Hip Hop
During the 1980s, hip-hop icons wore clothing items such as brightly colored name-brand
tracksuits,
sheepskin and leather
bomber jackets,
[ Clarks shoes, Britishers AKA British Walkers and
sneakers (usually Pro-Keds, Puma, and Adidas-brand shelltoes and often with "phat" or oversized shoelaces).
Popular accessories included large eyeglasses (Cazals or Gazelles), Kangol
bucket hats,
nameplates,name belts, and multiple rings. Heavy
gold jewelry was also popular in the 1980s; heavy jewelry in general would become an enduring element of hip hop fashion.
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| Hip Hop fashion Run DMC circa 1980's |
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| "Hip Hop" inspired fashion by Giuliano Fujiwara Fall 2008 |
Besides the main group of street fashion trends, there a multitude of others from all over the globe. The influence they have on mainstream fashion in unmeasurable. One of my favorite designers has made a definite strong brand that has a multitude of young fashionista's calling her name . . . When I look at Betsey Johnson's clothing, I see a definite influence of Tokyo's subculture called Kawaii.
Kawaii
The rise of cuteness in
Japanese culture emerged in the 1970s as part of a new style of writing. Many teenage girls began to write laterally using
mechanical pencils. These pencils produced very
fine lines, as opposed to traditional
Japanese writing that varied in thickness and was vertical. Also, the girls would write in big, round characters and they added little pictures to their writing, such as hearts, stars, smiley faces, and letters of the Latin alphabet. These pictures would be inserted randomly and made the writing very hard to read.
[3] As a result, this writing style caused a lot of controversy and was banned in many
schools. During the 1980s, however, this new "cute" writing was adopted by
magazines and
comics and was put onto packaging and advertising. From 1984-86, Yamane Kazuma studied the development of cute handwriting, which he called Anomalous Female Teenage Handwriting, in depth. Although it was commonly thought that the writing style was something that teenagers had picked up from
comics, he found that teenagers had come up with the style themselves, as part of an underground movement.
Later, cute handwriting became associated with acting childishly and using infantile slang words. Because of this growing trend, companies such as
Sanrio came out with merchandise like
Hello Kitty. Hello Kitty was an immediate success and the obsession with cute continued to progress in other areas as well. The 1980s also saw the rise of cute idols, such as
Seiko Matsuda, who is largely credited with popularizing the trend. Women began to emulate Seiko Matsuda and her cute fashion style and mannerisms, which emphasized the helplessness and innocence of young girls.
[4] No longer limited to teenagers, however, the spread of making things as cute as possible, even common household items, was embraced by people of all ages. Now there are airplanes painted with
Pikachu on the side, and each of
Japan’s
47 prefectures, the
Tokyo police, and the government television station all have their own cute mascots. Currently, Sanrio’s line of more than 50 characters takes in more than $1 billion a year and it remains the most successful company to capitalize on the cute trend.
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| "Kawaii" street fashion Tokyo, Japan |
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| Betsey Johnson Spring 2010 | |
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| Betsey Johnson Spring 2009 | |
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Another popular street trend as shown in Amsterdam is garments made in gingham fabric.
Gingham has come in and out of style in fashion as was last seen in the early 1990's. It is making a comeback.
Gingham
The name originates from an
adjective in the
Malay language,
ging-gang, meaning striped.
[2] Some sources say that the name came into English via Dutch.
] When originally imported into Europe in the 17th century it was a striped fabric, though now it is distinguished by its checkered pattern. From the mid 18th century, when it was being produced in the mills of
Manchester,
England, it started to be woven into
checked or
plaid patterns (often blue and white). Checked gingham became more common over time, though striped gingham was still available in the late
Victorian period.
Along with
muslin, gingham is often used as a test fabric while designing fashion, or used for making an inexpensive
fitting shell prior to making the clothing in fashion fabric.
Gingham shirts have been worn by mods since the 1960s and
continue to be identified with fans of indie and mod music with brands like
Liam Gallagher's Pretty Green, Fred Perry, Rough Trade and Merc producing gingham shirts.
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| Amsterdam street fashion |
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| Christopher Kane RTW 2010 |
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| Actress Christian Ricci 2010 |
