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A simple explanation of what Urban Fashion is and some background to it.

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young woman modelling image by david hughes from Fotolia.com

The Sixties was an important decade for fashion because it was the first time in history that clothing was geared toward the youth market. Previously, fashion houses designed for the mature and elite members of society; however, during the enormous social and political revolution that transpired in the mid-Sixties, the power of the teenage and young adult market was too great to ignore. The music scene was the voice of this generation and heavily influenced the iconic fashions that were created during this decade.

The British Invasion

The first major fashion movement of the Sixties emerged from Great Britain, where The Beatles, The Rolling Stones and various other pop and rock bands were enjoying immense popularity. Designer Mary Quant created the iconic miniskirt in response to the youthful, fun-loving attitude that was spreading throughout the country. The capital became known as "Swinging London" and soon brightly colored streamlined fashions were all the rage in Europe and America .

The Summer of Love

During the second half of the Sixties, the infamous Woodstock festival and artists like Jimi Hendrix and Janis Joplin influenced the "Hippie" movement that originated in San Francisco, Calif. The prevalence of free love, recreational drugs and psychedelic music became apparent in fashion. Clothes for men and women became loose and relaxed, with brightly colored prints and patterns influenced by other cultures. Bell-bottoms, tunic tops and tie-dye prints became very popular.

Folk Artists

The Sixties was a politically-charged decade and many folk artists emerged with their stance on war, racism and government. Bob Dylan, Tom Paxton and emerging star Joni Mitchell were important folk artists in the Sixties, and fans soon copied their fashion sense. Reflecting working class America, denim and military-style jackets along with western-inspired shirts rose in popularity.

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How the Music of the Sixties Influenced Fashion

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The Sixties was an important decade for fashion because it was the first time in history that clothing was geared toward the youth market. Previously, fashion houses designed for the mature and elite members of society; however, during the enormous social and political revolution that transpired in ...

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"The History of Hip Hop Fashion: How Street Culture Became Fashion’s Biggest Influence"

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"The History of Hip Hop Fashion: How Street Culture Became Fashion’s Biggest Influence"

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Although hip hop culture has a history of going against the grain, it eventually came to dominate not only mainstream popular music, but the world of high-fashion as well.

From the stage to the runway, The Style of Sound is a series that explores the intricate relationships forged between your favorite artists and their iconic fashion statements.
Written by Jayden Guzman
Illustrated by Rylan Henderson

Hip hop's relationship with the world of fashion has a interesting and very important history. As hip hop arose from the streets with an outsider status, it gave birth to its own distinct fashion style and aesthetic - unlike anything seen in the mainstream fashion world - which has developed and evolved in unique ways over time.

The genre was born in New York City between the late 1970s and early 1980s. In this early era, New York b-boy culture largely dominated fashion in hip hop. B-boys were breakdancers who helped establish and give birth to hip hop culture in its early days. Hip hop artists of this time, began popularizing tracksuits, chains, and kangol hats, among other items, giving birth to a new and exciting street fashion culture unique to the New York hip hop scene.

The group most responsible for establishing and defining hip hop's trademark "street" look was Run-DMC, who famously adopted Adidas tracksuits and laceless shell-toed sneakers as their signature uniform. This look was inspired by the style of New York City b-boys at the time. By adopting this street look, the group rejected the highly glamorous looks of early hip hop - such as those of Afrika Bambaataa and DJ Grandmaster Flash - in favor of a grittier (although still flashy) look. Soon after, many rappers such as LL Cool J began to adopt the trends set by Run-DMC, introducing a mainstream audience to street style for the first time.

In 1985, the group even professed their love for the brand in their hit song "My Adidas." The success of this song eventually led to a formal endorsement deal (the first of its kind) between Adidas and Run-DMC. This deal fostered a lasting bond between hip hop culture and the sportswear world, and ultimately paved the way for future collaborations between hip hop artists and major brands.

As hip hop advanced, so did its sense of style. Toward the late '80s and early '90s, hip hop culture began to develop a greater reflection of African heritage and black-nationalist sentiment, reflected both lyrically and aesthetically. Hip hop artists like Public Enemy, KRS-One, and Queen Latifah adopted more militaristic looks, dreadlocks, and the bright colors associated with black-nationalist movements: red, yellow, black, and green.

In the mid '90s, the culture became obsessed with a more lavish, designer style. Artists like 2Pac, P. Diddy, and the Notorious B.I.G. began sporting looks inspired by those of old-school gangsters, a style dubbed "ghetto fabulous." These looks consisted of double-breasted designer suits, bowler hats and fedoras, alligator-skin shoes, and designer sunglasses. Artists like the Notorious B.I.G. began rapping about luxury brands such as Versace, Prada, and DKNY, marking the beginning of hip hop's lasting obsession with high-end designer brands. However, while hip hop's love of high fashion was growing, the culture still maintained its outsider status, not being fully embraced by the fashion world just yet.

Late '90s hip hop fashion consisted of baggier, less-designer looks. The outfits from this period were marked by baggy jeans, flat bill baseball caps, sports jerseys, sneakers and boots. This style was adopted by many rappers including Wu-Tang Clan and Snoop Dogg, among other 'gangster' rappers at the time. The influence of this style spilled over into the early 2000s. However, in the late 2000s, as hip hop became the new focus of popular music, it similarly became one of the biggest influences on the fashion world.

Today, lyrics about high fashion and designer brands are more common in hip hop music than ever before. For example, in her chart-topping single "Bodak Yellow," Cardi B boasts, "These is red bottoms, these is bloody shoes," referring to Christian Loubotin high heels. Hip hop artists are some of the most prominent and influential icons of fashion. Some artists - such as Kanye West, Tyler, the Creator, and Pharrell - have even become successful designers themselves. Others, such as A$AP Rocky, Young Thug, and Travis Scott have their own signature collections or have modeled for the most elite designer brands.

Hip hop's influence on fashion today is most evident in the fashion world's current obsession with streetwear. For example, the streetwear brand Supreme is currently one of the most popular and highly-coveted clothing brands in the world. The brand's influence on high-end luxury fashion is undebatable, proven by its 2017 collaboration with Louis Vuitton. Supreme owes much of its fervent popularity to hip hop culture, as rappers' (most prominently, Tyler, the Creator) love for the brand has helped foster its unmatched following.

Fashion's obsession with streetwear isn't only apparent in the rise in popularity of streetwear brands, however. It can also be seen in newer designs from long-established luxury brands, which often emulate the aesthetic of streetwear. It is not uncommon to see hoodies, sneakers, sweatpants, or chains - all of which have long been a part of hip hop's street fashion - on the runway today. In other words, the relationship between hip hop and the fashion world has made a complete 180, as hip hop has gone from a counterculture with its own distinct world of fashion, to a culture that is arguably the most influential on mainstream fashion trends.
This article was added to The Style of Sound after its publication, upon the creation of the The Style of Sound series.

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The Style of Sound: The History of Hip Hop Fashion: How Street Culture Became Fashion's Biggest Influence - afterglow

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Although hip hop culture has a history of going against the grain, it eventually came to dominate not only mainstream popular music, but the world of high-fashion as well. From the stage to the runway, The Style of Sound is a series that explores the intricate relationships forged between your favorite artists and their iconic fashion statements.

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"How to stay ahead of fashion trends in the era of social media"

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"How to stay ahead of fashion trends in the era of social media"

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Discusses social media's impact on the fashion industry.

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Harness the power of social media to anticipate fashion trends

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In the age of influencers, fashion brands should tap the predictive power of social media. Learn how Heuritech technology can help.

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"Op-Ed | What Happened to Street Style?"

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"Op-Ed | What Happened to Street Style?"

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(Opinion Piece) Street style has been infiltrated by luxury brands and is no longer true streetwear.

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Street style | Source: stylesnooperdan.com

By Max Berlinger January 23, 2014 12:12

NEW YORK, United States - Whatever happened to the "street" in street style? As interest in street style grows, there's certainly no dearth of images featuring tony editors, buyers and other fashion insiders captured at the world's major fashion weeks. But there's a pointed lack of inspiration in these pictures. Too often, they reflect a highly merchandised construct that merely reiterates the seasonal themes dictated, top-down, from the industry to consumers, at the expense of true personal style. Sometimes, they are even part of a premeditated marketing plan.

When legendary street style photographer Bill Cunningham hunkers down on New York's 57th Street and Fifth Avenue to document the passing parade, he aims to capture real people in their real clothing living their real lives, something closer to reportage than public relations. But during fashion week, where an increasing number of street style images are now captured, so-called street style stars are often seeded with (if not gifted) pieces from designers in the hopes that they will be shot in them, earning brands exposure. Indeed, many of these "street style" images are now so constructed that it feels like the only thing missing are the credits in the lower left-hand corner.

What's more, for those aiming to land themselves on influential street style blogs, websites like The Cut are now able to pinpoint " street style bait" - items like 's rockstud footwear, Givenchy's printed t-shirts, Fendi buggies, and almost anything from Céline - and provide a formula for how to attract street style photographers.

We once looked to the street for personal style and, indeed, new ways to interpret the onslaught of clothing and accessories presented on the catwalks. But is anything new being said when a street style star like Anna Dello Russo, editor-at-large and creative consultant for Vogue Japan, wears a head-to-toe look from Prada or Balmain? Can this really be construed as street style any longer? It certainly has nothing to do with the street and feels anything but personal.

To be frank, what we now call street style has stifled true style. While savvy readers have long known that the editorial content that appears in their favourite monthlies was influenced by advertisers, street style was once a space free from these kinds of transactional compromises. No longer.

What's more, when street style stars actively court the camera - dressing to be photographed instead of dressing according to one's own wishes - with carefully planned and executed ensembles, what we get is polish and poise with none of the instinctive and idiosyncratic gestures of true personal style. Ultimately, what we are left with is an awful lot on display, but not much to see.

Perhaps it's a romantic idea, but I'd argue that true style, at its best, says something deep and intrinsic about the wearer. In contrast, the new wave of meticulously fabricated stars are all surface. There's no denying that the surface is pretty. It may also reflect a strong visual persona. But is it genuine?

For me, the majority of street style images have become as glossy - and, ultimately, two-dimensional - as the fashion stories found in most fashion magazines.

Paradoxically, as the Internet provides instant access to everything, street style has lost its immediacy and vitality. We're hypnotised by the material goods, but the indefinable characteristics of true style remain underrepresented. When was the last time you saw a street style image featuring someone who looked as though they just tossed on something they had hanging in their closet and it came together in an unexpected or surprising way that's genuine and perhaps changed your eye a bit?

There was a time when the runways and magazines reflected a world of fantasy, and real life was, well, real life. Which didn't mean that you had to dress like a bore, but you certainly didn't borrow clothes from a showroom either.

Not long ago it was enough to be stylish and have a shrewd eye and a closet of well-chosen items. While street style used to represent the frontier of self-expression and do-it-yourself spirit. Now it looks as constructed as the runway.

But when the runways and the streets become one and the same, isn't the industry just reflecting its own perfectly manufactured image back to itself? This is a dangerous place for fashion to be, as it's in this mutual admiration that stagnation occurs.
Max Berlinger is a writer based in New York. The views expressed in Op-Ed pieces are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Business of Fashion. How to submit an Op-Ed: The Business of Fashion accepts opinion articles on a wide range of topics. The suggested length is 800 words, but submissions of any length will be considered. Submissions may be sent to contributors@businessoffashion.com. Please include 'Op-Ed' in the subject line. Given the volume of submissions we receive, we regret that we are unable to respond in the event that an article is not selected for publication.

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Street style | Source: stylesnooperdan.com By Max Berlinger January 23, 2014 12:12 NEW YORK, United States - Whatever happened to the "street" in street style? As interest in street style grows, there's certainly no dearth of images featuring tony editors, buyers and other fashion insiders captured at the world's major fashion weeks.

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"Streetwear was declared dead. It’s still here"

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"Streetwear was declared dead. It’s still here"

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The impact Covid-19 has had on streetwear.

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Streetwear was declared dead. It’s still here

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As the pandemic changes shopping habits, menswear brands are adapting and streamlining their assortment to refocus on in-demand streetwear products.

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"The New Direction Of Streetwear Swivels To A Surreal Future"

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"The New Direction Of Streetwear Swivels To A Surreal Future"

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Where fashion (specifically streetwear) is headed in the next few years.

