear them with a bucket hat, sandals, shell toes or Converse.
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Fresh, Flay and Fantastic: Fifty Years of Hip Hop Style will be on view from February 8th to April 23rd at the FIT Museum in New York.
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