Le-Fool.com | Youth Culture
The Death of Streetwear Was Greatly Exaggerated.
(This is a follow up to my previous op-ed ‘Streetwear is Dead, Long Live Streetwear’ published in 2021)
There was much hoopla in the last few years about the death of streetwear and fashion’s return to its roots (some even copying the title of my op-ed, or effectively my entire opinion, only to completely miss the point — I won’t name names…) but to frame it as such was only to show that you do not understand what streetwear is, nor do you understand the unbreakable relationship that exists between fashion and streetwear. In that op-ed, I argued that streetwear cannot die, only its iteration changes, and we only have to wait for a short time before we can figure out what its next iteration will be.
It is important in appraising the environment at present, that we understand the context of the historical-present, to avoid examining the situation from our lens of ‘now’. A common mistake we see repeating when designers are hired to revamp an old brand. Such is the case for Helmut Lang, a brand where new designers have failed to grasp the historical-present of the original designer, and instead rely on the external imagery they’ve come to understand via the curation of the web or archives.
I think we are at a place where we can see the roots of what may transpire as the next streetwear movement. But before we get into that, let’s consider a very brief overview of what is meant when we use the word ‘streetwear’.
Streetwear, 1789
The roots of modern streetwear can be traced back to the French Revolution of 1789, and the “Declaration of the Rights of Man and the Citizen” which claimed liberty and equality as natural rights of human existence. The history of streetwear is thus deeply tied to civic clothing and continues to closely reflect the advancement of popular revolution.
The sans-culottes expressed their new freedoms through their clothing, transforming dress which had been a mark of poverty into a badge of honour.
Nicolas Biggs, History Cooperative
Youth Instincts and Idealism
In its purity, streetwear is about idealism and instincts of youth, making it unmistakably anti-establishment. As the youth are faced with adulthood, they feel anger upon discovering the hypocrisy that exists in adult society, giving rise to a need to rebel and shun all things associated with adulthood, starting with the daily corporate uniform that everyone must conform to, to take their place in the society.
Led by the desire to find their own way, the youth rely on the things they trust and have been with them while growing up in the post-industrial, capitalist, broken family system — subcultures. Music and other forms of culture (to varying degrees) thus heavily influence and form an integral part of the new street style into a streetwear movement.
Within the last century we have seen various subcultures rise to form full-fledged ‘streetwear’ movements. Post-World War liberation led by women, youth influence trickling up to haute couture, and the insistence of no status, class, fame or power as the foundation of our modern uniform — these subcultural moments have become style setters.
Thus, paradoxically, a streetwear movement when it arises, interweaves and champions aspirations stemming from the rage against an unjust society, with fashion, and the economics it requires to continue its progression, instantly making it mortal.
Clothing, thus, is not only an important form of expression in street culture, it also lucidly illustrates the mental, social and economic conditions of people living during that age and eventually leads to the celebration of lifestyle that overflows with human spirit, and a greater degree of freedom and individuality.
However, as is the case with all human development, when the movement reaches the second generation, the original face becomes obscured. Because when incorporated into industrial structures, the movement is reshaped to appeal at a popular level, it permeates as a harmless and inoffensive new mode tailored for rapid assimilation and consumption.
What was spontaneously generated by young people is then turned into business ventures by corporations. And sold back to the young as popular trends — revived as supposed ‘new’ styles. At this point street style and music lose their malice and spite. And are persuaded to exist for the sake of external beauty alone. More and more, the image possessed by external appearance is utilized by mass media to instill added value in their products till the most mainstream of populations come to accept it as normal. The Streetwear movement is thus dead!
This is the case with the receding streetwear movement that we witnessed over the last two decades and perhaps longer. While originally starting from the obscure and alienated urban youth in the big cities of US, skateboarding and surfing culture went on to form strong bonds with fashion, influencing it to a point where streetwear became near synonymous with luxury and high-end fashion. But the saturation of this trend has reached a point that it can longer be justified to term it as streetwear anymore. Or leisurewear, casual wear, fashion sportswear, whatever you want to call it. And when a movement reaches yet another point when you see $3,000 limited edition skateboards at Louis Vuitton and company, while also seeing $30 boards at the most mainstream of high street shops like Primark, etc. then that movement has come to end. And with it starts fashion’s search for the new subculture to appropriate.
In the current-present, the LGBTQIA+ movement is clearly the sub-culture of influence that displays all the aspects needed for a full-fledged movement.
But clothing is never too far from the events of the world, and as the world slowly reverses back from uninhibited globalization into a multipolar world with various systems and philosophies competing for our attention, it is also not the only streetwear movement taking shape. However, it is definitely the more developed one thus far, checking all the boxes for the formation of a new streetwear movement, that also has the backing of the neo-liberal democratic governments who have weaponized it as a foreign policy tool. This can be a double-edged sword, as in the short term it could get a boost through rapid amplification through established media but that can also harm the movement as it gets co-opted prematurely before it has laid down strong and authentic foundations.