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The next generation of streetwear designers will pave the future with functional apparel surpassing the old regime as too suggest an inspiration from the gods. Literally. The global pandemic of COVID-19 has set trend analysts and menswear experts alike to shout from the rooftops about how the spread of the coronavirus has given rise to a fresh list of consumer demands. In a word, to survive in the post-covid world, is to implement change. The wheels are in motion as consumers insist on elements of protection made with advancements in comfort. This has become more and more prevalent in the future of streetwear design.
Sustainable environment:
Overall, the fashion business has been implementing better ways to develop apparel with the lowest carbon footprint economically possible. In fact, next level streetwear designers and brands have been developing eco activist and (obligatory) sustainable statements through grassroots advertising and marketing strategies- that both inspire and evoke action. Even though the environment has been a constant key consideration for the last decade or so, it has now become the greatest voice with respect to the winds of change and the future of streetwear. Honestly, after having been told to quarantine at home, wear masks in public and wash our hands over and over again, consumers are longing for peace and serenity of nature in lieu of what is coming down the virtual runway in Paris or Milan.
Buried treasures :
In the past, fashion creatives have taken elements of heritage and redefined them to adhere to modern standards. The new guard of streetwear designers now flash us a touch of nostalgia as a bow-down of sorts to our treasure past. But, more importantly, the next wave is setting the foundation for what is to come. On the world timeline, I believe we are at a pivotal point. If you don't believe me just ask the person next to you about their thoughts on current affairs and future dreams.
The new guard:
In my streetwear analyst, I clearly see a whole new life of energy that is keen on playing with hyperreal finishes such as reflective elements or high shine product offerings that lend credence to a fresh modified look. These new arrivals have finer lines than streetwear of the past - leading the charge of a seriousness in this fashion segmentation. The takeaway here is less aggressive styles, return to environment and maintaining function.
Welcome to the new guard in men's streetwear!
RIOT HILL returns with their latest online release, this time calling on one of their classic graphic motifs. Utilizing a signature boxed fit, the menswear label's latest hooded sweatshirt sports an unmistakable back and front screen printed logo providing a stylistic narrative to the garment in its role as a staple centerpiece. Making it the perfect addition to any modern wardrobe. A piece of RIOT HILL is as durable as the message it exists to perpetuate.This hoodie will release this Thursday at 4 PM PST only at riot-hill.store $195.00

Black suede B-Glove high-top sneakers with silver-tone Balmain logo $750
Sneakersnstuff
The SNS x Gramicci Collaboration is a six-piece capsule release for Summer 2020. One of the OG brands in the outdoor market, known for its climbing apparel and SNS created a functional and comfortable capsule pack with three pairs of shorts and three tee's.

SNS x Gramicci Tee ($39): The white tee with SNS and Gramicci Running Man logo meshed up matches perfectly with the designated short.

Paisley G-Shorts ($88): The classic Gramicci G-shorts has been dressed in an exclusive SNS paisley print on a chino-beige background. The multi-colored SNS paisley pattern (yes, it reads "SNS" if you look closely) sits comfortably on double-ringspun cotton twill, paired with a signature gusseted crotch, these summer shorts by SNS and Gramicci let you enjoy every movement in style.

Introducing the Dawn 70 - made in collaboration with TSS x Nahmias, featuring silk jacquard paisley tongues, platform soles, laser engraved details and silk shoelaces available in both high and low top styles. These ultra-limited shoes are a must-have summer purchase that can be worn all year round, and retail for $ 1250,00 USD.
Burton Mine77 x NEIGHBORHOOD
The Burton Mine77 x NEIGHBORHOOD 8-Pocket Cargo Jeans are based off original BDU pants that have been modified from MIL specs. They feature two additional cargo pockets and are made of 10oz military denim. Each pair has selvedge fabrication that emphasizes the look with fades and drips. These are part of the Burton Mine77 x NEIGHBORHOOD collection, a limited five-piece capsule featuring military-inspired, functional denim and velvet pieces. The final installment from Jake Burton Carpenter, the collection combines Jake's drive and passion for product development and innovation with Shinsuke Takizawa's NEIGHBORHOOD known for its iconic military inspired, premium apparel. Pricing: $299

The Bubble Wrap Utility Vest utilizes recycled bubble wrap and durable PVC to reinterpret the familiar silhouette of a classic utility vest into an unconventional, eye-catching, and sustainable garment. In today's age of non-stop deliveries from Amazon, USPS, UPS, Fedex, DHL, etc. one cannot go a day without seeing packaging materials littered throughout the streets. Frustrated by this monotonous cycle, yet guilty of being apart of it, designer Tommy Bogo set out to create garments that utilize packaging material in order to encourage others to re-purpose, re-use, and at least recycle these otherwise wasted materials that are arriving at our doorstep on a daily basis. Price: $350
John Geiger
$350.00 USD - Designer John Geiger continues his stride of highly coveted releases. His eponymous brand is excited to unveil an iconic 'Black Marble' color-way in his 002 sneaker model. Slated as one of the brand's most anticipated releases of 2020, the 'Black Marble' 002 starts from the ground up with a white outsole that features John Geiger branding and is capped off with a Neoprene upper that offers a striking exclusive design of black marble alongside hints of blue hues and accents throughout the sneaker to assist in creating a truly unique pattern, giving each pair a one-of-one look and making no two pairs the same. Succeeding the 'White Marble' 002 Low, the 'Black Marble' 002 High gives footwear lovers another beautiful selection to add to their closets and rotations. Eager supporters and fans will be able to purchase the 'Black Marble' 002 sneaker at johngeigerco.com on August 7th, 2020 at 12pm EDT

This summer, HUF joined forces with fellow Los Angeles-based modern eyewear brand, AKILA, to bring you the 'Legacy,' a limited-edition sunglasses collaboration in 3 new colorways. Featuring the signature HUF Green in an acetate frame, a Leopard Tortoise motif, and a classic black frame accented with rose tinted lenses, the HUF x AKILA 'Legacy' is limited to less than 150 pairs per color, and combines handcrafted tradition and modern materials for a new and improved, timeless classic. Each pair is handmade to maintain precision and quality that will last for years, uses environmentally-conscious plant-based cellulose acetate, and retails at $100 USD.
Dim Mak Collection
Steve Aoki's Dim Mak Collection and Dust of Gods by Antonio Tadrissi have teamed up to create a limited-edition capsule collection of hoodies to benefit Covid-19 relief. Each hoodie highlights its own city map including New York, Los Angeles, Toronto, Milan, and Beijing. A portion of the proceeds from each hoodie sold from the Un*break*able campaign will be donated to the Steve Aoki Foundation and allocated to a powerful cause that responds to the impacts of Covid-19, with the assistance of the Red Cross.

Renowned LA has teamed up with UNKNWN, Lebron James Concept Store, in Miami, Florida. The shirt features our "Hands to The Sky" graphic with text reading "Embrace The UNKNWN" by Muntasir Mohamed. On the back, large text reads " Move Towards Your Fears. This Shirt is a great addition to any summertime wardrobe! Not only is the shirt amazing, part of the proceeds go towards Know Your Rights, Dream Defenders and the Miami Foundation. This shirt will be released end of August at UNKNWN in-store and online. $55.00

The Sheered Jungle Shirt from TAAKK is the quintessential piece for the season as it expertly walks the line between heritage and trend. Designer Takuya Morikawa, who worked on famed Japanese designer Issei Miyake's design team for eight years before launching TAAKK in 2013, melds eye popping color and pattern with the ever popular camp collar reminiscent of the classic 50's style, reimagined here for the modern man. - Price in USD: $353.55

PROBLEM CHILD

Problem Child's smart street approach blends 2 different walks of life into tangible products. The new kids on the block have been worn by the likes of pioneer ASAP Rocky and supermodel Alton Mason. Featured here; the "Manteca" flare trouser which translates to butter complementing the palette and silky smooth fabrication of these Japanese poplin trousers. Modernizing classics with a unique twist these are a perfect transition piece from day to night. With all of their products being ethically manufactured in the heart of Los Angeles, be sure to keep an eye out for this underdog company. They have proven to be well ahead of their time. Retail($ 220)
DRx Romanelli and LeRoy Neiman
This limited edition DRx Romanelli LeRoy Neiman cap is a versatile summer accessory you can feel good about buying: all proceeds will go to Artist Relief, a national coalition to support artists impacted by COVID-19. Streetwear designer Darren Romanelli -known for deconstructing and upcycling vintage items under the moniker DRx or Dr. Romanelli- remixes the paintings of LeRoy Neiman, an artist who captured sports and life in bold, expressionistic strokes. Each order will also include a mystery vintage poster randomly selected from the Neiman Foundation archives, for the nostalgist in us all. Price: $65, now available for pre-order (ships in mid-August)
Champion.com
A streetwear-lover's dream juxtaposition of an ultra-modern silhouette but with breathable, light materials for a sock-like fit. The shoe pairs Champion's heritage branding and script logo with sleek lines and classic summer colors for a look that can be worn from day to night and that pair easily with your existing summer wardrobe staples for a bold look.

Aloha shirts are iconically American. They are a part of our history of style just as much as the surf and skate cultures that embraced them on the West Coast. While we tend to stay away from trends it just so happens that this shirt fits with the overall theme of tropical motifs and colors, and "artsy prints" for the Mens 2020 season but with a more classic approach. Whats even cooler is you wont see this print licensed out to mass market brands. We designed it and it's exclusive to us and made in limited quantities here in LA. $285.00 USD

The word KUON means eternity, that which is everlasting, as well as the remembrance of the past as experienced in the present. The choice of this word is relevant to designer and founder, Shinichiro Ishibashi, as the two pivotal techniques often used in the collection are boropatchwork and sashikostitching, as well as modern developments of traditional Japanese techniques and materials. KUON continues to collaborate with local manufacturing and craftsmen to make clothing that combines design with their unique set of skills. As a result, Ishibashi is able to share his knowledge about fashion, while learning the history and expertise of his counterparts. This exchange has provided an edge for KUON, enabling the brand to rapidly gain recognition. $437.50.

Big Mike's Black Lives Matter Pendant is a summer 2020 essential piece. Not only is the custom black & 14K white gold and diamonds pendant stylish and sleek, but it's symbolic. The custom piece is designed to celebrate Black lives and the fight for racial equality. The Black Panther fist-shaped pendant is more than a piece of jewelry, it's a statement. All of the proceeds from sales of this timeless piece will go to charity. Big Mike has teamed up with 'The North Star Funds - Let Us Breathe Fund' to donate all profits. Price: $1500
DARRYL BROWN
The Jade work shirt is a classic piece with vintage quality. It's crisp in structure with the intention of being "worn in" over time. The color is based off the symbolism of Jade stone, promoting, harmony, protection, and good fortune.The Jade work shirt also takes inspiration from Darryl Brown SR. who often wore a similar version while working. 100% Cotton, Relaxed fit.

Designer tees are perfect for the current summer season. For one, every guy needs a basic tee for summer. For another, it's more than just a basic tee because the graphic is more than relevant as we're all experiencing lockdowns, isolatations, and closures. The shirt is made in Italy from 100% cotton, and the design is protected under section 107 of the Copyright Act, parody is fair use. LOHA VETE ©$195.00
The Kid With The Boombox
We got you. Ditch the neutral colors and have some fun with your 'fit with Atelier Beaurepaire's stand-out streetwear. Traditional wax print meets modern, breathable, and utilitarian designs so you can look your best all summer. Maurice Jacket (bomber jacket in blue on the right model) is $270, Joseph pants (slim cut chino on both models) is $145, and the Rene (button down shirt on the left model) generally are $125. "Wax print sourced from Holland to Senegal for the ultimate flex- designed in Paris, and now avaialble in NYC/USA" Humble Hustler

Founded by Parminder Gyani and Paola Estefania Linares, Humble Hustler is created and constructed in Los Angeles. Creative Director Linares designed Humble Hustler's exclusive streetwear brand to reflect the rhythms, moods, and tones of the style revolution. It's more than a brand - it's a lifestyle and a movement for a new generation. Humble Hustler is worn by those with a shared passion for hard work, independence, success, and philanthropy, as 15% of all proceeds support the Your Guardian Angel Foundation. When you step out in Humble Hustler this summer, your style reflects your tenacious mentality, because you embody a Humble Hustler yourself. (Featured item: $69.00 USD)
Storied Hats
This summer Storied Hats has you covered with the best men's caps to beat the heat. Designed with the highest quality of sustainable lightweight fabrics including breathable durable linen, recycled polyester, organic cotton, and hemp, and come in a variety of colors, fun prints, and sizes ranging in price $32-$40. Storied Hats, based in San Francisco and designed by Zach Maurin and Cameron Blossom, brings you a bright 90s summertime collection featuring Saved by the Bill, The Fresh Print, and New Kid on the (Color) Block. Added bonus? Storied Hats is a member of 1% for the Planet. No buyer's remorse here.

