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Over the last few years the fashion trend of hip hop clothing has grown from an underground street culture into the mainstream fashion world. Urban clothes are now proudly shown at the top fashion shows in Milan, Italy, Paris and New York. Just ten years ago such blatantly flashy and urban clothes would never have seen the light of day at these shows, but now they are proudly displayed. So what is this emerging trend and which consumers are driving the growth of this fashion niche?The answer can be found in looking at the history of hip hop itself and it’s evolution into the mainstream of music and fashion culture. Hip hop went from being the music of a few skateboarders and corner lyricists to being the predominant musical culture of todays young generation. As more and more people listen to hip hop and urban music, the fashion styles and the clothing these young people were wearing started to reflect the music and artists they were listening to. While most do not remember this now, the first trend to be adopted from urban music were the Adidas shoes which were originally made popular by the hip hop legend Run DMC. After that came the bling bling jewelry and the baggy pants, followed by backward hats and large chains.The trend was further moved forward when the famous rapper LL Cool J signed on to promote the FUBU clothing line. FUBU stood for “For Us By Us” and was the first urban clothing line to hit the mainstream around the world. After FUBU came Phat Farm which was a trendy line launched by Def Jam president Russell Simmons – a hip hop mogul himself.This line was wildly successful and enjoyed the promotion and patronage of several high profile rappers. After these lines gained steam and saw success, many rappers started catching on to the idea that they could launch their own lines of gear and started to do so. Jay Z came out with Rocawear, a tremendously successful line which he eventually sold for several hundred million dollars. Other rappers followed suit, although not all were as successful. 50 Cent introduced his G Unit clothing line to much acclaim and even partnered with Reebok on a top selling shoe line.Through the years urban clothes have evolved greatly with many smaller and more unique lines springing up. There are now literally hundreds of lines of hip hop clothes as is evident at the latest Magic Fashion Show in Las Vegas.

There are many artistic trends such as t-shirts with hand painted images and drawings, lines by and for women, hats and even hip hop jewelry which imitates the bling bling styles worn by hip hop artists.Overall the hip hop styles have evolved greatly since the introduction of the first urban gear brand. They are now considered way within the mainstream of clothing and fashion and are also breaking new ground with creativity and designs. Hip hop clothing is here to stay and has now claimed a foothold in the fashion industry as a whole.

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