Modest Streetwear, being shaped through the lives and experiences of Muslim immigrants in Europe and to some extent in the US is one such competing movement. There are several others — each with their own pros and cons. At this point, however, these movements all lack a fully developed, original vocabulary and hence not within the scope of this essay.
In that context, the influence of LGBTQIA+ grounded brands is already being seen at the high-end level: Ludovic de Saint Sernin, GMBH, Ottolinger, Louis Gabriel Nouchi and Dion Lee being some of the more famous names that play on such subcultural codes but are also committed to being a larger, high fashion brand. At an even higher level, brands like Balenciaga and Rick Owens freely borrow codes from these subcultures but are too high-end to genuinely form the face of such a movement.
Other brands like Jordan Luca or LazoSchmidl cater to a specifically LGBTQIA+ core customer while borrowing codes from outgoing streetwear and high-end fashion making them too niche to speak to a wider audience. Their presence and success, however, still continues to speak of the potential and momentum of this movement overall.
The rise of this movement also expectedly coincides with the rise of male exotic lingerie brands that after centuries of stasis, push men’s undergarments into territories it has not ventured into. While this stays a niche market, it is nonetheless a consistently growing one, just like the overall menswear fashion market, and forms another component to this larger, new streetwear trend. Greg Homme, Nasty pig, TOF Paris, CellBlock 13, American Jock are some brands that are finding traction beyond the closets of LGBTQIA+ customers.
In high fashion, Hedi Slimane, who always seems to have his pulse on the street youth scene, presented a menswear show for Summer 2024 that again validates this thesis. The collection with its oversized bow ties, halter and cowl necklines was one of the most feminine yet to hit the runway for a major luxury brand. And with the LCD Soundsystem song ‘I am Losing My Edge’ as the choice soundtrack for the show, the point Hedi was making was loud and clear: This aesthetic is integral to the future of menswear and yes, he calls ownership to it, having done this — albeit with more subtlety — two decades ago at Dior Homme.
Predictions are not easy, and with the departure of Hood By Air, one of the original streetwear brands that not only blurred streetwear and high fashion but also merged queer aesthetics with the street, a vacuum exists that needs to be filled.
So, in looking for the next big thing, the brands best positioned to take on the proverbial baton from Supreme or Palace can be any or all of the following: Namilia, Fang NYC, Emerree Studios, Shame, Leaks New York, Dominnico — brands that are committed to their customer base, are accessible in price point and definitely provocative in their visual display, insisting on a clear rebellion to the graphic hoodie staple of the previous streetwear movement. It is true that some of these brands might not survive time (the brutal reality of fashion business applies to all) but those that do, have the chance to be that proverbial ‘next Supreme’.
Most participants of this scene being gender fluid and their environment clearly grounded in the codes of club culture (the skateboarding equivalent as the leisure activity of choice for this particular group) — it is the same clash with adulthood that we talked about earlier that is happening now. As the ‘crisis decade’ labors on from one crisis to the next, it is natural for this subculture to look for the safety and comfort of the youth club scene, arguably a place where they have felt the most accepted for who they are.
What is exciting about this direction is that after a very long-time, new fashion details and styling codes are being incorporated into menswear, vastly expanding its design vocabulary and making a clear break from what has, in its recent history, been of extreme restraint — an almost authoritarian aesthetical inflexibility. Instilling new ideas into traditional design are never easy, but to their credit, these designers have been able to infuse menswear with such details that they are able to catch the very important ‘NOW’ factor that everyone’s go to ‘fashion guide’, Helmut Lang preached all through the 90s.
It is also not surprising that after a long streetwear movement that borrowed and disseminated codes of white male sub-culture onto each gender, that this time, with rise of ‘neo-feminism, gender equality, me-too’ movements, the female dress codes reflect the core of the emerging streetwear scene. The current revival of Jean-Paul Gaultier and Thierry Mugler is not coincidental either, with both being the champions of androgyny going the other way (most often it is seen through the lens of menswear being adopted for women e.g., YSL, Ann Demeulemeester) from back in their heyday.
Interestingly enough, while a lot of these brands come out of Berlin, Brooklyn and LA — as expected, many also come our way through surprising places like Spain, South Africa, Brazil and Argentina. These are all countries that are simultaneously going through economic growth and economic turmoil, while building on the new vocabulary that globalization has given them. Oddly enough, in alignment with the new multi-polar structure that is developing in the world.
Whether this sub-cultural movement develops into a full-fledged fashion enterprise, it’s hard to say in the current environment. But if there is no new cold war, a major financial collapse, or World War 3, then the chances are pretty clear that it would! So, expect male peacocking to be the norm and your teen boys to be wearing clothes that you would classify as womenswear, only for them to call it “streetwear”, in about 10 years from now.
