Fashioning February: I Heart the 90s

Welcome to the I Heart series where a fashionista talks about their favourite decade in relation to style and pop cultural influences. This week we have Reah Brown from The Musings of a Brixton Girl which covers fashion, music and TV. She is in love with the 90s and tells us why.

As a young woman in her early twenties realistically I am limited to the number of decades of which I can reference. With that said, the 90's influence on fashion and its cultural significance immediately had superiority over some of the arguably fleeting trends of the 2000’s. However; after re-evaluating a few fashion trends of the 00s, I thought ‘why not give the era the credit is deserves?’ In terms of fashion and music of the 00’s, Pharrell Williams and the Skateboard P generation along with Louis Vuitton don, Kanye West are arguably the most influential fashion figures of the decade. Pharrell Williams' affiliation with A Bathing Ape (hip Japanese clothing label) founder, Nigo not only lead to the establishment of their collaborative fashion labels, Billionaires Boys Club and Ice Cream but it solidified Pharrell’s dominance in fashion and music trend of that era. The whole idea of partnering avante garde luxury labels such as a Hermes HAC man bag, New Era cap with a pair of Air Force One' s was a reflection of his fascination with Japan and its street wear which in turn gave birth to a kind of “Kool Kid” generation. 

Although Kanye West didn’t pioneer the high class and sophisticated rapper, (see Slick Rick or Big Daddy Kane) he definitely carried the torch and elevated it to new heights. Only Yeezy could rub shoulders with the fashion hierarchy whilst also staying true to his hip hop fashion roots. Collaborating with both Nike and Louis Vuitton on footwear, he successfully played both sides of the coin very well. Both his shoes would sell out and become instant classics commanding almost triple resale, bringing sophisticated ‘swagger’ to a wider audience. What brings these two together is their love for something unique and a bit left field which they found in the land of the rising sun and which has also filtered into their music. Can you name one artist that hasn’t collaborated with Pharrell or Kanye? I rest my case.