Sneakers iceberg12/8/2023 But when it comes to designers, I have to also give props to April Walker. So I would definitely give her the nod as an artist. Now, there is a lot of talk behind the scenes with people who feel like she should get those things, like a CFDA Lifetime award or something to that effect. The industry of high fashion did not really embrace her in this way that one would expect. She was never honored by the CFDA awards. What's so interesting is we take a look back and look at everything she did, and it's almost shocking that she never got the cover of American Vogue. So whether it be the colorful wigs and furs in the “Crush on You” video, her infamous VMAs outfit where her breast was exposed-that's a creation from Misa Hylton-to later befriending and becoming a muse to people like Donatella Versace, Marc Jacobs, David LaChapelle, people like that. And very early on, she really embraced this idea of being a risk taker and a trendsetter. She's name-checking things like DKNY in her songs and wearing minks and furs, very much embodying this mafioso boss. This is someone who, from the beginning of her career, embraced luxury. Who is the most underrated hip-hop contributor to fashion? And in America, specifically, because of the history with slavery and racism being so inbuilt into the DNA of this country, those rules and laws were also ways to really create barriers and showcase who was allowed to wear certain things. It was even things like fabrics-who could wear what kind of fabrics. It can be as simple as a specific color once you get into America from the time of the early settlers and later on. So again, this idea of luxury isn't just name brands or a price tag. Even going back to the ancient world, looking at something like ancient Rome, certain colors like purple were really affiliated with something like royalty. It was sort of manifesting it into being.Īs I was doing the research, I really got into this idea of when we talk about history, there is a legality component. I also understood the idea of people wearing certain clothes that maybe they weren't at that economic echelon yet, but they wanted to showcase. So it sort of shows your stature in life, and we all know that old quote: Dress for the job you want, not the job you have-that kind of fake it till you make it. You wear Gucci or Louis Vuitton and you leave your house, and people know that you can afford Gucci or Louis Vuitton. I inherently understood the social signaling. One big question I had in the beginning of the book is why do people wear luxury? So this idea of wanting to wear clothing that's considered nice or expensive or somehow aspirational, where does that come from? I knew I wanted to tackle the psychology. Why was it important to jump into that so early? Toward the very beginning of your book, you explore the history of fashion laws. ![]() In conversation with Complex, Krishnamurthy speaks on her new book, a comprehensive debut that distills the history of fashion into a digestible package. It’s a dense history, so Krishnamurthy set out to make it accessible with Fashion Killa, which was titled after ASAP Rocky’s 2013 single of the same name. The rebellion has been multilayered, with rap-fashion innovators struggling to penetrate the world of haute couture, even as they cultivated sartorial art for folks in urban communities. ![]() And I'm kind of throwing up the middle finger.’” “It's like saying that ‘I'm not supposed to be wearing this, and there's a history of people who look like me who weren't allowed to dress in a way that was considered successful or acceptable by whiteness. “In many ways, fashion can be a form of rebellion,” says Krishnamurthy, who spent three years putting the book together. At the intersection of class, race, and economics, she sees designer drip as a stylish tool of upheaval. Inspired by her own experiences as a rap fan who’d stare at elegant Vibe magazine covers, Krishnamurthy explores the many layers of a relationship that’s been characterized by underappreciation, explosive trends, unsung icons, and a lack of access. In her debut book, Krishnamurthy examines its interactions with hip-hop, from Dapper Dan to Pharrell Williams. ![]() In 21st-century America, those literal laws aren’t in effect, but fashion-what folks wear, how they wear it, the economic infrastructure that determines what’s chic and what isn’t-remains an immutable sign of power. Imagine spending a day in jail because you were a broke boy with the nerve to cop some purple Amiri. In the 14th century, you couldn’t rock the color purple or a “cloth of gold” unless you were a knight or a lord. In her new book, Fashion Killa: How Hip-Hop Revolutionized High Fashion, journalist Sowmya Krishnamurthy revisits an English parliament law that dictated what people of certain social strata could and couldn’t wear. Once upon a time, in a land not-so-far away, being too dripped out was a crime.
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