Hip-Hop's Lasting Influence on Style Celebrated
To celebrate 50 years of hip-hop, the platform Stadium Goods have teamed up with online retailer Farfetch to pay tribute to the genre's influence on sneaker culture and style.
To celebrate 50 years of hip-hop, the platform Stadium Goods have teamed up with online retailer Farfetch to pay tribute to the genre's influence on sneaker culture and style.
When Clive Campbell, aka Kool Herc, DJ'd his sister Cindy's clothing sale in the Bronx on August 11, 1973, little did they know that this would become a watershed moment in the history of hip-hop. The legacy of hip-hop culture has imprinted on not only music, finding composition in the 'break' moments of a set, but also on style - the 'sampling' techniques of designers like Virgil Abloh owe their approach to the origins of this musical renaissance. Ultimately, it's a medium of self-expression, and to celebrate 50 years of hip-hop, the platform Stadium Goods has teamed up with online retailer Farfetch to pay tribute to its influence on sneaker culture.
An editorial story brings together the hip-hop new guard to highlight the tight links between hip-hop and style and how it has influenced the curation - or sampling - of different elements of dress pulled together. Rappers midwxst and Bktherula wear the likes of Pharrell's BBC Ice Cream collaboration with adidas, Heron Preston and more. In an accompanying interview, they note the different cultural moments hip-hop has undergone over the years, such as the influential outfits of Run DMC inspired by the streets of Queens, NY, including adidas shell-toes and bucket hats. Shop the feature here.
'The substance of hip-hop has stayed the same after all this time, but people have become more expressive. You didn't hear people talking about their sexuality, their gender. Now there are scenes built out of those communities and that has happened because the roots of hip-hop are about storytelling. It's a form of poetry', says midwxst.
Unpacking the role of the sneaker in all of this, a curator behind the luxury sneaker marketplace Stadium Goods, Zach Schlemmer, has analysed 12 seminal sneakers including the Puma 'Clyde' and its ties to the 1980s B Boy crews, Run DMC and the adidas Superstar, plus different variations of the Air Jordan and Air Max, all of which have seen a renaissance over recent years.
All are available to buy from Farfetch.
