Hip hop and luxury fashion have been intertwined from nearly the beginning of the genre. Rappers have always rhymed about wearing or wanting luxury fashion clothing. But until recently high fashion hasn’t really embraced hip hop. In fact, high-end designers tried to separate themselves from the urban music genre. However, the financial impact hip hop has had on luxury fashion had to be recognized. Hip hop influenced listeners to want to buy Gucci, Louis Vuitton, Hermes. And finally, high fashion is letting hip hop in.

Dan Runcie, who founded Trapital, recently spoke of hip hop and high fashion. 

“Runcie was early to recognize how hip-hop arrived in, then started to take over, luxury fashion, speeding up over the past handful of years in particular. In 2014, for example, Kanye West attacked the fashion industry for discriminating against him: ‘Cause you know damn well there aren’t no Black guys or celebrities making no Louis Vuitton nothing,’” Courier Media reported.

Fast forward a few years and West’s friend, collaborator, and founder of Off-White, Virgil Abloh, was appointed men’s artistic director of Louis Vuitton. Then in 2018, the UK streetwear label A Cold Wall, which was founded by Samuel Ross (Abloh’s former creative consultant) became a finalist in the prestigious LVMH prize for new talent. Heron Preston, head of his eponymous label, acted as art director for West during the early years of West’s fashion label Yeezy.

“Between them, they’ve taken the DNA of streetwear and mixed it with luxury materials and prices. Along the way, they’ve fundamentally reshaped the scope and meaning of contemporary high fashion. Some of the most exciting emerging designers working today – Du of Bstroy, Ev Bravado, Brick of Bstroy, Bloody Osiris and Tremaine Emory among them – take in silhouettes borrowed from hip-hop style of the 1990s. You just have to look at Givenchy or Balmain or Gucci to see how completely hip-hop culture has permeated,” Courier Media reported.

“This change has been gradual, but it accelerated in the late 2000s and early 2010s. The hip-hop fashion brands of old such as Rocawear, Enyce, and Fubu saturated the domestic market in the US. High fashion didn’t take them seriously. But at the time, mainstream brands like Reebok and Nike had fully embraced hip-hop and basketball culture. It aligned with the process that Steve Stoute laid out in The Tanning of America, a book discusses how hip-hop expanded beyond music and into the culture of young Americans. It sparked a hip-hop-inspired cultural shift that influenced many industries, including fashion,” explained Runcie.

Social media helped solidify the shift. 

“The change took off when social media – specifically Instagram, Vine, Snapchat, Twitter – blew up. It empowered underrepresented fans, which strengthened the power that hip-hop celebrities and stars had. High-fashion brands could no longer avoid the influence of hip-hop’s megastars. The follower counts spoke for themselves. If high-fashion wanted in, it had to embrace hip-hop culture. It was only a matter of time before the fashion industry came around,” noted Runcie.

When asked which hip-hop/fashion collaborations stood out for him in terms of representing a shift in culture, Runcie responded: “Look no further than Gucci. In the late 1980s and early 1990s, the luxury brand went out of its way to shut down Dapper Dan’s operation in Harlem. Dap became known for knock-off Gucci, Louis Vuitton, and Fendi products. As Dapper Dan’s operation grew, his customers included LL Cool J, Salt-N-Pepa, Mike Tyson and plenty more. His celebrity customers would often appear on MTV, showing off their merchandise. Eventually, Gucci threatened MTV for showcasing Dapper Dan-designed garments on its TV shows. Thirty years later and Dap now has his own atelier studio in partnership with Gucci.”

Luxury fashion designers are looking to hip-hop culture even more and more. 

“A Virgil Abloh’s rise is a perfect snapshot of what hip-hop has achieved. In 2009, he and Kanye were interns at Fendi, trying to get their foot in the door. Kanye struggled to fully breakthrough though. The ‘Louis Vuitton Don’ tried to do a deal, but got the stiff arm from the LVMH CEO, Bernard Arnault, back in 2013. That’s the same Arnault that just partnered with Rihanna and Fenty to launch her own manison – the company’s first since 1987. Now, there’s a huge difference in value between Rihanna and Kanye. But a lot has changed in hip-hop’s relationship with fashion since 2013. And now Virgil has broken his own barriers with Louis Vuitton. It’s all came full circle, and it’s been dope to see it all unfold,” said Runcie.