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What is streetwear and where did it come from?
1. What is streetwear?
The defination of streetwear
Streetwear, on the one hand, we can know that it means the fashionable clothing which can be worn in daily life in the dictionary. On the other hand, in essence, there are many fields can be included in streetwear, such as production, promotion, sales and secondary market, especially sneaker products. What’s more, t-shirts and other products are also included, which have bypassed traditonal retail ways, upended the fashion industry’ long-held defination of cool and reinterpreted how cool can make profits.
The characteristics for streetwear
The most important characteristic of street style clothing is casual and chic and full of fashion, among which hip-hop, skateboarding and outdoor sports are the most representative.
The hip-hop style is the most prominent. Hip-hop culture is an important characteristic of street culture. Hip-hop, rap and graffiti are the embodiment of hip-hop style. because the unites states in 90s is the birthplace of hip-hop culture, clothing style is a kind of America. Oversized blouse and trousers, cap and scarf are a full range of streetwear. Besides, the exaggerated coarse gold necklace is also a big feature.The West Coast, gangsta style is strong American street flavor.
Skateboarding is more casual on the street. It is more juvenile than hip-hop. Loose personality graffiti style clothes and a pair of casual espadrils are the biggest features,often with matchable hoodies and other clothes. Skateboard culture is also an important part of streetwear, full of personality.
Outdoor sports is also one of the street wear popular with trendsstters. The clothes of outdoor sports style perfer pure color and earth color and simple. But there are more pursuits in material and design, similar to the tooling style. The clothes of multi-pocket loose version are a major feature of outdoor sports style.
2. Where did it come from
Streetwear originated in the mid-1950s with the American “escapist movement. It was introduced to the UK in the 1960s. There was a “Beat Generation’’ in fancy dress in London. They appeared in a variety of social occasions in bizarre, unconventional clothing to defy the classical, traditionally conservative, hierarchical and high class women’s clothing and traditional social dress rules of the society at the time.
Streetwear is fundamentally a derivative of the subculture, which is a bottom-up fashion style, with a strong self-creation mentality and a very avant-garde. Street clothes in the content and form are very extensive, only reflect the freedom, return to simplicity, the pursuit of comfort, self-expression and other concepts have become one of the main international popular trends. The main product categories are: T-shirts, hoodies, hats, shoes and so on.
The use of various street cultures in clothing
1. The performance of punk culture in clothing
Early punk costumes emphasized personality and cheap: black tights, holes and cotton clothes with skeletons and beauties, baggy coats, and leather clothes were the hottest dresses. Pins and metal bars are also widely used in clothing. So “funny”, “alternative” became the substitute of punk clothing. But in 1979 the designer Zandra. Rhodes improved on the punk costumes that the loud, fragmented, and the punk costumes adorned with pins and metal bars gone forever, and they began to get closer to people. After that, the elements of punk continue to influence fashion design and fashion trend. Edge, pickling, destructive washing or special printing and dyeing elements continue to be popular. Folding, stitching, hollow, irregular tailoring are both novel and very rich design beauty.
2. The expression of graffiti culture in popular clothing
Graffiti culture has also gradually changed from illegal to legal, with the application of clothing reflected in several aspects. Graffiti artists are nocturnal, and graffiti has formed a popular world street culture. Because more good at love painting, it was endowed with a fresh modern style, such as Japanese cartoon style, American street style, and white style like prints, and Taiwan picture book style. More and more clothing brand flow graffiti, scenery, character daub, and even personally on clothes draw all kinds of unruly patterns to express the youth. Graffiti combines more closely with business, and graffiti contains more spirit of fashion, entertainment and play. Many talented people among the young graffiti artists enter the house and become the lucky designers of the new era. There are many examples of how graffiti is loved in the new design world. A graffiti bag launched in 2001, pure black bottom is casually painted with simple pure white English circle body, without the rough of the street, it is the combination of elegant and wild interest however, becoming the spring necessarity of fashionable personage in those days. In addition, there are gorgeous graffiti patterns of trousers, short coats and leather bags, shoes. Many brands also take the scenery of the Paris flowers as the pattern on the leather bag.
The classification of streetwear
Sportswear is the biggest street trend, although you may be used to style, but it is not impossible to change your style, apply some subtle elements, with a pair of white sneakers and fashion leggings. It is casual and stylish, and the street sense is even more stylish.
Cross-body bag is the perfect daily bag for your busy life, which can provide enough space for all necessities. Choosing a smaller handbag with a long chain band can accompany you to work all day long and let you enjoy the luxury.
Training suits are not only comfortable, but also one of the biggest street style trends and add a touch of sporty luxury. You can wear them with a pair of sneakers, which can make you perfect and get a unique look.
The recent popularity of the pattern and printing has really increased a lot. It also looks good to match stripes.The key to mixing is the proportion of up and down to appear good, keep the overall simple and personality.
Some of the most popular streetwear brands and what makes them stand out
Nike is one of the emerging OG brands in the sneaker culture. Whatever their preference, all trainers will agree that the Nike logo is the most popular and favorite logo for sports and fashion fans around them. Developed from its status as a fitness equipment, Nike is now a mature street clothing brand. Nike works with companies like Off-White and Patta to bring us the best street-style work to date. With no signs of slowing down, Nike seems set to continue to do so for the next few years.
As an OG sports brand, Adidas is also one of the top street-style brands. The German sportswear brand is responsible for delivering us Kanye West’s Yeezy sneakers and working with many other celebrities. The iconic three-striped sneakers have been firmly on street-style sidewalks since the 90s.
New York City shoe designer Ronnie Fieg is the creative director of Kith. The diverse brand has retail space with some of the most coveted names in sneakers and street clothing. Also, it is a standalone label. Keith is known for its heavy logo heavy, urban clothing and limited collaboration, and with some very unexpected brands. Teamwork included luxury stroller manufacturer Bugaboo, and even Coca-Cola. The brand once worked with Tommy Shiffg (Tommy Hilfiger) to create a nostalgic style capsule collection for the fall / Winter 18 collection.
Vetements was founded by Demna Gvasalia, the head of Balenciaga, which fully proves that street clothing has fully penetrated the luxury world. Vetements is known for its innovative and highly diverse designs, adopting T fashion and bringing it into street fashion. The label caused a stir for its wider culture in satirical design.
Heron Preston (the founder of the music and fashion collective, once Trend Trill (Trend Trill), founded his own brand in the footsteps of Virgil Abloh) and Matthew Williams (Matthew Williams). The HPC Trading Company was established in 2016. Since its inception, the Preston (Preston) brand has been known for its unique style and unpredictable street clothing design. The cult label mainly features super-large cuts, weird patterns, and its trademark bright orange brand.