The Alife® Sandal features a mixed-material upper composed of textile "hook and loop" closure straps with a silver reflective synthetic/PU base, bound together with exposed white zigzag stitching. The synthetic base provides comfortability and cushioning for the feet, while the straps ensure stability and a true-to-size fit for all. Alife Sandal ($70):

The Fly By Leather Jacket is a faux leather self fabric with a velvet leopard lining. The jacket features tonal PVC embroidery appliqué across the chest and a hidden nickel YKK zipper closure at center front w/ snap closure flap to cover. The Fly By Leather Jacket is part of the FW20 collection, which debuted on the brand's revamped shopping site that includes on-model video previews and 360 degree interior/exterior product views. Pricing: $489

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The New Direction Of Streetwear Swivels To A Surreal Future

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The next generation of streetwear designers will pave the future with functional apparel surpassing the old regime as too suggest an inspiration from the gods. Literally. The global pandemic of COVID-19 has set trend analysts and menswear experts alike to shout from the rooftops about how the spread of the coronavirus has given rise to a fresh list of consumer demands.

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"What Will Street Style Look Like in 2021?"

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"What Will Street Style Look Like in 2021?"

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The evolution of fashion throughout Covid-19

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If your New Year's Eve felt anticlimactic at best and utterly depressing at worst, you weren't alone. What's the meaning of a new calendar when so little has changed? Six months ago, we were sure 2021 would be different. Surely we'd be prepping for Fashion Week by now. Unfortunately, that's still a big no for most of us.

Through the last half of 2020, we had to experience fashion shows virtually and vicariously through our friends in Paris, Milan, London, Shanghai, and Tokyo, where socially-distanced shows resumed. Once the schedules were out, the question remained: What would the street style look like? After years of multiple outfit changes and heels, what would editors and influencers wear to zig-zag around a city by foot, bicycle, or train? What feels appropriate in anxious times like these?

Aside from masks, which were the biggest visual change in our street style coverage, the trend was for easier, more casual clothing that merged pragmatism and personality. We saw a lot of great blazers and jeans-often flared or bootcut for a bit more polish-and grounded, hardworking boots and sneakers. Showgoers wore those sensible shoes with silk dresses and suits (don't believe the "tailoring is dead!" headlines) and favored generous cuts over body-conscious ones. Our eyes skipped over the "total looks" borrowed from the runway, once a standard practice that felt forced this time around. Instead, we zoomed in on surprising details and artfully thrown-together outfits: vintage pieces mixed with new, outsize proportions, and spontaneous layers.

We also looked back at street style from the February 2020 collections, the last full-throttle season we covered. It reminded us that some of these shifts were already underway: The people who stood out most to Vogue's photographer, Phil Oh, had their own original, unfussy style and confidence to spare-people like Maggie Maurer, Nicole Atieno, and Alton Mason. Fashion was getting more personal and less trend-driven; the pandemic only hastened that change. We'll consider it one of the year's silver linings.

Ahead of another month of fashion collections-starting with fall 2021 menswear and spring 2021 couture, followed by women's shows in Paris, Shanghai, Copenhagen, and beyond-we're revisiting 50 of our favorite street style photos from 2020. They'll prove inspiring for those attending the shows and those of us watching online, at home. After a year in sweats, we're all looking for clever, comfortable outfit ideas, even if it's just for a trip to the market.

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What Will Street Style Look Like in 2021?

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Ahead of another season of socially-distanced fashion shows, we revisited 50 ways street style changed in 2020.

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"Go Viral, Post #Spon, Get #Canceled: How Social Media Transformed Fashion in the 2010s"

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"Go Viral, Post #Spon, Get #Canceled: How Social Media Transformed Fashion in the 2010s"

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Social media's impact on fashion in the 2010s

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In 2010s currency, nothing is more valuable than clout. Getting it, using it, and keeping it has become a high-stakes game that has reshaped the way we conceptualize fashion. Success is no longer judged only by design merit, innovation, or sales figures but also on social media impressions, fan engagement, and the Lyst Index, which tracks the labels that appeal to millennials and Gen-Z consumers. The most popular brand of 2018, according to Google's trending data, was Fashion Nova, which has never held a fashion show.

The combination of followers, buzz, revenue, and that elusive cool factor comes together to something we know as influence. Influence means you're not only #winning by every metric but you also have the power to change the way those following you think and behave.

If influence seems intangible or speculative, like a bubble that could burst at any moment, consider this: More than one billion people use YouTube, WeChat, Facebook, Instagram, and Reddit on a monthly basis. Hundreds of millions log onto Snapchat, Twitter, and Weibo each month. And 13 million monthly users visit Depop; as a group they transmit 85 million monthly messages and follows. For reference: To become president of the United States, accounting for a 50 to 60% voter turnout, around 60 to 65 million people need to vote for you.

We're living in the era of the first influencer president, who can mobilize a country with a single tweet. The dangerous takeaway is that to be influential you need only speak the loudest. But if the decade of influence has taught us netizens anything, it's that just as quickly as you can go viral can you be #canceled. Just don't cancel all the influencers, because after influencers come A.R. characters and A.I. bots, which have mastered groupthink in a way humans never could. That's something to think about as we move into the second decade of the influence olympics.
Who Has the Influence?

When the decade began, the new guard of influential people in fashion were bloggers. The best of the best, including The Sartorialist's Scott Schuman and Jak & Jil's Tommy Ton, sat in the front row of Dolce & Gabbana's Spring 2010 show, signaling that a new generation of internet impresarios was here to stay. That same season Style Rookie's teenage founder Tavi Gevinson made the rounds at the New York shows. Most famous bloggers had aliases to distinguish themselves from their brands; Style Rookie was the blog, but Gevinson was the writer. When Instagram launched in 2010, that all changed. The promise of a blue check mark of verification meant that you had to be you, not an alias or a character or a bot.

If your life is the material with which you express yourself online, few things remain as important as your outfits. In the early days of the decade, #OOTD became one of Instagram's most popular hashtags, replacing the allure of a high-fashion editorial with a casually snapped "fit pic." To be a social media sensation necessitated little more than an internet connection and a compelling image. Not even a caption. Not a hashtag. Just you. And so the influencer was born.

This democratization of fashion goes both ways: If people can become brands, brands can become people-or at least behave like them online. A new crop of direct-to-consumer brands emerged in the 2010s that used the friendly tones of influencers as a means to success. Outdoor Voices is the flagship example, founded in 2014 by Tyler Haney. A former high school athlete with sun-blonde hair and the relatability of your best friend, Haney built her activewear brand on cheery colors, unfussy silhouettes, and the promise that a chill morning run could make you feel a little more joy. She used her image to promote O.V. and created a catchy hashtag, #DoingThings, that is so wonderfully vague and unassumingly peppy that you can find yourself using it without even making the O.V. connection. We're all #doingthings all the time, and nothing is more fun than sharing!

High-fashion brands are in on influence as well. Some creative directors have effectively become influencers themselves. Balmain's Olivier Rousteing (5.4 million followers), Burberry's Riccardo Tisci (2.2 million), and Marc Jacobs (1.3 million) use their accounts to boost the popularity of their brands while simultaneously sharing tidbits of their private lives. (Few have mastered the fit pic as iconically as Jacobs-and he often does it wearing garments by other designers. A true fashion fan. Bravo!) Of course influencers can become creative directors too. Virgil Abloh is the ultimate multi-hyphenate, an engineer-architect-DJ-designer-social-media-impresario whose ability to speak directly to his 4.2 million followers-and mobilize them to buy-made him a draw for the artistic directorship of Louis Vuitton's menswear. Abloh is not only a friend of all the other most influential people IRL but he's also communing with them and his fans online.

Where the influence lives is ever shifting. TikTok has birthed an e-girl community of video influencers that reject Insta-aesthetics with seafoam-colored hair and unconventional makeup. None is a more interesting case study of Gen-Z power than Emma Chamberlain. The 18-year-old is YouTube's superstar blogger, who is estimated to have made $2 million from her YouTube ad revenue alone in 2018. Three years ago, in one of the videos she made while in high school, she gave a tutorial on how to bootleg a Gucci T-shirt. In February Chamberlain attended the Louis Vuitton Fall 2019 show in Paris and produced a series of funny videos in which she joked with Karlie Kloss and decoded Nicolas Ghesquière's designs for her followers.
The Economy of Influence
Having the ability to influence is only as good as what you're selling. Sponsored content-#spon for short-has become a marketing phenomenon on social media. Some influencers can make upwards of six figures on a single post. Others use the #ad hashtag even when they haven't partnered with a brand as a means to lend themselves legitimacy. Still more have been sued for "failure to influence," as Luka Sabbat was in 2018 when Snapchat alleged he didn't deliver on two sponsored posts. (Sabbat turned the lawsuit into yet more social fodder, posting a selfie in front of a "failure to influence" billboard designed by his company, Hot Mess.)

What we're selling on social media has likewise come a long way. The highest echelons of fashion are now accessible through Instagram's Checkout feature. Dior's highly successful #DiorSaddle campaign, launched in 2018 with dozens of influencers posting about the bag, is reported to have generated a 1,000% increase in searches for the label on Lyst. At the other end of the spectrum, Depop allows users to curate their own shops and build followings primarily based on the act-or art?-of shopping.

The ability to connect directly to the source has changed the way we think about brands themselves. They are not far-off corporations helmed by Wizard of Oz-like creatives. Direct-to-consumer, a phrase once equated with dusty catalog shopping, has become the buzzword of the decade at businesses like Everlane and Warby Parker, which invite consumers to talk back, say what we like (and what we don't), and share our lives with them, along with their hashtags. Brands are our "friends."
Going Viral
What impact has internet culture had on design? When style.com launched 20 years ago, designers griped that the backs of garments weren't pictured, making a beautiful open back or draped detail almost irrelevant. The rise of livestreaming and video content has more or less erased that issue, but social media presents a whole new set of rules by which to judge clothing. Not only must something be wearable; now it must be shareable.

The most popular items of the decade, then, are not exactly subtle. Logomania made a triumphant return in the 2010s, as did fashion with a tongue-in-cheek irreverence and irony. Balenciaga's Demna Gvasalia understands this better than anyone, offering fashion that participates in the internet's obsessions without edging into parody. Some of his most buzzed-about pieces include Balenciaga's Fall 2018 "layered" coats, neon pink "shants"-shoe-pants-from Spring 2017, and the Triple S sneaker, a truly ugly shoe than nonetheless proved irresistible. Items and ideas that can be memed, like Jacquemus's tiny bags and Gucci's doppelgänger heads, create viral moments for brands that can surpass any celebrity endorsement or editorial approval. Y/Project's denim "janties" made ABC's nightly news.

It's not just the items that are changing, but it's how we see them that is changing too. In 2010 Chanel brought an iceberg to the Grand Palais for its Fall 2010 runway show, which set off a domino effect of set design one-upmanship. Destination shows, once the purview of only the most mega of brands, have become a new normal, taking us to Cuba, Kyoto, Malibu, Rio de Janeiro, and more far-flung locales. To be a destination you don't really even need to have a show. The pink wall outside Paul Smith's Melrose Avenue store has become one of the most popular places on Instagram.

People can go viral too, as Kendall Jenner did when she walked her first runway show in 2014, opening the door to a new type of model Vogue dubbed "Insta-girls." They replaced the anonymous waifs of the late aughts-and guaranteed that a spot on the runway could turn any fashion show into a fashion moment.
#Canceled

If the internet seems vast and endless, it's actually quite small. A fledgling designer from Norway can call out Moschino for perceived copying. Shoppers can boycott brands that make cultural faux pas. And China can ban Gigi Hadid and cancel Dolce & Gabbana because of social-media-based transgressions.

Many of these #cancellations have come at the hands of @diet_prada, whose founders Tony Liu and Lindsey Schuyler act as Robin Hoods, holding fashion accountable. @estee_laundry keeps watch over the beauty industry with the same rigor. Other smaller accounts like @insidethemood and @supreme_copies draw comparisons between archival fashions and new designs, citing inspirations that have been stated or otherwise. Callout culture, as it's often referred to, does have a plus side. Fashion once thrived on its exclusivity, barring entire populations from participation. Comments stating that brands should cast more models of color, extend their size ranges, and/or diversify their offerings have proven impact.

But the act of canceling someone, or trying to, can turn into an endless back-and-forth of drama. When does justifiable calling out become trolling? As fashion is democratized who gets to make the rules? We might not have an answer soon: Juvenal asked "who watches the watchmen?" in 100 A.D.
Will We Ever Be IRL Again?

Technology will only move forward. As we become more plugged-in, the future of fashion is bound to change. Perhaps shareability and wearability will become synonymous. There are whole businesses built on this concept, creating virtual fashion. Business of Fashion recently detailed the trend for clothing that is more URL than IRL. Dapper Labs made a $9,500 virtual dress for Mary Ma, the wife of a blockchain entrepreneur. Carlings is a virtual streetwear brand that sells its "garments" for less than 30 euros each. These virtual items bring up ideas of sustainability, purpose, and design, challenging the very notion of a garment as something to protect you from the elements. Now a garment is the thing between you and your followers.

