Streetwear

   While street style refers to trends, streetwear refers to clothing inspired by a particular subculture of society. The earliest examples of streetwear were born out the youth movement in the 1960s and 1970s, particularly the hippie and surf cultures. Los Angeles surf board designer Shawn Stussy created a trend of screen printing his logo on T-shirts and it wasn't long before surf clothing was adopted by nonsurfers. The hippie culture was fueled by the antiwar and antiestablishment movement with clothing such as denim bell-bottom jeans and fringed suede jackets as the uniform. Another example of streetwear took its inspiration in the 1980s from sports franchises: basketball sneakers bearing iconic player names such as Michael Jordan and LeBron James for Nike; Chicago Bulls and L.A. Raiders baseball caps worn backwards; and oversized sports jerseys were all popularized by hip-hop culture. By the turn of the century, as rap artists got rich, the term bling was introduced, which not only referred to the wearing of oversized, expensive jewelry but also launched the luxury fad. Rap artists wore expensive clothes and jewelry and drove expensive cars, which they featured in their music videos, and eventually they further capitalized on their success by opening their own fashion houses. Sean Combs of Bad Boy opened Sean John, Russell Simmons of Def Jam opened Phat Farm, Jay-Z and Damon Dash of Roc-a-Fella launched Rocawear, and 50 Cent opened G-Unit. As each new generation of youth seeks to establish its cultural footprint on society, the masses will create clothing that will define them.