How Streetwear Transformed the Luxury Industry Streetwear has left it’s home court on the street and transcended into the catwalks of the world’s biggest cities, all while reshaping the luxury fashion industry as we know it.
The rise of streetwear has seen enormous growth in recent years. From season to season, it has become clear that streetwear has transcended the sidewalks and entered its new home on the c atwalks. Designers like Balenciaga, Louis Vuitton, Gucci, and Raf Simons have begun to show street inspired pieces on high fashion runways, which has in turn boosted sales as well as popularity for the varying brands. So how did something once only seen on the streets rise up to help revitalize a trillion-dollar industry? Designers are known to draw inspiration from varying places, but it is clear that fashion’s new home court for inspiration has become streetwear. We’ve seen it at Gucci, Balenciaga (now run by Demna Gvasalia,) Off White (whose partnerships with Nike, Jimmy Choo, and Ikea have let head designer Virgil Abloh mix high low in never before done ways,) and Louis Vutton (whose recent Supreme collaboration now resells for up to $25,000.) These designers who have used street inspiration have seen a growth beyond sales, but in popularity, which is been the most obvious through social media. Those designers who have opted out of the hype (but really which have?) have fallen short in lust from consumers. With Gen Z said to be 45% of the luxury market by 2020, shoppers are craving for more than just fashion, they want the new luxury. The public has seen a new relevance to brands like Gucci from Alessandro Michele, Balenciaga from Demna Gvasalia, Burberry from partnerships with Gosha Rubchinskiy, and Tommy Hilfiger from its Vetements partnership (and less notably their collaboration with model Gigi Hadid.) The response from designers who have reshaped the landscape has been positive, proving that this ultimate high low mesh is here to stay. The answer to how streetwear has reshaped luxury is simple, it has made it inaccessibly, accessible. Familiar brands have found new placement in the arms of major fashion houses, creating an allure of accessibility that trickles down on the street. Are designers showing ugly dad shoes? Become a part of the trend with vintage New Balance sneakers. Did Louis Vuitton partner with Supreme? Go online and purchase a Supreme t-shirt. The accessibility customers have to become apart of the conversation has proven much easier due to this merging. However, in reality, the majority of these collaborations are rare, which adds to the interest surrounding them. The fact that you can still be apart of the “high” or “low” brand in question, however, gives customers the power to curate their own style. With the luxury market seeing a growth from streetwear, it’s interesting to see how this affiliation will shape and grow through time. But if past seasons of luxury are any indication of the future, you’ll be sure to see them on the street.
Calling Streetwear What it is Today’s luxury market has embraced streetwear as beyond just a trend, so why can’t the fashion industry call it is- just fashion?
The lights are blaring, the music is pumping, and models emerge on the catwalk as disciples of a fashion cathedral. For the outside world, this holy place was once thought of as where fashion solely lives and breathes, but if you look outside your window, it has taken new residence here on the street. Today’s market has strayed away from the restrictions of binding Chanel tweed suits, and embraced a new fashion vocabulary- streetwear. The ultimate “high low” mix, streetwear has transcended the sidewalks and embraced a new home on the catwalk, once seen as the only home for high fashion. Streetwear’s influence as well as collaborations have now been seen at the world’s largest brands; from Louis Vuitton to Balenciaga. When ready to wear launched in the 1960s, it was embraced as a new way of living, which is what streetwear has demonstrated thus far. So if this style has escaped being a trend, why isn’t it considered just fashion? Streetwear’s start cannot be spoken of without the mention of Shawn Stüssy. Founder of the now seminal brand Stüssy, Shawn Stüssy started on the streets of California founding a line that merged skateboarding, punk, and surfboarding to create a way of dressing that was influential as well as accessible to a generation that was beginning to stray from typical style norms. This wave spawned through the US to enter Tokyo (home to A Bathing Ape,) and New York City, (home of the world’s most “hyped” brand Supreme.) It was also seen with Chanel’s introduction into street with the motorcycle jacket, leather boots, and chunky sneaker. The seduction of streetwear came in it’s accessibility, as well as its effortless cool factor- people could look cool with thousands of dollars or mere cents. As streetwear transformed, we saw a heavy submergence of it in the 2010s. Casual dressing had reigned Supreme (pun intended) and the market was continuing to respond to brand’s they could use for “high low” looks. However, in the past five years, streetwear has done something no one saw coming- it became luxury. When thinking of the most important luxury street moment, one must examine the collaboration of Supreme and Louis Vuitton. Vuitton is one of the most important, historical luxury houses in the world, so why would it choose to partner with Supreme? For starters, the craze and demand for Supreme in the market place has sky rocketed in recent years, placing it at the center of the universe in the world of street. T-shirts and other ready to wear items sell for retail at about $50-$100 (give or take the season, category and design) but can resale for hundreds to sometimes thousands of dollars. What Supreme has tapped into however, is priceless, for they have merged standard luxury fashion with the typical. When Vuitton chose to partner with Supreme, their pieces began to resell for upwards of $25,000. This collaboration was the ultimate high low placing seen in fashion in the last decade, and it appears to only be the beginning. What Supreme, as well as other brands like Off White and Vetements, have done for fashion is simple; they’ve allowed luxury to remain relevant. In past seasons, there have been big differences in the scope of what is luxury and what is fashion, with attention to only one category becoming mundane and overdone. The merging of the two, however, has allowed for a whole new space in the market for consumers to make their own. Streetwear has proven its place in the industry, and has even begun to support and curate a new space in the luxury market. Designers of street have taken over mega brands- take Demna Gvaslia (Balenciaga,) Alexander Wang (formerly of Balenciaga,) and Raf Simons (formerly of Dior,) yet their worth to the industry as just “streetwear Gods” is still questioned. If pioneers like Virgil Abloh of Off White and Gosha Rubchinskiy (who recently collaborated with Burberry) of his namesake label are rearranging the fashion landscape, and customers have taken to this way of dressing in enormous tides, why isn’t streetwear just fashion?
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