Here's a crazy idea: What if you aren't real, in the traditional sense, either? CGI influencers like Lil Miquela and Noonoouri are the products of coders, but that doesn't stop them from engaging with both fashion and their fans with the ease of a flesh-and-blood human influencer. Miquela, who has a CGI influencer brother, has even starred in a campaign for Calvin Klein. Fake people, though, are not exempt from real criticism. Some called out the Calvin Klein brand for queerbaiting by showing Miquela making out with Bella Hadid. The virtual influencer Shudu, whose appearance is reportedly inspired by the South Sudanese-Australian model Duckie Thot, came under criticism because she's designed by a white male.

Virtual- and augmented-reality technology have the potential to change everything again. Will they? That's a question for the 2020s to answer, but the notion of influence might change drastically by then. Just last week the firm InfluencerDB shared findings that engagement rates for Instagram influencers are on the decline. According to the study shared with Mobile Marketer, "Travel influencers, who typically have the highest engagement rates, have seen an average drop to 4.5% this year from 8% in 2018." Sponsored-post engagement in the first quarter of 2019 plummeted to 2.4% from 4% in 2016. Non-sponsored posts dropped to 1.9%. The question isn't will the robots replace us, but if we're all influencers, who can be influenced at all?

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Go Viral, Post #Spon, Get #Canceled: How Social Media Transformed Fashion in the 2010s

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In 2010s currency, nothing is more valuable than clout. Getting it, using it, and keeping it has become a high-stakes game that has reshaped the way we conceptualize fashion. Success is no longer judged only by design merit, innovation, or sales figures but also on social media impressions, fan engagement, and the Lyst Index, which tracks the labels that appeal to millennials and Gen-Z consumers.

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"The State of Fashion 2021: In search of promise in perilous times"

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"The State of Fashion 2021: In search of promise in perilous times"

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Economic impact of Covid-19 on the fashion industry.

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"The impact of COVID-19 on the people who make our clothes"

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"The impact of COVID-19 on the people who make our clothes"

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As it happens: We're updating this article frequently, as new information emerges about the impact of COVID-19 on supply chain workers around the world, and adding new fundraising appeals to help support workers. Click here for the latest updates.
As the world faces this pandemic in unified isolation, we at Fashion Revolution are focusing on how the unfolding situation is affecting the people who make our clothes. Retailers are shutting their doors around the world, encouraging their customers to shop online instead. Yet the reality is that as we are forced to stay in our homes many of us are financially burdened by layoffs or new childcare responsibilities, and the desire to buy new clothes feels like a distant dream.

For Fashion Revolutionaries, this unique set of circumstances can hopefully bring about the #LovedClothesLast movement that we have been pushing for many years. Given the level of clothing overproduction that preceded this crisis, we hope that our days indoors can bring about revolutions in caring for our clothes better, mending and making clothing, and adopting a mindset of longevity when it comes to our wardrobes.

While we have been encouraging an end to overconsumption for many years, we also know that in the face of this unexpected halt in manufacturing, it is the most vulnerable, lowest paid people in the fashion supply chain that feel the worst effects. IndustriALL, the global trade union which works to give workers around the world a voice, says that millions of garment makers have already lost their jobs as a result of the virus and have no access to social or financial safety nets to help them weather this storm. Writing for the Business of Fashion, Bangladeshi garment manufacturer Mostafiz Uddin reminds us, "Poverty is a killer too, and many more people die from poverty than from COVID-19".

In the global fashion industry, brands typically pay their suppliers weeks or even months after delivery, rather than upon order. This means that suppliers usually pay upfront for the materials or fibres used to make the products brand buy from them. In response to the pandemic, many major fashion brands and retailers are cancelling orders and stopping payments for orders already placed, even when the work has already been done, taking no responsibility for the impact this has on the people working in their supply chains. Factories are left with little choice but to destroy or keep hold of unwanted goods already made and lay off their workers in droves.

Bloomberg reports that about 1,089 garment factories in Bangladesh have had orders cancelled worth roughly $1.5 billion due to the coronavirus outbreak. The AWAJ Foundation says that many factories in Bangladesh have been shut down indefinitely. Some workers were given less than a month's salary as severance and many others have received nothing at all. Nazma Akter the executive director of AWAJ explains, "These workers now don't know how they will take care of their families in the coming days - how they will manage costs for food, rent and other necessities. They can't even imagine what they'll do if they or a family member needs medical treatment for COVID-19. The meager income these workers earned was barely enough to cover their living costs, and as a result, they have little to no savings set aside to deal with a crisis such as this." Meanwhile, Labour Behind the Label estimates that 10% of factories in Yangon, Myanmar are now closed.

On the other side of the world a similar situation is unfolding. The Garment Worker Center describes how garment makers in Los Angeles are often not eligible for unemployment benefits. This is partly because the underground nature of the industry, such as "off the books" work, makes applying for paid family leave or disability insurance uniquely challenging in the face of the pandemic.
IndustriALL reports that while many fashion brands are offering compensation packages for retail and office workers who face layoffs due to this crisis, they are failing to protect the workers in their supply chains who are also suffering from the loss of income. Furthermore, the Solidarity Center believes that the inability to meet together in-person will inhibit workers' abilities to unionise and collectively bargain for their rights.

Of course, fashion isn't just created in factories. Fashion is craft, artisanship and things that are often made by hand in informal environments. According to the Artisan Alliance, artisanal craft is the second largest source of employment across the so-called developing world. WIEGO estimates there are around two billion informal workers around the world that lack basic labour, social and health protections. As a result of COVID-19 threatening global trade flows, workers cooperatives, artisan groups, local crafts-based communities, home-based workers, agricultural workers and farmers face desperate economic circumstances.
At Fashion Revolution, we have always tried to be honest with our community about the problems that persist within the global fashion industry. Having formed in response to major human catastrophe - the Rana Plaza collapse in 2013 - we are no strangers to exploitation or disparity within the industry. But we have been, and will continue to be, focussed on solutions and dedicated to finding ways for citizens around the world to make a positive difference. We've already seen several visionaries within the fashion industry pose the question: what kind of world do we want to see emerge after this crisis is over? For us, the answer lies in our Manifesto for a Fashion Revolution, and we'll be spending the next months (and years) mobilising our community to take action to build this future of fashion.

Meanwhile, in this current crisis, we believe that our capacity for empathy is strengthened by our shared global experience. While we may be stuck indoors, using social media our voices can still be amplified, especially when we speak up together. That's why we're asking our global community to be louder than ever. To ask #WhoMadeMyClothes? and demand that fashion brands protect the workers in their supply chain just as they would their own employees, especially during this unprecedented global health and economic crisis.

If we do nothing, the fashion industry will simply return to business as usual when this is all over. Instead, let's come together as a revolution and build a new system that values the wellbeing of people and planet over profit. This means that right now we should stand together to protect and support the people who make our clothes.

As Wangari Maathai said in her famous 2004 Nobel Peace Prize acceptance speech,

"In the course of history, there comes a time when humanity is called to shift to a new level of consciousness, to reach a higher moral ground. A time when we have to shed our fear and give hope to each other. That time is now."

In this spirit, we are asking you to take three crucial actions to support the people who make our clothes, especially during this unprecedented global health and economic crisis.

1. Send a letter to your favourite fashion brands and demand that they honour the orders they have already placed with their suppliers and ensure that the workers making their products are protected, supported and paid properly during this crisis. We have created a pre-populated letter template that you can quickly and easily use to contact brands by email or via social media.

2. Give Money directly to non-profit organisations that are providing support to garment makers that have lost their jobs. We recommend giving money to:

AWAJ Foundation - A non-profit organisation founded and led by garment workers in Bangladesh that provides support to over 740,000 workers. This includes legal aid, healthcare, union organising, labour rights training and industry and policy advocacy. Donations will go directly to workers who have lost their jobs. This will mainly be in the form of cash disbursements to make sure that their basic needs for food and shelter are met. If you would like to make a contribution then please write to: awaj@dhaka.net.

The Garment Worker Centre - A non-profit organising and community space in Los Angeles that supports tens of thousands of low paid garment workers, especially immigrant and undocumented workers, women of colour, and their families. 100 of their worker members have sounded the alarm bell about losing their jobs and reduced hours due to COVID-19 as well as lack of hygienic conditions in the factories that are still operating, many now making PPE. You can donate here: https://garmentworkercenter.org/

GoodWeave International - An non-profit organisation working to end forced and child labour in global supply chains. They have launched the COVID-19 Child and Worker Protection Fund to deliver immediate humanitarian aid and services to vulnerable populations in India, Nepal and Afghanistan. Money raised will pay for the delivery of food and resources to workers and their children. Donate here.

The World Fair Trade Organisation (WFTO) has launched the #StayHomeLiveFair campaign to support its global network of workers, farmers, artisans and communities during the crisis. You can support by visiting their webshop and supporting their members' crowdfunding efforts, here.

CARE, the global social justice NGO, has been working in the garment industry for over 20 years and is focussing on protecting and supporting the rights and needs of women and girls during the pandemic. CARE's Emergency Surge Fund is matching all donations and using funds to urgently provide families with hygienic masks, hand washing stations and hygiene kits. Donate .

3. Donate to Fashion Revolution so that we can continue asking brands the tough questions and mobilising citizens to campaign for a fashion industry that respects workers and protects our planet and continue to amplify the stories of garment workers around the world.

NEW UPDATES:

How major brands and retailers are responding to questions about their handling of the crisis and impacts on suppliers and supply chain workers:

UK retailer Primark announced it would create a fund to pay its supply chain workers . But questions still remain over whether the brand will be receiving and paying for orders already made or in-production from its factories, including covering the costs of raw materials that factories have paid for in advance to manufacture their orders not yet in production.

H&M, Target, Marks & Spencer, Inditex, Kiabi, and PVH have all publicly confirmed that they intend to receive and pay for products already made and orders already placed, but in some cases, no time frame has been outlined on when payments will be made - keeping in mind the urgency of the crisis and its catastrophic impact on workers unfolding already.

Brands that have yet to respond to calls asking them to include C&A, Mothercare, Bestseller, Tesco, Kohls, Walmart, LPP, JCPenney, among others. At the time of writing, we cannot confirm whether these brands have paid for completed and in-production orders. However, they have not publicly responded when called on to make payments in a report by the Global Center for Workers' Rights.

UK retailer New Look has sent a letter to its suppliers cancelling in-production orders and suggesting payments would be delayed "indefinitely". The retailer told suppliers, "This is a matter of survival". Yet, like many brands in crisis, the fight for survival often doesn't extend to supply chain workers or stakeholders not directly employed by the big brands.

UK Charity, Traidcraft Exchange has published a report outlining the governmental responses required by garment producing countries to support workers. They argue how the consequences of COVID-19 unveil a fashion system already reliant on widespread exploitation and an imbalance of power between big brands and developing economies. The report notes, " supply-side model has not been compatible with the establishment of deep and wide social protection coverage. Instead, [producing] countries have, under pressure from financial institutions, followed a race to the bottom through wage suppression, deregulation and privatisation. Faced with the collapse of orders combined with the effect of the COVID-19 virus, these countries are all ill-equipped to provide support to the increasing numbers of sick people, workers at risk of exposure and families without income ."

IndustriALL Global Union , has urged signatories of its living wage coalition, ACT, to pay for all already-placed orders. The organisation also notes, "The government of Bangladesh will make available 50 billion Bangladeshi Taka (US$581,000) late April. However, this will be enough to pay workers' wages for one month and it is a loan, which the employers have to pay back with 2 per cent interest."

After the entire country of India was put on lockdown, it became clear that mass starvation may surpass the threat of Coronavirus as migrant workers are unable to return to town and villages with public transportation halted, many are left homeless in city centres. And with supplies still needed for hospitals, some factories still remain open, subjecting their workers to potential infection at the expense of urgently needed medical goods.

In Tamil Nadu, where some 40,000 factories and mills operate, dormitory style living conditions will make social distancing near impossible. Experts warn that factory closures will reinforce the crowded surroundings, as lack of shift work means all lodgers are cramped into rooms at once.

A video has circulated on Instagram showing what looks like a garment sweatshop manufacturing face masks in extreme unhygienic conditions. With many clothing brands having offered up their supply chains to fill a shortage of face masks, this horrible image isn't just startling due to the unsanitary conditions in which these life-saving masks are being made - it's a reminder that the fashion industry continues to operate in exploitative conditions, with little transparency.

RESPONSES WE HAVE RECEIVED...

