All About the Hype? All About the Hype - Hip-Hop, Streetwear, and Digital Fashion by Yanran Xiong

All About the Hype?

All About the Hype.

HIP-HOP, STREETWEAR, AND DIGITAL FASHION

A THESIS BY YANRAN XIONG MA FS 2019

Me and my Adidas do the illest things

We like to stomp out pimps with diamond rings We slay all suckers who perpetrate

And lay down law from state to state

We travel on gravel, drit road or street

I wear my Adidas when I rock the beat On stage front page every show I go

It's Adidas on my feet high top or low My Adidas My Adidas

RUN-D.M.C - "MY ADIDAS" (1982)

GLOBALIZATION OF HIP-HOP CULTURE BLURS ITS ETHNIC AND CULTURAL SPECIFICITY.

"DROP" AND "HYPE" AS MATERIAL AND SYMBOLIC CONSUMPTION THAT INFORMS SOCIAL REALITY

MAPPING & ARGUMENTS

COMMERCIAL MANIPULATION/ EXPLOITATION OF "BLACKNESS" AND BLACK MASCULINITY

HIP-HOP FASHION AS A CULTURAL MOVEMENT ALLOWS YOUNG PEOPLE FORM TEMPORAL "TRIBES" THAT IS CONSUMERBASED AND HYPEORIENTED.

Hip-Hop Fashion: Historical Background 1970S: SOUTH BRONX

1986: RUN-D.M.C "MY ADIDAS"

Hip-hop as a nonviolent yet provocative response to social circumstances in the 70s

The link between hip-hop music and fashion

1990S: COMMERCIAL SUCCESS AND EMERGENCE OF URBAN STREETWEAR BRANDS Cross Colors, Karl Kani, Phat Farm, FUBU, Sean John, Rocawear, etc.

2000S: HIP-HOP MUSIC AND FASHION WENT MAINSTREAM Globalization of the culture made hip-hop more a commercial product than a cultural practice

NOW: HIP-HOP STYLE, NAMELY STREET AESTHETICS, HAS TAKEN OVER THE FASHION INDUSTRY

A Cultural Phenomenon

DAPPER DAN X GUCCI BOUTIQUE

KANYE WEST X ADIDAS - YEEZY

Gucci offered Harlem haberdasher Dapper Dan a boutique for customized pieces.

Hip-hop artist and designer Kanye West's Yeezy sneakers are overwhelmingly popular among young consumers

VIRGIL ABLOH X LOUIS VUITTON

PHARRELL WILLIAMS X CHANEL

DJ, former CD for Yeezy, and founder of streetwear brand OffWhite is assigned as artistic director for Louis Vuitton Menswear

Forthcoming collaborative collection between hip-hop artist and designer Pharrell Williams

A$AP ROCKY X DIOR TRAVIS SCOTT X YSL

STREET AESTHETICS AND LUXURY SNEAKERS

More and more hip-hop artists become brand ambassadors for luxury fashion houses

streetwear and sneakers become the dominant aesthetics in the fashion industry

A Literature Review

EVOLUTION OF HIP-HOP A comprehensive exploration of how hiphop evolved throughout time

GLOBALIZATION OF HIP-HOP Scholars recognize the global reach and influence of hip-hop culture

DIGITAL MEDIATIZATION OF FASHION (AGNES ROCAMORA) how development of digital technologies, namely new media and social media affect (especially young people's) everyday life including both material and symbolic consumption of fashion

Streewear brand SUPREME DISCOURSE ANALYSIS: NEW MEDIA SITES

HIGHSNOBIETY and HYPEBEAST VISUAL ANALYSIS: INSTAGRAM PERSONALITIES

4 millennial/Gen-Z street fashion influencers

Methodology & Primary Materials

CASE STUDY: SUPREME

AURA: "DROP" FETISHISM AND "LINE CULT" IN THE AGE OF DIGITAL INFLUENCE THE "DROP" -> "HYPE"

THEÂ LINE -> TEMPORAL AND FLUID CULTURAL AFFILIATION: A NEO-TRIBE

A NEW VALUE SYSTEM CENTERED AROUND THE MECHANISM OF "HYPE"

NEW MEDIA SITES ON STREETWEAR:

&

NEW MEDIA SITES ON STREETWEAR:

&

HIP-HOP'S NEW "PREACHERS": INSTAGRAM AND ITS IDEALIZED FIGURES IN A HYPE-CENTRIC AGE

@WUZG00D

@LUKASABBAT

@GULLYGUYLEO

@IFAYFU

HIP-HOP'S NEW "PREACHERS": INSTAGRAM AND ITS IDEALIZED FIGURES IN A HYPE-CENTRIC AGE

@WUZG00D (Alani Figueroa)

@LUKASABBAT

HIP-HOP'S NEW "PREACHERS": INSTAGRAM AND ITS IDEALIZED FIGURES IN A HYPE-CENTRIC AGE

@GULLYGUYLEO (Leo Mandella)

@IFAYFU (Feifei Fu)

WHAT THEN?

THANK YOU!