Hip Hop Clothing

History of Hip Hop Clothing

It is impossible to talk about hip hop clothing without tracing it back to its roots; namely hip hop music. Born in 1975 in New York’s Bronx, hip hop music began when Jamaican immigrants began living on the Bronx’s Westside. Many became disc-jockeys (DJ’s) who literally, with two turntables and a microphone, gave birth to the phenomena we now call hip hop.
The most famous of these DJ’s, Clive “Hercules” Campbell, or “Kool Herc”, began making music out of break beats, while another young black man from the Bronx, Theodore “Grand Wizard” Livingstone, was accidentally discovering the “scratching” sound on a turntable. Break beets is the instrumental breaks of a song that focus on the rhythm section, which is the favorite parts of the song for most dancers. Together, these two legendary figures laid the technical foundations of rap, which evolved into what we consider hip hop today.
As the first rap groups were founded, so too was hip hop fashion. Hip hop clothing fashion is comprised of many elements, from sneakers to jewelry and hair. In the eighties, it was the white sneakers, the big gold earrings and the fade out hair style for men. Most of these trends are still with us today. In the nineties, the trend leaned towards bright, almost neon-colored pieces (as showcased by the group TLC), paired with baggy clothes. Inspired by the prison culture and perhaps one the most famous, or infamous, fashion trends is the baggy pants worn sans belt. In prison, new inmates have their belts taken away from them, and since prison clothing rarely fits properly, young men were reduced to hiking their pants up with their hands in the prison yard.
Each segment of the country puts its own unique stamp on the hip hop culture. New Yorkers prefers hooded sweat shirts and Timberland boots, while the West Coasters likes big flannel shirts and Converse sneakers. The South brought in gold teeth fashion.

How to Wear

No need for stress when expressing your hip hop style. First, keep in mind where the trend was born (the poorest sections of New York: the Bronx, Brooklyn, Queens, and Manhattan’s Greenwich Village). Second, the music is born out of a sense of feeling disenfranchised and alienated. The following chart contains a few key pieces to incorporate into your wardrobe and how to wear them.

How to Wear

Key Piece	Wear Like This
Sneakers	Anything goes here, but the bright white classic sneaker looks most authentic. Boys can pair them with baggy jeans and a baggy shirt. Girls, wear them with cute denim skirts in the summer and baggy, gym-inspired sweats in the winter.
Sunglasses	Flashy and cutting edge is the key here, and if it’s a brand name pair, so much the better.
Big Gold Earrings	Girls, the trend here is bigger is always better. The earrings can be thick or thin. To really accentuate the earrings, pull long hair into a high, tight ponytail (a la Beyonce). If your hair is short, no problem, the length of your neck will naturally accentuate the size of the earrings.
The Bling	Don’t worry, you won’t have to blow a lot of cash to pull this trend off. This is a very ethnic look, it looks fabulous. Wear three or four necklaces of varying length (they should have pendants, or even better, your name spelled out in gold) with three or four bracelets. Keep the earrings small, or the look will be too overwhelming. If you want to wear the big earrings, take at least one thing off.
A Word on Matching	Tread carefully with this one. Matching from head to toe requires a big personality, so if you don’t like being the center of attention, steer clear of this one.
Hair	You’re free to do what you like. Grow it out in a fro, get corn-rows like Allen Iverson, or wear it long and sleek. All hair types, textures, and styles work with the hip hop style.