"These workers now don't know how they will take care of their families in the coming days - how they will manage costs for food, rent and other necessities. They can't even imagine what they'll do if they or a family member needs medical treatment for the Corona Virus. The meager income these workers earned was barely enough to cover their living costs, and as a result, they have little to no savings set aside to deal with a crisis such as this." - Nazma Akter, AWAJ Foundation

"Inditex is committed to working with its suppliers through the impacts of Covid-19. As a priority, we are working closely with suppliers to ensure they are following official guidance to protect the health of workers in factories during the pandemic. We are fulfilling all our responsibilities to our suppliers by ensuring that all orders that have been produced or are currently in production are completely paid according to the original payment terms." - Inditex

"In these difficult times, it is our priority to maintain as many jobs as possible. The foregoing pertains both to our employees and to those of our suppliers. We have been receiving information that the effects of the changes have been of particular severity in Bangladesh; therefore, we have been doing our utmost to support our Asian suppliers in this hardship. First and foremost, all our obligations have been settled on an ongoing basis. In addition, we are going to pay for the orders in production and already produced; however, some of them are likely to be received with a delay." -LPP

"I am the Managing Director for [UK supplier]. We supply 8 different UK retailers. All of which have stopped paying us overnight and I am currently scrambling to make final payments to my staff and my Vietnamese factories to keep things ticking... I knew full well that the balance of power in the supplier-retailer relationship was off, but I never quite imagined that we would be treated this badly in a time like this. It seems any contract we have in place is completely worthless in their eyes." - Comment via email

BEYOND THE FACTORIES...

The British Fashion Council has repurposed its young designer talent support into a relief funding model for young designers in the UK suffering from loss of sales.
We will be updating this statement daily with news about how the COVID-19 pandemic is affecting the people who make our clothes. We will also add new fundraising appeals that support garment makers during this time. If you want us to know about any other fundraising efforts, please contact bronwyn[at]fashionrevolution.org.

American retailer Everlane has been accused of reassuring it's customers service and retail staff of their jobs security for weeks - right up until it suddenly layed off the vast majority of those workers. For months, Everlane customer service workers were in the process of forming a union, and now critics are saying that COVID-19 was uptaken by the brand to union-bust.

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The impact of COVID-19 on the people who make our clothes

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We love fashion, but we don't want our clothes to come at the cost of people or our planet.

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The development of street style in the 2010s

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The 2010s were the decade of streetwear.

While the brands that defined it started in earlier years, the last 10 saw a shadow of the fashion industry eclipse our definitions of dress. Streetwear now touches all parts of fashion: casual wear, athletic wear, and, perhaps most surprising, the world of luxury.

What was once just for street kids now lands on runways. What was once banned at clubs is the new club uniform. "Luxury sneakers" are Exhibit A: from contradiction to conqueror, the past decade has led to a world where Dior x Nike Air Jordan 1s are just exceptional, and not the exception.

While Kanye's 2009 LV tie-up felt like the start of things to come, it was the past 10 years that truly merged the worlds of luxury and streetwear. Join us as we look back on the moments that defined this new vision of luxury.

Sneaker Brands Codify the Lux Collab

The first luxury sneaker collabs came in the late '90s, when shoes like the Nike x Junya Watanabe Zoom Haven introduced the world to deliberately un-sporting sportswear. But these initial collections were acommercial, limited, and few and far between. Between 2000's Reebok x Chanel Instapump Fury (just a few pairs were made for the runway show) and 2017's global Vetements release on the same shoe, sneaker brands codified the luxury collab.

The past decade saw the lion's share of the action. In 2010, Nike and UNDERCOVER's Jun Takahashi debuted Gyakusou. In 2013, the first sneak shots of Raf x adidas appeared online. By 2016, every major sportswear brand was collaborating with high fashion designers. Nike had CdG, Undercover, and sacai. adidas had Rick and Raf. Puma x McQueen. Reebok x Vetements.

Even Under Armour - yes, famously-football Under Armour - wrangled LVMH Prize finalist Tim Coppens for a line. Oh, and a rapper you might have heard of by the name of A$AP Rocky.

Luxury Designers Dropping Sneakers Right Back

As sneaker brands moved intentionally towards luxury, luxury was responding right back.

While some famous designer sneakers - Gucci's Tennis shoes, Rick's cease-and-desist-worthy "Nike" Dunks - predate the 2010s, this was the decade of rarified rubber. The past 10 years have seen every major luxury brand add sneakers (the staple shoe of streetwear, the bane of "proper" dressing) to their assortment. Saint Laurent and Gucci steal the headlines. To recognize the impact of this, ask yourself about the others.

Couture houses? Check. Givenchy sneakers. Valentino sneakers. Then you have the all-conquering Balenciaga Triple-S.

Suiting brands? Check. Zegna sneakers. Kiton sneakers.

Even heritage dress shoemakers? A sign-of-the-times check, courtesy of Berluti's "Men's Shadow Knit."

At the start of the last decade, sneakers were seen as fundamentally un-lux. A "no sneakers" dress code was a legitimate part of club culture. Now, even the latest of late adapters - brands like Tod's, Vince, and Church's - are all making sports shoes. How times have changed.

Riccardo Tisci's "Rottweiler" Collars Pop Culture

Kanye x LV felt like the start of things to come. Kanye in Givenchy felt like the grand opening.

In 2011, Riccardo Tisci debuted the now-famous "Rottweiler" graphic during Givenchy's Fall menswear show. Distinct in crowds, popular with celebs - the aggressive, street-inspired print became the first lux graphic to make it.

What OFF-WHITE™'s caution lines are today, the Rottweiler was almost 10 years ago. While often worn by a Watch the Throne Ye, Givenchy's Rottweiler would be spotted on the likes of Rihanna, A$AP Rocky, Usher, and countless others. The design was even enduring enough to be "retro'd" by Givenchy in 2017.

Most remarkable are the facts around this "first." Givenchy is a heritage French couture house, famous for elegantly-simple designs like a certain little black dress. Now, 50 years after creating a pared-down dress so notable it has its own Wikipedia page, the house of Givenchy was leading the charge into a supermax era of door-kicking lux streetwear. C'est drole, non?

Pigalle Takes Paris Fashion Off The Runway

While Givenchy preached streetwear-as-fashion from on high, one of the maison's Parisian neighbors pulled a Margiela and took to the streets.

French designer Stéphane Ashpool began the Pigalle brand as a neighborhood boutique. His first Pigalle products: tees, sweats, and hats bearing a simple box logo. The brand's first proper fashion collection arrived at Paris Men's Fashion Week Spring/Summer 2010, but its enduring legacy - and the reason behind such projects as today's Pigalle Basketball - lies in those artful streetwear staples.

Pigalle's box logo - along with SSUR Comme Des Fuckdown beanies and Jeremy Scott wing sneakers became a calling card - a sign that its wearer was plugged in. By 2012, the brand was collaborating with Nike to produce videos about the Paris street scene. Two years later, the pair would drop the first of many Pigalle x Nike shoes.

In the background, the rep of Pigalle (both as tee brand and fashion line) grew. One year after his first Nike shoe drop, Ashpool won France's prestigious ANDAM prize, awarded by the French government to France's most promising young designers.

Pigalle was one of the first brands to go from street to runway, remaining streetwear the whole way through. It would not be the last.

Hood by Air Makes "Powerwear" High Fashion

In 2014, Shayne Oliver's lux streetwear line Hood By Air won LVMH's inaugural Special Jury Prize. One year later, he won the Council of Fashion Designers of America's Swarovski Award for Menswear.

But let's not get ahead of ourselves.

Like Pigalle, Hood by Air was born as a T-shirt brand. Oliver, a double-dropout from both NYU and New York's Fashion Institute of Technology, made clothing under the brand for his friends in the city's club scene. As a concept, Hood by Air (aka "HBA") was meant to be elevated streetwear of the type that Oliver deemed "powerwear."

"It's about exuding power and fluidity," the designer told Vogue in 2013. "I'm not really interested in unisex, per se. But if this person wants to give off an energy of power, then Hood by Air is for them."

Turns out, lots of people did.

The "HBA" logomark became one of the most sought-after graphics of the mid-2010s. Rocky. Rihanna. Kanye. Kendrick. Rocky again, but only kinda. Fashion royalty wore Hood by Air; rap royalty shouted it on stage. The brand seemed destined for immortality, and then... air.

In 2017, HBA went on hiatus, with Oliver decamping his namesake label to become Helmut Lang's artist in residence. While announcements of a Hood by Air revival keep percolating, no new product has launched yet. Perhaps it's better to stay as a wisp - after all, the brand is already immortal.

Between 2011 and 2014, HBA was the atmosphere.

Hedi Slimane Leaves The Yves

French designer Hedi Slimane first joined - then left - Yves Saint Laurent over 2o years ago. After a succession of designers left the brand in disarray, Slimane, the prodigal son, was brought back in 2012.

His mandate: breathe new life into the house that Yves built.

His first act: Yves, au revoir.

In his very first show at the house where his career began, Slimane debuted a refreshed ready-to-wear collection, succinctly named "Saint Laurent." The change was more than just four letters - it was the world.

Hedi Slimane's revival of the famed maison came entirely through his embrace of streetwear as luxury fashion. His very first collection rooted the brand in Slimane's adopted home of L.A. Then came the streetwear.

Grunge flannels. Ripped and zipped jeans. Leather moto jackets just like des Garcons. In 2014, Saint Laurent introduced its now-famous SL/10H sneaker, a Jordan-adjacent high top that would send ripples through the worlds of luxury and streetwear alike. And the hits just kept coming.

Over just a few seasons, Hedi Slimane would make the house Yves built into one of the world's biggest brands. His turnaround was so successful - and his vision of lux streetwear so prescient - that his role reviving Saint Laurent was published in the Harvard Business Review.

By the time Slimane departed Saint Laurent (again) in 2017, the house had changed forever. Leaving Yves was only a part of it. A vision of luxury rendered into streetwear did the rest. Fast forward to the current day, and the Hedi story continues at Celine.

Can streetwear be luxury? Can luxury be streetwear? Perhaps - it's all just clothes.

Formed in 2014 by a then-unknown Demna Gvasalia, the French fashion collective known as Vetements ("clothing," en français) was fashion's first galaxy brain since Margiela. Deconstructed garments and a slew of collabs hit Paris runways. Pure mirth radiated. And somewhere in the middle, an oversized cotton hoodie with the German word for "POLICE" got a $900 price tag.

Vetements was a half-decade sea change - a midpoint in the melding of luxury and streetwear.

Gvasalia would go on to lead Balenciaga's revival, designing iconic garments like the Triple-S sneaker and Campaign bomber. Vetements would go on to collab with 18 brands during one runway show.

"Just clothes"? In a sense, sure. But from the galaxy-brain view, there was nothing insignificant about it.

New Guards Group Forms the Kering of Daring

In 2015, Claudio Antonioli, Davide De Giglio, and Marcelo Burlon formed New Guards Group, a holding company for luxury fashion brands. Just like Kering (Gucci, Balenciaga, Saint Laurent) and LVMH ( everything else), New Guards formed so its designer brands could share resources.

Unlike Kering and LVMH, however, New Guards was all about streetwear.

With a stable of brands including OFF-WHITE™, Heron Preston, Palm Angels, and Burlon's eponymous label, New Guards brought the codes of the luxury business to edgy, high-end street labels. Sure, some of those labels may have been showing Barney's-bound ready-to-wear collections during international fashion weeks, but their source code was streetwear in a way that no LVMH or Kering brands could ever claim.

Earlier this year, luxury fashion e-trailer Farfetch bought New Guards Group for $675 million. If hustling for a paycheck isn't streetwear, what is?

Nike "OFF CAMPUS" hijacks New York Fashion Week

Sneakers had been a presence at Fashion Week since before the start of the decade. But two years ago, they absorbed it.

At New York Fashion Week Spring/Summer 2018, Nike's "OFF CAMPUS" installation eclipsed everything not named Raf. Part creative space, part product teaser, the Virgil-aligned pop-up drew waitlist crowds for a first look at OFF-WHITE™ x Nike's "THE TEN" (plus, some seriously cool merch).

The Abloh show then pond-hopped to London Fashion Week, where it went on to do exactly the same. Just add five hours; swap Simons for Burberry. Sneakers still reigned.

While major brands had used runways to launch new shoe collabs, the year of "OFF CAMPUS" flipped the script. Streetwear was no longer a component of high fashion. It was the biggest story of fashion week.

Brands like Balenciaga, Gucci, and Saint Laurent may have recast streetwear tropes for the world of luxury. But when it came to a matchup between the old ways and the new, streetwear proper could win.

Moncler Genius Makes Streetwear Collabs a Canvas

By 2018, the balance between streetwear and luxury had fully tilted. Forget dress codes. Forget the old ways. Starting with Riccardo - and catalyzed by Vetements - it was now all just clothing.

But where some saw homogeny, others saw a canvas.

Moncler's Genius Initiative saw the heritage Italian ski brand grant its luxurious catalog to a slew of famous names across fashion and streetwear. Described by the brand as a "Republic of imagination," the first season of Genius (uncorked June 2018) included the likes of Hiroshi Fujiwara, Pierpaolo Piccioli, Simone Rocha, Craig Green, and Palm Angels.

