Streetwear – think Pharrell Williams or Kanye West – two streetwear style icons and two people who consistently stand out on any “best dressed” list. Contrary to some stereotypes associated with hip-hop fashion, streetwear these days is a clean and adapted style, only with a different and relaxed vibe than mainstream fashion. While a casual graphic tee is a streetwear essential, donning a blazer over it is a quick and stylish way to dress things up, a trend that has been absorbed into the mainstream.
If we were to take street clothes off of any item, I’d say a pair of jeans, a nice T-shirt, and a clean pair of sneakers. It’s a mix of skate and shoe culture. Everyone had a pair of Jordans and that helped encourage the movement of the shoes. That love for Michael Jordan and his shoes laid the foundation for a look that has coalesced as each separate style has evolved on its own and then as one. Following the streetwear lineage will take you down several different paths. The foundations were laid in the late 1970s, with the beginning of hip-hop and urban dress that accompanied the attitudes and lifestyle of music; It then gained traction in the 1980s, when surfboard designer Stussy created an underground line, skate-friendly clothing, which became mainstream as skateboarding grew in popularity.
So where does streetwear go from here? As with other style genres, trends come and go; evolve and dissipate. Big, baggy clothing has become more of a couture cut, while busy patterns have shifted to solid colors. As for the future here at The Urban Shop co.uk, it’s hard to predict, but the last few years have had an eighties theme; people who wear skinny jeans, vintage Levis, rave colors and prints everywhere, but now it’s going to be cleaner, simpler.