Virgil Abloh: ‘‘Wow. I would definitely say it’s gonna die, you know?’’
Quoted from a recent Dazed Interview.
The ship of Theseus is a popular thought experiment, in which a ship sets sail on a voyage, and is continuously damaged on its travels. Little by little the ship replaces its parts with newer parts, and newer parts. By the end of the trip the whole ship has been replaced with new parts. The question is, is that still the same ship that set sail, or is it a different ship due to it not having any of its original parts. Streetwear in the same way has evolved because the layers and essence of Streetwear have been replaced.
From the fit of clothes to the colorways of sneakers, everything about streetwear has been reconstituted and remixed to the point of questioning whether the main elements of streetwear are still intact.
To answer the question if the heart of streetwear has changed, it’s best to look at its roots. The first thing that comes to mind is hard New York City 90’s rap and West Coast surf culture. Some of the brands that were at their height during that time were Fubu, Sean John, and Stussy. These brands were everywhere when it came to street culture. Now you have a changing of the guard with Supreme, Off-White, and Palace as house-hold names. With a ‘changing of the guard’ it is clear that streetwear has evolved into something that is fundamentally different in its kernel ideas.
Nike’s Air Force 1’s were, and are one of the biggest staples of streetwear fashion.
It has even transitioned into being one of the biggest sneakers in the world. With even Louis Vuitton having a sneaker that has very similar silhouette. Back in the day, it was a streetwear commandment to have a fresh un-creased pair of uptowns just stashed away to break out on the weekends. Now if you go to any college campus you will these iconic sneakers rocked as a pair of beaters. These shoes are classics that were once a status symbol, they embodied what it meant to be fresh. People would buy a pair just for one night because the importance of a fresh pair was close to religious people.
Wearing a dirty pair is an insult to one of the all-time greats of streetwear.
Designer Development Students sporting their sneakers.
Left: Nasir Salahuddin Middle: Andrew J. Harris Right: Jamir Philips
Streetwear has become interchangeable with Hypebeast culture which has made its own marketplace in which clothing brands are putting their logo on miscellaneous items and people resell those items at a much higher rate due to the “rarity” of the item. Streetwear has grown so much that it has become one of the biggest influences in fashion and culture today. It has become so big that Virgil Abloh, founder Off-white, has been the Artistic Director of Menswear at Louis Vuitton since 2018. Meanwhile Off-white became one of the biggest clothing brands this side of Mississippi. With Virgil at the helm of Louis Vuitton, they transitioned from the chunky dad shoe trend into the more sleek Jordanesque silhouettes... just with a Louis Vuitton logo on them.
The culture of streetwear has gone the way of Brooklyn in which it is not only streetwear in name but the entire vibe, and culture is just a former shadow of itself.
This does not mean that the new streetwear is dreadful in anyway, that is up to personal opinion, but it is no longer the same XXL tee wearing ship that originally set sail back in the 90’s.
Student Editor: Jamir Philips
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