A lot of times, the stories of women get taken to the sidelines, and right now, the female rappers are really fashion luxury muses.” “As women of color, we were really intentional about showing both male and female fashion. “Hip-hop style, even though it might have been male driven, is both for men and women,” Romero says. Jenny Bui custom-designed nails, 2023, Lent by Jenny Bui As the hoop earring continues to be a cornerstone of the culture, a bejeweled manicure set by “Queen of Bling” Jenny Bui showcases the use of acrylic nails as statement pieces. “But as you’ve seen over time, females have made their own statement with accessories and their hair and nails.” As women began to take over the hip-hop scene, they paired sneakers, baggy jeans and sweat suits with asymmetrical haircuts and bamboo earrings as “different ways in which women identified their femininity,” Romero explains.īamboo earrings, alongside Fulani hoops and doorknocker hoops, became an emblem of “around-the-way” girls like Salt-N-Pepa. “In the earlier days, women had to dress like the boys,” Romero says. Standing between the Rocawear dress and a bomber-style jacket patterned with NFL-team logos, a Gucci ensemble worn by Dapper Dan in 2021, complete with a blush-pink ascot and white Gucci sunglasses, is one example of diversity within hip-hop fashion.Īmong other accessories worn to elevate casual and formal outfits like belts and hats, microthemes of handbags and hoop earrings throughout the exhibit point to the subject of women’s fashion. “As you’ll see walking through the exhibit, while that is a component of the hip-hop style, there are many other levels to that.”Ī tailored, multicolor striped suit by Marc Ecko and an orange ombré silk organza Rocawear dress at the exhibit show that formalwear and luxury is as much a part of hip-hop style as fitted caps and fat shoelaces. “Many people think that the ‘hip-hop look’ is this one monolithic group which generally tends to be baggy jeans and logoed merchandise,” Romero says. The exhibit is organized by themes - customization, film as a vehicle for Black culture, sportswear, the color pink, Afrocentricity, Black pride, and women’s fashion - rather than chronological order to highlight the variety of trends and motifs. “Also from designers like April Walker and 5001 Flavors.”

“We have pieces from Ralph McDaniels’s personal archive,” Way says. The co-curators used connections from Romero’s decades of experience as a hip-hop fashion journalist to speak with industry veterans, such as Sal Abbatiello and Shara McHayle, and to choose pieces from the collections of lenders including Gucci Americas, designer Claudia Gold, and Romero herself. Over the course of the next four years, Romero and Way reached out to designers, archivists, and photographers to amass more than 150 pieces of clothing, shoes, and jewelry that have become symbols and staples of hip-hop culture from over 50 donors. “Ultimately, we wanted to find brands that could help tell a particular story within the themes that we thought and identified, that were really important in the evolution of hip-hop style.”

And that vision board changed quite a bit in terms of all the different looks and categories that we wanted,” Romero says. “It starts off with a concept that we illustrated on a vision board. Exhibition design by Courtney Sloane Design. To the right, Adidas wedge sneakers and leather Christian Louboutin pumps sit in a case beside Adidas shell-toe sneakers and a pair of Nike Air Jordan 10’s. As purple and orange lights bounce off the white walls, the Migos brag about their jewelry and designer clothing: “Versace, Versace, Medusa head on me like I’m ’Luminati.” Then, amid the tall scaffolds bearing sports jerseys and leather jackets, Pop Smoke gloats, “Christian Dior, Dior, I’m up in all the stores.”įresh, Fly, and Fabulous: Fifty Years of Hip Hop Style, installation view. To the left, a monitor shows a 3-D video of natural-diamond-encrusted chains famously worn by Cardi B, A$AP Rocky, and Drake. The lyrics to Biggie Smalls’s “One More Chance” - “I stay Coogi down to the socks, rings and watch filled with rocks” - faintly fills the next, much larger room filled with hip-hop history artifacts. Down the steps, a black letterman jacket from New Jack City and a pair of graffitied jeans from Russel Simmons’s Def Jam University sit behind glowing glass cases. Inside the Fashion Institute of Technology’s Museum at FIT, Kool K and DJ Lee Rock pose in front of a busy store display wearing Lee Jeans.

Hip hop fashion