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SPAIN 12€ ⋅ EUROPE 1€ ⋅ USA 25€
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TAKE TO THE STREETS Story by
FRANCESCA ULANOFF
Amongst the large variety of menswear trends developing on today’s streets, reemerges an old trend with a very different outlook. Wearing authentic American sports team apparel is nothing new to many black British teenagers and is most commonly linked to the hip hop scene, stemming from the 1980s. However a new wave of fashionable young people from a variety of British races have taken on this old trend and made it their own. The style is most prevalent amongst men and women of the ‘Hipster’ orientation, who frequent old fashioned pubs and vintage havens in and around Shoreditch and Hoxton. The most popular garments have been ‘snap back’ caps- a wider, less fitted brother of the baseball cap- easily the most affordable and distinctive piece of sports merchandise, as well as several sightings of starter jackets; a shinier, more light-weight version of the letterman jacket. The main difference between today’s trend and its predecessor is in the way it is worn.Although past uses of the trend have been in order to show pride in ones participation in a team sport, to show support for a favourite team, or even in some areas as a way to identify the gang in which you belong to- today’s young people are incorporating the items into a much more mainstream style of fashion. Popularised by theAmerican hip hop scene during the 1980s, American sportswear- particularly the use of snap back caps- is associated withAfricanAmericans and is often still publicised by manyAfricanAmerican music artists. The internet has allowed people from all around the globe to easily access their music and videos, as well as new media arriving everyday with information on what the artists wear and where to buy it from.
Fashion and sportswear are increasingly overlapping both on the catwalk and on the street, with designers making ‘sports luxe’ an almost permanent trend, and an increased interest in street style allowing for almost a reassessment of what is considered style in today’s society. This has encouraged street trends, such as the use of American sports team merchandise, traditionally unacceptable as mainstream British fashion, to become something coveted by a developing new breed of fashion influentials- the fashion bloggers. 124_VOL.II / ISSUE II
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There is really no surprise in the repealing juxtaposition of American sports merchandise with high fashion, as popular hip hop and R’n’ B artists- the main culprits of this trendare appearing on the front row of catwalks, particularly in the last couple of years. Pharrell Williams has become an almost permanent fixture on the Lanvin front row and is rarely seen not sporting the brand; incorporating high fashion into his own urban street wear style- and is often seen accessorising with his favourite sports teams on classic snap back caps. Another example, Kanye West, who showed his first collection at Paris fashion week last autumn, examines his own urban hip hop roots and brings them centre stage on the catwalk. Both men have helped to blur the lines between fashion and urban American streetwear associated with hip hop and R’nB artists such as themselves. In a turning of tables, even Anna Wintour the countess of fashion herself, has been spotted earlier this year sitting front row at a basketball game between the New York Knicks and Chicago Bulls. Two of the most popular choices of teams to wear according to research undertaken on London’s streets. The unlikely spectator sparked both fashion and sports websites alike to discuss lengthily which team she was supporting by analysing both the orange blouse- the colour of writing on the knicks uniforms- and her mid length red pleated skirt- the official colour of the Chicago bulls. Like young Brits wearing American sports team apparel, the colour connotations could be entirely irrelevant. Anna most likely picked the colours because she liked them and were fashionable, in the same way that hipsters choose the teams that they wear. 18 year old student and urban blogger Victor told us, “Its not about the team necessarily, its more about the colours. Where I come from fashion is big, so hats that will look good with each outfit is a must”. Although wearing clothing emblazoned with American sports teams is a trend which is seen to be popularised during the early to mid 1900s, its roots are planted much earlier.
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The idea for it began in 1865 at the famous Harvard university, when baseball players had begun playing inter-university matches. In order to display their pride at being able to play for their university team, players began to embroider the letter ‘H’ onto their grey flannel sports uniforms. The jerseys were distributed for match use, and were only allowed to be kept by the player when they had earned it by performing well, participating often and by proudly representing their Harvard team. The idea of sports team branding and publicising all stemmed from here, as other teams began to use the same idea, then other sports teams and now ‘team merchandise’ can be bought to support anything from high school performing arts clubs to outstanding college academia. Above everything else that people look for in their American sports team merchandise is Authenticity. The people asked had gone out of their way to ensure that the merchandise that they were buying was authentic, usually buying directly from a team’s online store. Official hats for example, are generally made by the brand ‘New Era’ and come with a large holographic sticker to prove its authenticity and is rarely removed. Being an avid snap back collector, Victor Ozuna also chooses to buy hats “from vintage stores, because the official merchandise stores don’t always have as much variety. I choose to wear all of my hats with the bottom of the brim grey, which we call the ‘Grey Brims’ “. Many baseball hats also have green brims, representing the grassy field used in the game; there is often also the choice between a classic ‘fitted’ cap and the ‘snap back’ cap, showing that even though the team itself may not be particularly significant when choosing a cap, there are many other factors which people still consider. The increasing popularity of hipsters and other fashionable young people adorning themselves with American sports team branding, has caused many new brands of very similar styles to arise. New brands such as ‘Obey’ and ‘Supreme’ have emerged, using similar branding to that of sports teams, using
mostly snap back hats and t-shirts with simple logos, and always incorporating an official ‘stamp’ of authenticity. The brands have built themselves strong brand images, and have remained exclusive by only selling their wares at ‘official’ stores, much like sports merchandise. With authentic American sportswear having to be mailed thousands of miles, with people often having a limited understanding of what is available, many young Londoners and other Europeans have taken to wearing these brands as a much more accessible alternative, turning the brands themselves into a trend in their own right. However why does this new group of people choose to wear this previously unorthodox trend? It could be argued that musicians are transcending
boundaries with the music which they make, by not necessarily conforming to clichés in terms of their personal style, thus contributing to removing stereotypes, particularly where African Americans are concerned. In such a poor European economic climate, wearing authentic merchandise from so far across the pond could be an attempt at portraying themselves as cultured and travelled- in a new age beatnik kind of way- mixing the expensive imported hat with vintage charity shop steals. Hipsters brandishing American sports team merchandise could also be rebelling against the stereotypical conforms of society- or they could just appreciate the colour and the cut, and in the words of many of the followers on the street, “just think that its ‘cool’“.
Polaroids by Francesca Ulanoff for Hercules Universal.
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TAKE TO THE S T R E E T S: A VISUAL JOURNAL
/ Photography by
FRANCESCA ULANOFF UNLESS OTHERWISE STATED
British Soldiers at The Battle of Fontenoy, 1745
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CLOCKWISE Public Enemy in LA Raiders hats, 1980s. Vintage varsity jacket and LA Raiders hat, Shorditch.
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CLOCKWISE Babe Ruth, NY Yankees baseball player, 1922. Girl preening boyfriend’s varsity jacket, 1946. An African American regiment proudly wearing their uniforms, 1918.
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Fashion brand SUPREME collaborate with professional sports equipment brand Rawlings. Hip Hop artists Kanye West and Pharrell Williams sit front row at Lanvin, 2010.
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Hats from KID ROBOT and LA Kings. Members of the Harvard baseball team who had earned their embroidered ‘H’, 1865. Anna Wintour sits front row at a basketball game at Madison square gardens, 2012.
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