Each worked from the same palette, cutting and recutting the brand's iconic luxury puffers in their own distinctive style. Some brought a streetwear touch to jackets designed for French Alp après. Green took his design to the extreme. While Vetements used the lux-streetwear collab to question, Moncler used it to exclaim.

Now in its third season, the Moncler Genius initiative saw the confluence of luxury and streetwear elevated into a place of expression. Forget luxe vs. street. With Genius, it was just about fashion.

KITH x Versace Takes Lux Streetwear to Primetime

After Genius, the floodgates were open. 2019's KITH x Versace collection was more than a clothing collab: it was a downtown Manhattan takeover. Billboards and posters popped up around SoHo. Local grocer Dean & DeLuca sported Versace print shopping bags. Two famous neighborhood restaurants, Sadelle's and Carbone, even featured special KITH Medusa menus.

And then, of course, there were the $1,000 hoodies.

Capped off by a KITH edition of the house's street-inspired Chain Reaction sneaker, the collection ticked off a list of luxury-streetwear tropes. Collab? Check. Lux staples? Check. Eye-popping price tag? For those same sneakers, one whole check. KITH expanded the footprint, and in doing so paved the streets with luxury streetwear.

The Godfathers of Streetwear Go Lux

But that's not where the story ends. What, you really thought we'd forget these?

KITH x Versace and Moncler x Everyone brought luxury streetwear to new highs. But they did it by standing on the shoulders of a giant. In 2017 - yes, roll back a bit - Supreme and Louis Vuitton announced a surprise collaboration during Paris Fashion Week.

Supreme x Louis Vuitton was a watershed moment - not just for high-low collabs, but for fashion as a whole. At the world's most famous Fashion Week, here was streetwear as luxury. Lux streetwear was nothing new, but in the past, it had come by way of maisons aping Mercer Street. Now, the world's most famous streetwear brand had lent its name (and its credibility) to the brand at the head of the world's largest luxury group.

Supreme x LV meant legitimacy. On a darker note, it also meant that a once-contradictory segment - once the place of "powerwear" and downtown edge - had gone mainstream. Hype blogs and fashion books covered the collection. Then again, so did the Financial Times. The dam had burst; nothing was sacrosanct. Even the storied Chanel lowered its guard, teaming up with Pharrell for its first-ever collaboration.

So when Kim Jones (the head of menswear at Louis Vuitton who initiated Supreme x LV) again brought a godfather of streetwear to a luxury collab just this month, it was both surprising and no surprise at all. Sure, the Dior x Shawn Stussy show was a massive announcement. The Dior x Jordan 1 unveiled at it, especially.

But it was also, in a cosmic sense, this season's fashions.

Years past saw fashion houses glean show themes from the world and its creatures: "Egypt," "Mastodon," "It's A Jungle Out There." But now, the palette had expanded. In December 2019, with luxury and streetwear one and the same, the brands of the world could be painted with, too.

With streetwear as a tool in the auteur designer's artbox, anything is possible. And with a new decade right around the corner, it will be.

Finally, an epilogue.

Daniel "Dapper Dan" Day is a Harlem-born tailor who rose to prominence in the '70s and '80s for his high-end recuts of luxury bags. "Dap," as he's known, cut bags from brands like Gucci and Louis Vuitton down to their deadstock fabric, then restitched it into seriously ill ready-to-wear for the style-minded in Harlem. His garments are an exercise in vision and invention. Decades before Imran Potato - when the brands whose bags he used had little interest in dressing Dan's black, urban customer base - Dapper Dan of Harlem quite literally broke it down to recast luxury for the street.

Dan gear made it from North Manhattan to the closets of Mike Tyson, LL Cool J, Salt-N-Pepa, and many more. With the media attention his celeb clients were getting, those same disinterested brands became very interested indeed. Cease-and-desist letters began arriving at Dan's Harlem tailor shop. Fendi even pursued a lawsuit in 1988.

Four years after Fendi v. Dap, Dan was forced to close up shop. Both ahead of his time and the victim of a less-than-welcoming luxury scene, the story of Dapper Dan could have ended there.

But it didn't. In 2017, after a Gucci collection by designer Alessandro Michele bit the look of vintage Dan garments, a wave of internet blowback resulted in the announcement of an official Gucci x Dapper Dan collab line. The partnership continues to this day.

The same year that Supreme x Louis Vuitton brought the merger of luxury and streetwear to the mainstream, a scar from their separated past got the healing it seemed due. While the story of luxury streetwear is far from over, one of its earliest chapters now has a happy ending. Happy end of the decade, indeed.

Alex Rakestraw is a writer, strategist, and creative based in New York. He once had a nightmare about a lost coat.

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The 2010s Were the Decade That Luxury and Streetwear Became One

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The 2010s were the decade of streetwear. While the brands that defined it started in earlier years, the last 10 saw a shadow of the fashion industry eclipse our definitions of dress. Streetwear now touches all parts of fashion: casual wear, athletic wear, and, perhaps most surprising, the world of luxury.

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Virgil's Quote

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Virgil Abloh has a shocking forecast for the coming decade: streetwear as we know it might soon be over - which, coming from the king of streetwear himself, may feel as a shocker.

Virgil opened up about the state of streetwear in a recent interview with "I would definitely say it's gonna die," the designer behind Off-White told the magazine. "Like, its time will be up. In my mind, how many more t-shirts can we own, how many more hoodies, how many sneakers?"

Virgil claims instead the future will focus on vintage and repurposing older pieces, calling to mind his work under the Pyrex Vision label back in 2012. "I think that like we're gonna hit this like, really awesome state of expressing your knowledge and personal style with vintage," he continued. "There are so many clothes that are cool that are in vintage shops and it's just about wearing them. I think that fashion is gonna go away from buying a boxfresh something; it'll be like, hey I'm gonna go into my archive."

There's some evidence that a move to vintage is already underway. Resale markets like thredUP, Grailed and StockX have exploded in popularity in recent years, creating venues for people to find and purchase streetwear and other styles from years gone by. Additionally, a rising number of people are buying second-hand, a positive move given the growing environmental threat of fast fashion.

But comments like these are particularly interesting coming from Virgil, and especially right at this time. This week, it was announced that Off-White had partnered with The Louvre museum to create a streetwear capsule collection inspired by the works of Leonardo da Vinci.

Recently also, Virgil himself announced that he had teamed up with streetwear pioneer and A Bathing Ape founder Nigo in his role as artistic director of menswear at Louis Vuitton for a streetwear-infused capsule collection. Virgil's collection with the Louvre is already out while the latter will release in mid-2020.

Even with his prediction, Virgil says he's looking forward to seeing what the coming decade will bring. "I'm excited by the next [decade]," he stated. "I'm excited to see what we do in this next chapter, because the strides we made in the last ten years are too insane." So, we're guessing time will tell?

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Want more from Teen Vogue? Check this out: 16 of the Most Inclusive Fashion and Beauty Moments of the Decade

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Virgil Abloh Says Streetwear Will "Die" in the 2020s

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Virgil Abloh has a shocking forecast for the coming decade: streetwear as we know it might soon be over - which, coming from the king of streetwear himself, may feel as a shocker. Virgil opened up about the state of streetwear in a recent interview with "I would definitely say it's gonna die," the designer behind Off-White told the magazine.

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Thrifting used clothes surged during the pandemic and is likely to keep growing

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The stigma has largely disappeared, especially among the younger generation. The secondhand market is projected to double from $36 billion in 2020 to $77 billion in the next five years.

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How the Great Recession influenced a decade of design

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Examining the inextricable, complicated relationship between the economy and how things look.

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Deep fakes, influencers, viral fashion - we live in a world unrecognisable from the one we stood in ten years ago. As a chaotic decade comes to a close, we're speaking to the people who helped shape the last ten years and analysing the cultural shifts that have defined them. Explore the decade on our interactive timeline here, or head here to check out all our features.
Ten years ago, Virgil Abloh, then working as a creative director for Kanye West, was one of a group photographed outside a Comme des Garçons show in Paris. Their outfits, which included Goyard briefcases, colourful thick-rimmed glasses, and leopard print trousers with cowboy boots, inspired a wave of internet scorn, much of it homophobic. There was even a skit on South Park.

In June 2018, I saw some of that same group reunite backstage at Abloh's debut show as Louis Vuitton's artistic director of menswear. In a video I took, Abloh embraces Ibn Jasper, whose blog about the backlash to the 2009 trip remains online. "What we are actually doing, is showing the fashion world that American men, let alone Black Men, know how to really get busy when it comes to the fashion game," he wrote. "We can't be erased," Abloh says as they hug. He smiles the smile of a man who has fought to be there, an outsider no longer.

If you hadn't been following his path from Pyrex Vision (the 2012 clothing project which consisted largely of stamping 'Pyrex' onto Ralph Lauren flannels) to #BEENTRILL# (a collective that also included Matthew Williams of Alyx and Heron Preston), Off-White (which released its first collection for AW14) and finally LV, Virgil Abloh appeared from nowhere. To some, he was another of the decade's scammers - a man they'd never heard of with the audacity to slap quote marks on everything and call it fashion. To others, he was a prophet: proof that streetwear deserved respect, proof that a black man with a non-traditional path into the industry could land one of its biggest jobs.

Whatever your personal opinion on his work, Abloh's success has been undeniable, with Off-White frequently nabbing the #1 spot on the Lyst Index of the hottest brands in the world. Sure, popularity doesn't equal prestige, but Abloh's power lies in communication, the ability to develop a visual design language for the social media era, one of arrows, black and yellow Hacienda stripes, and of course, those ubiquitous punctuation marks - all things that stand out when you scroll. He's made Nike 's biggest collaborative shoes, rugs with Ikea, water bottles with Evian, suitcases with Rimowa, perfume with Byredo - the list goes on (and on).

But what does the future of fashion hold for the man whose fame and fortune comes largely from logomania? The answer might surprise you.
Where I want to start is actually 2009, with that famous Tommy Ton fashion week photo. How do you feel about it now?
Virgil Abloh: If you look at it in 2019, it predicated the idea of the democratisation of fashion. It's like those inspirational quotes that say, you know, 'You get made fun of and then in the future everyone adopts what they were making fun of'. That was one of the very first modern fashion images that just went everywhere. It said that those who love fashion are just as important as the industry itself. It spoke to the power of self-produced images - Jak & Jil was a blog that Tommy Ton had, he was one of very few fashion photographers outside of shows. That image was a collaboration between his following and us and it existed before my whole career in a way.
How did the fashion industry feel to you then - how welcoming was it?
Virgil Abloh: It wasn't particularly welcoming but the irony was that there was no security at the door of that Comme des Garçons show we wanted to get into. It was almost like, 'Why would you come to a fashion show?' It would be like walking into some random hotel conference for doorknobs and sitting down.

"The irony was that there was no security at the door of that Comme des Garçons show we wanted to get into. It was almost like, 'Why would you come to a fashion show?' It would be like walking into some random hotel conference and sitting down" - Virgil Abloh

By halfway through the decade, you'd gone from standing outside to having your first Off White show in Paris - what did that moment represent to you?
Virgil Abloh: I was at this point in fashion where my contemporaries and my friends, like Shayne from Hood By Air - who's super important to the narrative - were painting this picture of what's to come. At that time, the formal press was only just categorising that type of design as 'streetwear'; as a designer, you get confronted with the term of your generation which you have no control over. From that frustration I decided if 'streetwear' was gonna be the sign of the times I was gonna define it rather than be defined by it. I needed to do a show to define what 'streetwear' could be, and do it with urgency, you know.

I felt that, at that time, most people would be like, 'Oh, he's not a stereotypical designer'. I don't know how many shows I've done since 2016 but it's been enjoyable to define the space that I would perceivably be put in. My motivation this whole time has been to represent for a generation - I'm still thinking about the kid that couldn't get into fashion shows.

Do you think at that point, in 2016, the industry has started to open up, that it was becoming more of the democratic space it feels closer to now?
Virgil Abloh: I've never been one that felt like the doors were closing - I'm an optimist so I don't even recognise that, that's how I got to where I'm at. I think that what helped it along was streetwear was also a global concept - designers like myself and Shayne had the advantage that European designers in the vein of streetwear helped people understand what this new wave was gonna be, designers like Demna and Gosha were all a part of the same creative community, we all played a part in making a new atmosphere.
How did it feel to see the rest of the industry, traditional brands, try to get involved with streetwear, to imitate something that wasn't authentic to their heritage?
Virgil Abloh: It's wild, you know, and it all goes back to that very first image: what seems preposterous actually becomes the new norm. I always try to look at the positive side and so when I do see brands adopting a new mode of design that's not traditional and is actually inauthentic, to me it's validation that we ultimately changed the atmosphere of design. What I like to think is that the doors are now open to young people to work in these places, to help them do it in an authentic way.

