Art, fashion and personal style all meet at the cross section called Streetwear. The term once carried a negative connotation in the fashion world but has since trickled its way on to the runway and is now very well respected. But what is the true meaning of this culture?

“Streetwear is a means for individuals to express themselves through various clothing styles, whether mainstream or not,” DVC’s Phillip Rebutazo said.

You can identify those who partake in this culture as people can be seen wearing hard to obtain clothing items such as t-shirts, pull-over jackets, hats, pants or sneakers released in limited quantities.

The front runners of the streetwear scene are currently Nike, Air Jordan, Adidas, Supreme, Off-White by Virgil Abloh, Noah, Gosha Rubchinskiy, Palace Skateboards and more.

While a portion of the scene is based around limited edition brand names, the culture exceeds obtaining hard to find clothes.

There are two sides to take into account when thinking of this culture. There are those who obtain these hard to buy/expensive items for a means of expression and passion for clothes, and those who profit from it.

The culture has created a market of consumers who resell limited edition clothing to those who look to obtain these fashion items.

For example, Supreme, a New York based skateboarding brand, opened their first store in 1994 selling boards, wheels, bearings, t-shirts and sneakers in their small shop on Lafayette Street. Shirts and hoodies with the box logo can be resold for up to five times the original price.  

Glenn O’ Brien, GQ’s long time “Style Guy” said in the “Supreme” book, “I noticed that it seemed to be more than a store; it had at least some qualities of a cult. The store would close for installation, just like an art gallery, and then reopen with new merchandise, just like a gallery.”

“But unlike a gallery, Supreme had long lines of customers waiting to get in, and they would even camp out overnight,” O’ Brien said. “Supreme spreads style, but it also spreads thought and information. Culture is its business. It’s a brand that practices the arts and living and playing.”

“These brands have good reason to be resold at such high amounts of money because it is almost like obtaining a rare work of art,” long time streetwear enthusiast Bryana Lew said. “Off-White definitely stands out to me the most right now. Virgil Abloh, the founder of Off-White, has such a simple aesthetic but makes a huge impact.”

Simplicity, care and creativity are core values of Virgil Abloh’s Off-White. Lew said, “For example, on the Off White X Warby Parker sunglasses. The case literally says ‘sunglasses case’ and the lens with wipe with ‘glasses wipe’ – I feel like simple things like that stand out to me the most because it makes you think like ‘why didn’t think of that?’”

Abloh’s Off-White collaboration with Nike will contain ten silhouettes that will be available in late November at select retailers around the world. Keep an eye out around campus to see if any students at DVC get their hands on them.