“For Us, By Us”: Hip-Hop Fashion, Commodity Blackness and the Culture of Emulation

Abstract

Clothing is arguably the primary method by which individuals and groups publicly construct their identities. On a daily basis, we must decide what to wear and most of us are savvy, to some degree, about the symbolic meaning of the clothes we choose. We often seek, subconsciously or purposefully, to emulate an image, a person, or a way of life through the way we dress. While fashion, with its associations of excess, aesthetics and decoration, has long been seen as a concern for women, it is obvious that men—as designers, as consumers, and as endorsers—are part of the fashion industry as well. Although the menswear market is highly differentiated, ranging from couture tuxedos to sportswear, its most spectacular success in the late twentieth century has been in the niche known as “urban wear.” A loose term, urban wear can be generally defined as those styles derived from the hip-hop subculture of the 1980s and 1990s and which have, since that time, become popular across age, race and geography.