That reminds me of something you posted on Instagram after the first Vuitton show - it was a picture of you taking your bow and the caption was "you can do it too". What was in your head when you were positing that?

Virgil Abloh: To come from designing a graphic t-shirt in 2012 to making it to a house to design a collection... As a young black kid from Rockford, Illinois, from immigrant parents from Ghana, West Africa, that was like, impossible, you know? Like, categorically not gonna happen in a lifetime. I thought that fashion was one of those industries that would reinforce people feeling that 'This isn't for you', 'If you don't have this shirt, you're not in the club'. And so that post was sending up a flare to people watching that what might seem impossible is actually do-able in a lifetime.

"To come from designing a graphic t-shirt in 2012 to making it to a house to design a collection... As a young black kid from Rockford, Illinois, from immigrant parents from Ghana, West Africa, that was like, impossible, you know? Like, categorically not gonna happen in a lifetime" - Virgil Abloh

Did that first Vuitton show feel like history as it was happening?

Virgil Abloh: It's a funny question because to keep up my work rate I never stop and I never look back, ironically I'm taking a sort of break now. It felt like it was probably one of like, three (most) fulfilling moments in my career. That I got to a space and I got to a loud enough megaphone to say in an abstract way exactly how I feel. To me it was about making like an art piece of fashion, using the megaphone that is Louis Vuitton, one of the oldest brands in Paris, to have the first models that came out, look like me, dressed in all white on a prism coloured runway show in daylight. I wanted to make a statement and use the clothes to power that and I feel fulfilled that that body of work came out the way it did and when it did.
I think that you represent a modern proposition of a fashion designer, compared to this preconceived idea of what a designer is. How do you think that the idea of a fashion designer has changed over the last decade?
Virgil Abloh: You know, I grew up in the 80s and 90s and in that generation we had our own idea of what a fashion designer is, and we had our own idea of what a musician was - people would say that hip hop is just sampling, that it's not even like, playing the piano... As a fashion designer I've had enough of a thick skin to explore and make (it) something of my own.

I believe being a fashion designer is selling it short if it's just limited to making clothes. A piece of clothing is more important than the fabric it's made of - it's representative, it means something. It says something about a generation, a brand... when I think of fashion brands, I immediately think of like, United Colours of Benetton or Ralph Lauren, or Margiela - just say a brand or say a designer and it takes you to a different place because everything they did embodied something. That to me is what a fashion designer is today, not simply the antiquated version of what the term means.

What do you think will happen to the idea of streetwear in the 2020s?
Virgil Abloh: Wow. I would definitely say it's gonna die, you know? Like, its time will be up. In my mind, how many more t-shirts can we own, how many more hoodies, how many sneakers? I think that like we're gonna hit this like, really awesome state of expressing your knowledge and personal style with vintage - there are so many clothes that are cool that are in vintage shops and it's just about wearing them. I think that fashion is gonna go away from buying a boxfresh something; it'll be like, hey I'm gonna go into my archive.

"(Streetwear is) gonna die, you know? Like, it's time will be up. In my mind, how many more t-shirts can we own, how many more hoodies, how many sneakers?" - Virgil Abloh

At the end of the decade, what excites you?
Virgil Abloh: I'm excited by the next one. I'm excited to see what we do in this next chapter because the strides we made in the last ten years are too insane.

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Virgil Abloh: Streetwear? It's definitely gonna die

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Deep fakes, influencers, viral fashion - we live in a world unrecognisable from the one we stood in ten years ago. As a chaotic decade comes to a close, we're speaking to the people who helped shape the last ten years and analysing the cultural shifts that have defined them.

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Street style wasn't born in the 2010s, but you could say it was the decade it really mattered. Nothing about the medium is the same as it was back in 2011, when Phil Oh shot his first fashion week for Vogue. And it certainly doesn't look like street style in 2007, when Oh launched his blog, Mr. Street Peeper, alongside other OG photographers like Tommy Ton and Scott Schuman. "I don't think any of us knew it was going to become a thing," Oh says. By "a thing," he means a career, a marketing platform, and a source of massive global interest.

How did street style go from hobby blogging to this, exactly? Looking back on the past decade (well, almost-nine years) of photos, you start to see the turning points crystallize. As digital media and Instagram evolved and surged in popularity, street style also got bolder, more graphic, and more eye-catching. You can also discern almost the exact moment everyone ditched stilettos for sneakers, and when Alessandro Michele's debut at Gucci single-handedly changed the way we dress. Some years were marked by specific collections or designers, while others were about unique items, trends, or cultural shifts. Most recently, street style has been looking a lot more diverse, thanks to the rise of models like Adwoa Aboah, Adesuwa Aighewi, and Teddy Quinlivan. Below, we've distilled thousands and thousands of photos into groups that define each year-with a few ideas of what's to come in 2020.

2011

The first thing we noticed about Oh's first round of Fashion Week photos is that his subjects aren't staring at their phones. Shocking! This was years before Instagram really took off and became a marketing tool, and it was before everyone had an iPhone; several models and editors are holding BlackBerrys. What really dates these photos, though, is the heels-nearly everyone is wearing stilettos, and some are unthinkably high.

2012

It was in 2012 that a new kind of "fashion person" started to appear in street style coverage: the blogger. Susie Lau, Gary Pepper Girl's Nicole Warne, and Man Repeller's Leandra Medine sat front row at the shows and became subjects of fascination for Oh and his comrades. These were women who were, for the most part, wearing their own clothing-just like all of the editors, buyers, and models. On that note, Hanne Gaby Odiele established herself early on as one of the most stylish models out there, and Cara Delevingne's breakthrough was in 2012. As for editors, Taylor Tomasi Hill's "flat" Comme des Garçons dress was street style catnip. (P.S., doesn't Medine's T-shirt feel pretty prophetic right now?) "My favorite people to photograph have always been the ones who really know how to put together an outfit, like Taylor Tomasi Hill, Ursina Gysi, Susie Lau," Oh adds. "Rather than just someone with a lot of money who could buy all of the current season product."

2013

A quick scroll through 2013 is a striking reminder of which designers were moving the needle at the time: Nicolas Ghesquière at Balenciaga and Phoebe Philo at Céline. Ghesquière's neoprene "Join a Weird Trip" sweatshirts of Fall 2012 were instant must-haves, and while Philo's handbags and color-blocked coats were still popular, it was her Fall 2013 collection-you know, the fuzzy, minimalist one-that inspired so many women to pare back their style. Marc Jacobs said goodbye to Louis Vuitton with his Spring 2014 show (Edie Campbell opened in a feathered headpiece and Stephen Sprouse's LV logo scribbled all over her body), and more bloggers entered the scene, including Chiara Ferragni and Aimee Song, who now have Instagram followings in the millions. The year also saw the emergence of flashy, Insta-friendly trends like souvenir jackets and mirrored sunglasses.

2014

One big "trend" of 2014 ended up lingering for years and years: statement coats! Fluffy faux furs, pastel cocoons, and Prada's highly-coveted "mural" coats were like fast passes to getting photographed. Also important: Women began to trade their heels for sneakers (see: Veronika Heilbrunner, who paired a Valentino skirt with Nike Air Force Ones), and we were introduced to the boundary-pushing celebrity who would come to define 2010s fashion: Rihanna. Her rise from pop star to bona fide style icon was an early example of A-list celebrities becoming part of this narrative. The Rih effect also spoke to the importance of personal branding: Five years later, she's harnessed her mega-influence into a makeup line, lingerie collection, and, most recently, the LVMH ready-to-wear collection Fenty. The OG of personal branding, of course, is Karl Lagerfeld. Oh's photo of him carrying a furry Fendi "bag bug"-collar and sunglasses included!-will go down as one of the best of all time.

2015

First there were models, then there were influencers, and then there were the Hadids and Jenners, who are essentially a cross between the two. The rise of the Insta-famous It girl was concurrent with the growing interest in street style; peep the photo of Karlie Kloss fully surrounded by street-style photographers and paparazzi. "There will always be a demand for street style photography. Now, everyone needs content, content, content," Oh says. "Every department store, every hype beast, all of the influencers [with their own sites], all the magazines who run these photos in print." As for those It girls, Gigi Hadid's breakthrough was in 2015 (followed by a Vogue cover in 2016), when she and Bella were still figuring out their respective looks. Gigi's studded jacket notwithstanding, these outfits are a far cry from the carefully-styled get-ups we see them in today. The other big news of 2015? Vetements and Gucci. Suddenly everyone was wearing Demna Gvasalia's pieced-together jeans and flowery sack dresses, and not long after Alessandro Michele's Gucci debut for Fall 2015, his painterly florals and romantic ruffles were everywhere.

2016

By 2016, we'd edged into the era of extra. Following Demna Gvasalia's first collection at Balenciaga, everyone wanted his multi-print handkerchief dresses and pumped-up parkas. The rest of the credit goes to Alessandro Michele. Plenty of influencers and editors wore actual Gucci runway looks, but the "Michele effect" inspired others to simply experiment with vintage, from Jenny Walton's silk pajamas to Zoë Sidel's epic medieval dress. That said, while Michele is a lover of history, his message for Gucci is thoroughly modern: He's a proponent of diversity, gender fluidity, and inclusivity, all major talking points of the 2016 collections. That was reflected in Gucci's casting, as well as in modeling in general: Adwoa Aboah, Adesuwa Aighewi, and Selena Forrest all had a big year, and they became fast favorites of Oh. He also snapped plenty of celebs in 2016, including Rihanna (again!) and Solange. "Celebrities know what's up now," he says. "They'll get dropped off like a block or two away from the venue so they can walk the block. They don't have to do that-they can easily get out right in front. But they know they need to be photographed, which I'm thankful for, obviously."

2017

As the years go on, it gets trickier to pinpoint the "most important" looks or moments in street style-arguably because fashion has gotten busier and more head-spinning by the season. In 2017, in the absence of trends, the focus increasingly shifted to personal style. For JJ Martin and her band of print-loving fans, that meant clashing prints; for FKA Twigs and Aleali May, it was something a little more hardcore; for Teddy Quinlivan, it was sleek tailoring. The biggest takeaway, though, was the surge of interest in menswear. After years of middle-of-the-road outfits and simple suits, the streets outside the men's shows were looking good-really good! Russell Westbrook and Kyle MacLachlan lent a bit of star quality, but they also delivered in terms of capital-F fashion: Westbrook in a Dior Homme matching set, MacLachlan in an exceedingly sharp-shouldered Balenciaga suit.

2018

The fascination with menswear reached a fever pitch in 2018 ahead of two major debuts: Kim Jones at Dior Men (the first thing he did was change the brand name) and Virgil Abloh at Louis Vuitton. A$AP Rocky was there for both, and the year introduced us to stylish up-and-comers like Alton Mason, too. Women also became more interested in menswear, evidenced by the number of celebs, editors, and models in the crowd (many of whom borrowed the boys' clothes). "Right now, I actually find men's street style to be more interesting, because most of the guys are just putting together stuff they have," Oh says. "With women's fashion week, it's gotten to the point where you don't even have to know the schedule-you know what show happened on which day, because you see 10 girls wearing looks [borrowed or gifted] from a certain brand. I wish people would just wear their own shit again!" (Amen!)

2019

We're only halfway through the year, but so far 2019 has been "peak" everything: peak maximalism, peak influencer, peak celebrity, even peak minimalism as a reaction to all of that. As we enter the next decade, anything goes: Jared Leto in a floral tunic and sweatpants? Amazing! Kerwin Frost in a Hood by Air tent? Why not? NBA athlete Serge Ibaka in a pleated kilt? Possibly culture-shifting. The only real "trend" of 2019 is dressing for yourself and doing it with authenticity. That doesn't mean you have to be extra, either: Consider Dilone's sleek, slightly-oversized leather jacket and trousers, or Hanne Gaby Odiele's experiments with sharp tailoring. The streets of 2019 are more varied and diverse than they've ever been; let's hope 2020 can keep the good vibes going.

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How Street Style Evolved in the 2010s-From Pre-Instagram to Peak Maximalism

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Street style wasn't born in the 2010s, but you could say it was the decade it really mattered. Here, we're charting its evolution, from the pre-Instagram days to the era of "extra."

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The Trends & Brands That Defined '90s Hip-Hop Fashion

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What is 90's fashion and how does it still affect the landscape in 2022? 1990s brands, designers, and music still have a tremendous influence on us today.

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This article is part of the Streetwear Impact Report . The report includes data collected through two main research methods: our consumer survey and industry survey. Full description of methodology can be found in the Introduction.

The report is split into four articles. 001 Defining Streetwear details streetwear's origin and key cultural components. 002 Measuring Streetwear reports consumer spending habits and preferences. 003 How Streetwear Talks traces the communication loop between consumer and brand. 004 How Streetwear Sells dissects streetwear's tight-knit direct-to-consumer relationship and retail model. Visit the Executive Summary for a full overview.

