STREETWEAR
STATUS
WORDS: HUNTER GADWELL AND MICHAEL CASEY PHOTO: RACHEL HITCHCOCK
We wear it to class, the grocery store and tailgates. We see it on rappers, models and reality show stars. It’s innovative, expressive and quite frankly, cool. It’s everywhere—a powerful force that has beat the test of time. It’s streetwear. While the origin of streetwear is still up for debate, it’s 30 VIM
believed to have gained mainstream popularity in California in the early 1980s. The social scene was dominated by skateboarders and surfers, influenced by the growing popularity of hiphop music, who longed for a style that expressed their individuality. Surfer Shawn Stüssy had an idea that, despite it’s simplicity, would
act as the catalyst to a fashion revolution. He began printing T-shirts with his surfboard’s logo in graffiti style and sold them from the back of his car. The shirts were limited in quantity, but there was no lack of people vying to get their hands on them. What started in a trunk ended in showrooms spanning from New York City to Paris. And
