The Current State of Female Dress

Beyoncé Knowle’s House of Deréon, Gwen Stefani’s L.A.M.B, Jennifer Lopez’s J.Lo and Kimora Lee-Simmon’s Baby Phat lines are all clothing companies that have contemporarily dictated the fashions, styles, and dress of the American hip-hop female. Their lines are giving the female hip-hop community a more feminine, sexualized, and sometimes overtly provocative image--most abundantly through the video vixen. These “video models,” if you will, are presented as over sexualized bodies in hip-hop cinema and music videos. Through the styles of the previously mentioned celebrity brands these models have a significant influence on trends for females in the hip-hop community. In the 1980’s, even though they didn’t have their own clothing lines, female rappers such as Salt-n-Peppa, Queen Latifah, and Monie Love presented hip-hop culture with their own take on style and dress. They wore large letterman jackets, body suits, flat boots, gold twisted chains, and African inspired hats all in vibrant colors. And, even if they look somewhat silly to contemporary eyes, the style was definitive and significant to the black female image—in a positive way. The video girls appear to have taken the mic from female rappers and hip-hop artists when dress and style are concerned. Arguably the only celebrity female rapper who has ventured into fashion would be Eve with her Fetish clothing line launched in 2003. And even Fetish has had problems with the collaboration between Eve and the INNOVO Group, which produces and distributes the celebrity’s clothing brand.

Born out of a predominately male youth culture, it is no surprise that hip-hop’s dress and style was exceedingly rooted in the masculine. Now, instead of relying on the appropriation of established brands artists have become successful enough to start their own labels for the culture. Sean “P.Diddy” Combs and Sean “Jay-Z” Carter are two artists who are dominant players in the fashion and style game of hip-hop culture. In 1976, the street style of the Bronx evolved out of necessity rather than complete excess. B-Boys and Fly-girls wore clothing that complimented their gymnastic-like dance moves requiring floor work like head spins and flips. In the early 1980’s their aesthetic became both practical and casual, with the emergence of major label brands such as: Adidas--for its vividly colored track suits, Cross Colors’ multi-colored denim suits, Pelle- Pelle, Marithé Francois Girbaud both epitomizing the baggy denim ensembles worn by hip-hoppers. Instead of the female artists directly influencing the way female hip-hop fans dress, labels and video vixen are becoming the standards. However, with the 60's mod style of dress becoming more and more trendy, one can only hope that tight spandex leggings begin to morph into full on figure hugging body suits.

Black Bar Behavior

Within the last few years, hip-hop has taken a hell of a beating on college campuses and towns from bar and club owners attempting to censor true hip hop dress and culture by establishing dress codes and allocating hip- hop one night of recognition. Owners claim their efforts are implemented to increase safety in these public places and to cut crime. However, most bars have specifically prohibited long or over sized garments, including: large hooded jackets, baggy denim, sports jerseys, baseball caps, and shades. The security measures seem to single out black males—the main group of individuals who commonly wear these types of clothing. These types of dress are too indicative of the aggressive black male stereotype continually perpetuated in the media, largely through music videos and news stories. So, it seems the censorship of hip hop in this context is an attempt to control the racial composition of bar and club crowds alluding to age old stereotypes about black groups and their behavior. Large gatherings of black have long been an issue for American society since the beginning of slavery, and hundreds of years later, the hip-hop culture is experiencing its remnants. Both urban and hip-hop dress and rap/hip hop music is largely associated with black audiences. By using safety codes to marginalize groups it seems these establishments are practicing underhanded form of deliberate racism that has gone unchallenged. The cultural range at most bars continues to remain stagnant as most races and ethnicities decide to socialize in segregated groups. And with the music selection and availability in bars and night clubs greatly influencing its dominant patron(races),we can most likely count on maintaining a largely segregated college nightlife—at least for the majority of the week.

The Tall T and Black Masculinity

Since Andre 3000 of Outcast made his appearance on DJ Unk’s Walk it Out remix and suggested that hip- hop’s dressers edit the proportions of their t -shirts (tall t’s), a surprisingly large number of hip-hoppers have taken heed to the influential rapper and nationally recognized style icon. Although André may have a valid point when he states that the hip- hop version of the t-shirt appears more appropriate to sleepwear, I would like to discuss the stigma that is associated with culturally appropriated style in American society and more specifically in American popular culture.

The excerpt from André’s verses on the Walk it Out Remix pertaining to the tall t follows as such:

Your white tee well to me looks like a nightgown
Make ya momma proud take that thing two sizes down
Then you like the the man that you are or what you could be

André 3000, “Walk it Out (Remix)”

André criticizes the tall tee for being over sized and personally reminding him of sleepwear, which immediately removes any sense of originality or style from the hip- hop version of the American classic. He addresses the notion of the tall tee as directly offensive to black social and familial values by referring to black maternal appreciation of dress and appearance. Most significantly, 3000 associates the tall tee with masculinity, or a minimum version of it. He proposes that, the over sized tall t is indicative of a certain type of masculine appearance that he finds negatively connected with hip hop’s version. Ironically, the hip hop version of the American iconic white t-shirt appropriates black and urban notions of masculinity, style and expression. Over sized white tee shirts and baggier jeans are staples indicative of black dress and expression, which can be traced back to the zoot suit and funk styles. The fact that there seems to be negative ideas associated with hip hop’s version seems hypocritical and racist. The white t-shirt is both an American icon and a symbol of American masculinity—what casual American male dress is supposed to look like. And, a simple variation on design should not offend its definition of status. Throughout the decades, there have been variations on the white t-shirt including the A-shirt or commonly referred to as “wife beater,” which photographer Herb Ritts and then young actor Richard Gere made popular in Ritts’ famous photo of Gere wearing an A-shirt and denim jeans in front of a gas station in 1978. Also, photographs of James Dean, another American male icon, on the set of Rebel Without a Cause, wearing the American fitted version in 1955, denotes the American masculine ideology of bravado and sex appeal. These photographs presented to American popular culture more than just an image of celebrity, but they gave young American males an ideological version of hyper-masculinity. Even contemporary takes on the white t-shirt have presented variations such as the plunging v-neck and the more tailored fitting versions made increasingly available in all most every clothing market. Interestingly, the aforementioned variations of the shirt have not garnered a largely negative reception from American popular culture.

It seems hip hop has followed in the footsteps of cultural appropriation by creating the white t-shirt on its own terms by making the t-shirt larger and longer. However, there seems to be notions of masculinity that the tall tee presents to popular culture that is both unsettling and unacceptable. However, André 3000 appears to be presenting hip-hop (through his actions and his words) with a fresher image of black masculinity--one that is articulate, sophisticated, respectful and attentive to the stigma that accompanies current black male stereotypes.