FASHION KILLA

A cogent study of hip-hop’s outsized influence on fashion trends.

The link between hip-hop and high fashion is so tight that many consider them part of the same package. In this fast-paced, deeply researched history, Krishnamurthy chronicles how and why that deep bond continues today. The music journalist, known for her work in Rolling Stone, New York magazine, Vibe, and Essence, deconstructs the connection all the way back to Harlem-based custom tailor and designer Dapper Dan in the late 1980s. “A custom Dapper Dan ’fit could run into the tens of thousands of dollars,” writes Krishnamurthy, so price was a barrier to entry when hip-hop was still young (and broke).” But with success and increasing paychecks came distinctive, aspirational fashion. “Real hip-hop had skill and style—and wore Dapper Dan,” writes the author. Krishnamurthy follows that thread through the intertwined journeys of hip-hop’s music and fashion, with fascinating detours into the crews who “terrorized high-end retail in New York City by boosting Polo Ralph Lauren”; the erroneous viral rumors about Tommy Hilfiger, the "white designer who faced inaccurate accusations about bigotry”; Kanye West’s first trip to the Paris fashion shows; and the power of Young Thug’s decision to wear an Alessandro Trincone dress on the cover of one of his mixtapes. Krishnamurthy peppers the storyline of how hip-hop fashion transformed into lucrative brands with her own experiences, including her stint as one of Sean Combs’ assistants at Bad Boy Records. Though that job didn’t last long, it does help explain how the author is able to so effortlessly weave together tales of music and fashion and history. She lived a lot of it, and what she didn’t experience firsthand, she absorbed from research involving a wide array of musicians, designers, scholars, and business execs who did.

Exciting and exhaustive, this fun hip-hop history explains what your favorite rappers are wearing and why.