Streetwear's dictionary definition is simple enough: fashionable, casual clothes. But that definition underplays what has become a multi billion-dollar retail phenomenon, with roots in countercultures of the 1980s and 1990s, including graffiti, hip-hop, skate and surf.

In essence, streetwear involves the production, promotion, sale and resale of casual fashion, principally of footwear, such as sneakers, but also T-shirts and other items - in ways that bypass traditional retail channels, often subverting the way the fashion industry has long defined and dictated how "cool" is made profitable. The audience, and therefore the target market, is very young: mostly under 25.

The communities that originally led streetwear were largely male dominated, and as such the style was originally adopted and driven by men, depicting traditionally masculine looks. In the beginning, streetwear was simple and an antidote to the elaborate, complicated styles that were in fashion at the time. The formula was straightforward: people wore T-shirts and hoodies because that's what they liked. This uniform was tied to both comfort and self-expression.

Pioneers of the movement include James Jebbia, founder of skate brand Supreme, and Shawn Stussy, founder of surf brand Stüssy. Designer Dapper Dan played a pivotal role in elevating streetwear to luxury as early as the 1980's out of Harlem, New York, creating styles for hip-hop artists who were shunned by traditional luxury brands at the time.

While the movement has roots in California and New York, other early adopters like Hiroshi Fujiwara and Nigo, both influential DJs and designers, were largely responsible for pioneering the street style and hip-hop scene in Japan in the 1980s. Like other major cultural movements, streetwear quickly rose simultaneously in major cities and regions throughout the globe.

And, like any major cultural movement, streetwear has not risen in a vacuum. Streetwear should not be viewed as a trend within fashion, but as the fashion leg of a larger shift that has given power to popular culture spanning fashion, art and music, and which is largely driven by black culture.

The mindset that drives this popular culture shift appeared as early as 1960s, when Andy Warhol questioned what constituted contemporary art. In the 1970s, artists such as Jean-Michel Basquiat and Keith Haring extended this conversation to street art, challenging traditional notions of who could access art and who it was for.

Hip-hop and rap similarly promoted a raw form of music motivated by rule breaking and finding art and sound in unconventional ways. Streetwear is analogous to an artist's street art or a hip-hop artist's lyrics: picking a spot and dropping a signature.

This level of authenticity is unmatched elsewhere in the fashion industry, which has typically operated through a top-down effect. Insiders act as the gatekeepers to the newest styles and trends. Streetwear has subverted this formula with a more democratic model.

With streetwear, the tastemakers are not only taking direction from style that comes from the streets, they are taking direction directly from the audience. It's the consumer who has the power to determine what's cool as much as the industry insider. The muscle of traditional fashion institutions - such as print publications and revered editors - has dwindled, while the opinions of general audiences have gained weight.

Streetwear derives its staying power from merging the original codes of luxury fashion with something new. Our consumer survey findings revealed that most (70%) consumer respondents like streetwear because it's cool, while more than half (57%) consider comfortable clothes to be a key factor. Additionally, close to half (46%) place importance on exclusivity, while around a quarter value status symbol (27%) and community (24%).

While a brand's coolness, exclusivity and status symbol have long been integral to fashion, streetwear introduces new key players: comfortable clothing and community. The exclusivity that drives streetwear, meanwhile, is driven more so by know-how than financial capacity to purchase. For brands, tapping into this in-crowd mindset poses the highest barrier to entry.

Each streetwear brand's value is derived from a range of sources, including product quality and design, celebrity followers, musicians and artists. But, arguably, no factor is perceived to be as important as authenticity, garnered by relating directly to the customers buying the products.

Most major fashion brands, luxury and mass market alike, are shifting their strategies to incorporate streetwear. Indeed, in our global industry survey of fashion and retail executives, 76% of respondents said they believed streetwear will continue to grow significantly over the next five years. Indeed, in a global survey of fashion and retail industry executives that we recently completed, 76% of respondents said they believed streetwear will continue to grow significantly over the next five years.

Key moments in the industry have signaled streetwear's growing dominance. In 2017, a collaboration between Supreme and Louis Vuitton marked a turning point for luxury fashion's awareness of streetwear. Vuitton appointed Virgil Abloh, a lauded streetwear designer, as creative director of menswear in 2018. Elsewhere, large-scale investment in streetwear has become increasingly common, headlined by Supreme's sale to The Carlyle Group in 2017 for an estimated US$500 million. Other streetwear brands, such as Japan's A Bathing Ape (BAPE), received investment as early as 2011. In 2018, footwear retailer Concepts struck a deal with Amazon-owned Zappos and Stadium Goods received backing from LVMH.

What began as a niche culture - literally starting with the printing of logos on T-shirts - is now a primary driver in the fashion industry, adopted by all genders and stretching from luxury to mall brands.
The current state of streetwear can be defined in four key ways:

Original streetwear brands are characterized by an accessible price point, comfortable clothing and authenticity. At their core, these brands are driven by a very direct motivation to put a word on a T-shirt. These brands include founding fathers such as Supreme, BAPE and Stüssy, as well as newer players such as Palace. Products from these brands often resell at a high price point due to scarcity and high demand.

Sportswear brands include leading athletic labels whose offering of athletic wear and sneakers are integral to the streetwear style. Sneakers created by brands such as adidas and Nike are cornerstones of the streetwear uniform.

Adopted streetwear brands have incorporated streetwear trends and styles into their product offering, but their brand origin is not authentically tied to the streetwear movement. This can include luxury and mass-market brands alike.

Luxury streetwear brands reflect the most recent emergence of brands that blur the lines between original streetwear and luxury fashion. These brands are also driven by authenticity but operate at a higher price point and diverge from the standard streetwear uniform. This includes brands such as Off-White™, AMBUSH and Vetements.

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This article is part of the Streetwear Impact Report . The report includes data collected through two main research methods: our consumer survey and industry survey. Full description of methodology can be found in the Introduction. The report is split into four articles. 001 Defining Streetwear details streetwear's origin and key cultural components.

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The Best Street Style From New York Fashion Week

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All the lewks you didn't see on the runway.

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By focusing on tangible ways to generate positive social impact (related to climate change, global education, racial equity, and more) we help organizations tackle some of the most pressing issues facing our world today.

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The Pandemic Is Heightening Environmental Awareness

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The COVID-19 crisis is causing people to pay more attention-not less-to urgent environmental issues such as climate change.

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To read the full version of this content please select one of the options below:

Abstract

Purpose

The COVID-19 pandemic has caused a decline in overall consumption, but luxury sales within offline department stores rose significantly. This study identifies changes in the market environment variable (i.e. pandemics) and their impact on clothing consumption behavior. Moreover, it examines consumer behavior characteristics and provides implications for future fashion marketing and merchandising strategies.

Design/methodology/approach

This study analyzed post-pandemic consumption trends by obtaining luxury brand sales data from the Korea National Statistical Office and department stores. Moreover, it investigated luxury consumption fluctuation after the pandemic and statistically analyzed the characteristics of luxury consumers by customer level (CL) that affected sales.

Findings

The results of the study showed that offline (online) clothing consumption at mass markets has decreased (increased) since the pandemic, whereas sales of luxury fashion brands at offline department stores have grown. Moreover, the in-depth analysis showed a significant sales decline (increase) for clothing-centered (leather-centered) luxury brands.

Practical implications

If such a trend in luxury brand consumption continues, current polarization is expected to be maintained. Therefore, the study's findings can be used as basic data in strengthening luxury brands and planning products.

Originality/value

This is the first work to undertake a comparative study of fashion consumer behavior, before and after the pandemic, involving the mass and luxury markets in South Korea.

Keywords

Citation

Pang, W., Ko, J., Kim, S.J. and Ko, E. (2021), "Impact of COVID-19 pandemic upon fashion consumer behavior: focus on mass and luxury products", Asia Pacific Journal of Marketing and Logistics, Vol. ahead-of-print No. ahead-of-print. https://doi.org/10.1108/APJML-03-2021-0189

Publisher
:
Emerald Publishing Limited

Copyright

© 2022 Emerald Publishing Limited

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Impact of COVID-19 pandemic upon fashion consumer behavior: focus on mass and luxury products

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To read the full version of this content please select one of the options below: The COVID-19 pandemic has caused a decline in overall consumption, but luxury sales within offline department stores rose significantly. This study identifies changes in the market environment variable (i.e. pandemics) and their impact on clothing consumption behavior.

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It's been a year since our last "Luxury Report," and wow, things have changed. Unfortunately, we're still amid a global pandemic, but the world has opened up, and people are out and about with places to go again. Among many other things, this means that people are shopping for all kinds of things-including luxury goods.

With this renewed interest in shopping, a whole slew of It brands and items has emerged. Some are household-name design houses that have been around for years, and some are newer brands that are gaining steam thanks to the likes of celebs such as Zendaya and Hailey Bieber.

To provide us with the truest insight into what's happening in the luxury space, we tapped experts at Net-a-Porter, Mytheresa, MatchesFashion, Fwrd, and ShopStyle to tell us about all things buzzy brands and It items.

This year's buzzy, established brands have been on the tip of every fashion person's tongue in 2021, and we're pleased to report that there are a few surprise additions this year. Find out what our luxury retail experts have to say about each brand below.

Tiffany Hsu, fashion buying director at Mytheresa says, "Versace has had a great momentum over the past few seasons already, the collections becoming stronger and stronger. And with Dua Lipa as the face of the brand, Versace is gaining even more attention."

"Gucci is everywhere-on every celebrity and in everyone's shopping basket! Despite showing off-calendar, their Hollywood Boulevard show drew in a huge audience, where their striking silhouettes and glitzy approach to dressing made everyone excited for event dressing," says Libby Page, senior market editor at Net-a-Porter.

Hsu says of the buzzy brand, "Gucci, with their 100-year anniversary, received a lot of buzz this year, and the last show in L.A. was just the cherry on the top. The brilliant idea to collab with Balenciaga really kicked up the brand's desirability."

"Demna [Gvasalia] hits the mark consistently with customers looking for classic European heritage design with a bit of edge. Refined tailoring is the backbone of the collection, but interesting colors, textiles, and hyper-articulated shapes (such as the Hourglass Blazer, $2690) change our eye for what 'classic' can be in this era," says April Koza, vice president of Fwrd.

Page says, "Balenciaga's collaboration with The Simpsons had everyone talking, despite the dark approach to the collection. Who knew we needed to see Marge in a bright-green spandex gown!"

Koza says, "Our customers always love what Simon Porte [of] Jacquemus does, simply put. His fabrications balance out the hyper-sexy cutwork and perfectly on-the-edge draping that has become his remarkable signature. His dresses, knits, and artfully twisted blouses have become closet staples."

"Jacquemus is not a new name out there, but it's becoming a super-brand size of business without a major group behind, and seeing this is truly great," Hsu says. "Simon's ability of coming out with sell-out items is legendary."

With its new creative director taking the reigns this year, Chloé has certainly built upon its buzz. "Chloé feels very exciting right now with Gabriela Hearst at the helm, and we love the strong craft element," Liane Wiggins, MatchesFashion's head of womenswear, tells us.

The rising, buzzy brands we narrowed our list down to are an eclectic mix of labels that are about to break out and labels that are inching closer and closer to the established list. Either way, our experts can hardly contain their excitement about this group.

"Queens-born LaQuan Smith has been heralded by icons such as Tom Ford and André Leon Talley for his sharp eye, keen attention to detail, and consistent willingness to push the fashion boundaries," says Alison Stiefel ShopStyle's general manager.

Page tells us, "Not only did his runway show atop the Empire State Building make an impact, but so did his low-slung waistlines and crystal embellishment, which brought high-octane glamour and sexiness to the forefront of our minds during fashion month."

Wiggins sang the praise of on-the-rise brand Maximilian, saying "We are really excited about our innovators this season. New to the cohort this year is Maximilian and Nensi Dojaka, who just won the LVMH prize."

It wouldn't be a luxury report without a discussion of some specific It items that have emerged this year, so we asked our luxury experts what people are actually investing in these days. Most of the 2021 It items have timeless appeal, and most fall under the categories of accessories and outerwear. All of the pieces can be worn countless times. Find out why these highly coveted pieces stand out below.

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The 2021 Luxury Report: The Buzziest Brands and Items to Invest In Now

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It's been a year since our last "Luxury Report," and wow, things have changed. Unfortunately, we're still amid a global pandemic, but the world has opened up, and people are out and about with places to go again. Among many other things, this means that people are shopping for all kinds of things-including luxury goods.

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Streetwear: Fashion x Culture with insight from London, Paris, and Milan - VOCAST

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Fashion brands have been using creative methods of digitalisation in both innovative and sustainable ways over the past few years. Brands like Dior have used augmented reality for try before you buy solutions in makeup and accessories.