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Haute- couture: (n.) (the business of making) expensive clothes of original design and high quality

''“Fashion is not something that exists in dresses only. Fashion is in the sky, in the street, fashion has to do with ideas, the way we live, what is happening”''. In one way or another, the term of fashion embodies the idea of an artistic movement which is placed in a constant development. As Coco Chanel’s quote suggests above, the main inspiration of fashion stands in our surroundings – from the simplicity of nature to the complexity of human mind. Through the years, many great names left their footprints on the fashion industry such as Chanel, Gucci, Balenciaga, Versace and the list could go on. However, the creation of these fashion designers not only cause a huge impact on the society, but also influenced the fashion style of mankind. Thus, it all lead to the appearance of various styles, one of them being the Street Fashion – the main focus of this paper.

Street Fashion is a derivation from the original fashion creations; a personal adaptation of the main artistic visions imposed by the big names of the fashion industry. It has mainly been inspired by the urban areas – the daily ordinary surroundings – and by the youth culture (for instance, the industry of hip hop music). From another point of view, according to “Fashion Theory: The Journal of Dress, Body & Culture”, the concept of street style encounters a “paradoxical situation”, because it was initially approached as a movement against the high street clothing – instead it is also a part of it. For example, the constant vogue of Supreme, Off-White, Champion and other street wear brands. Therefore, should Street Fashion be considered a form of high fashion?

The final result of a piece of clothing lays in the note of originality and creativity of each designer. Nowadays, the street wear industry is developing more and more by approaching the main runways and big fashion houses with a twist – it is changing the main rules of fashion. Thus, Street Fashion should be considered a form of haute-couture and not only because of the high price, but rather because of its various designs which reflect important aspects of people’s lives. This article aims to explore the haute-couture side of street wear through a series of three solid arguments which reflect different aspects related to this fashion style. There will be discussed on large the concept of street wear, the connection between the original and the actual form of high-fashion and the role of urban areas in the fashion industry.

1. The Concept of Street Wear
Street Fashion represents a particular type of style which could vary from one extreme to another: from the simple casual look to the one which could be described as a combination of multiple trends. For instance, the approaches of the “Dad Sneakers” trend. Inspired by the retro aesthetic of 70’ and 80’, it is suggested that the “ugliness” of the shoe is the main factor which makes it so special and likable. In addition, taking the Balenciaga Sneakers as an example, the brand succeeded in giving a twist to the styling of an ordinary outfit, especially for women, by putting them together with a dress or a shirt, instead of a predictable pair of trousers. The “Ugly Sneakers” trend highlights the concept of femininity from a different perspective; it introduces an element of the street culture into the houses of the original “haute-couture”.

From another point of view, the concept of Street wear dates back a long time ago – it is considered that it has always been present in the Fashion Industry, especially after the end of the World War II. In spite of the fact that the street wear movement was determined by men, a lot of its elements were included in the fashion industry by a high fashion brand; to be more specific, by a woman – Coco Chanel. Along with the appearance of the “ugly sneakers” trend, the “tom-boy” fashion for women also showed up. From borrowing her boyfriend’s suits up to realizing “The Little Black Dress”, Coco Chanel succeeded in introducing the female population into the culture of Street Fashion by designing trousers for women and bringing up the jersey into the daily outfits of a woman. Erin Magee is one of the few women designers who include the female population into the culture of street wear. There are many Street Fashion brands – led mainly by men – which address both women and men, but, to quote a phrase from an article from “Garage. Vice” : “but what about clothing that’s designed by women, for women?” There’s more said in the article – Erin Magee’s career begun as a freelancer business, creating her own brand called “Made Me”. As a result of the quality of the products and the appealing price, the brand was brought to bigger stores such as Dover Street Market New York and Opening Ceremony. Currently, Erin Magee works at the Supreme, an American street wear brand. And she always tries to bring something new by empathizing with the world around her: “All I think about when I do my stuff is, what is this cute, cool real girl, who’s a New York City girl, what is she wearing? What does she want to wear? Who is she? What does she act like?”. In other words, looking from a “marketing” point of view, the street wear phenomenon encourages the idea of freedomTashjian, Rachel. 2018. "These Women Are Shaping the Future of Female Streetwear." Garage.Vice. September 4. Accessed January 20, 2019. https://garage.vice.com/en_us/article/3kyj53/female-streetwear-designers. and power. Both men and women approach this particular style in order to highlight the idea of a strong self-esteem and dominant attitude. As it was mentioned before, the Street Fashion came as a result of the hip-hop culture (“synonymous with hip-hop and skateboarding” – which is extremely known for its music that embodies a brutal honesty about life and society. Therefore, people have the tendency to go for the street wear, because it “seems” more real and transparent. In addition, according to an article from “The Guardian”, the street wear is a tendency which will never fade as a result of its constant development and its collaborations with other brands (for example the collaboration between Louis Vuitton and Off-White). Moreover, even though it is considered that the majority of the street wear to be expensive, it is still recognized as one of the most affordable industry of fashion.   As described, this fashion style is retrieved in any aspect of life (to emphasize Coco Chanel’s words from the beginning of the paper) – especially as a source of inspiration for the “haute-couture” culture.

2. The Connection Between Fashion Styles
As it was suggested by the arguments mentioned above, there are plenty of reasons why street wear became so popular. From creativeness and its origins from the streets to its comfort. To quote one paragraph from the article about Erin Magee: “Street wear, if we can define it, is not just about the clothes, it’s about your world—the bands you like, the magazines you read—and dressing for it. It’s clothing that’s designed for doing stuff: skating or wandering around all day with friends or deciding at the last minute to go to the beach—or whatever—but with tweaks that make it something beyond performance-wear”. Therefore, street wear is about being fashionable in a more dynamic way and hence so many big well-known brands have the tendency to embrace it more and more.

It can be agreed that one of the greatest moments of the street wear phenomenon was determined by Virgil Abloh being named an executive creative director for Louis Vuitton. "It is an honour for me to accept the position of Men’s Artistic Director for Louis Vuitton. I find the heritage and creative integrity of the House are key inspirations and will look to reference them both while drawing parallels to modern times”.

Louis Vuitton is a French fashion house and luxury retail company founded in 1854 – considered to be one of the most valuable brands in the entire world (#15 Louis Vuitton 2016). Naming Virgil Abloh, the chief executive officer of Off-White – his own fashion house –, as a creative director of Men’s section of Louis Vuitton had a huge impact over the fashion industry because it illustrated an apposition between two major fashion styles (hip-hop and classic), a collaboration between two distinct clothing aesthetics.

Off-White is a street wear brand which is prone to become the first luxury street wear brand due to Virgil Abloh’s collaborations and creative approaches over the elements of the fashion industry. Inspired by his teenage years and life on the street, Off-White began to grow as a brand in a very short time, Virgil affirming that his brand “started on the alleys of the internet”, meaning that social media had a huge impact over his career as a designer. Even though there are many street wear brands and there are surely more to come, what makes Off-White different from the rest is the main purpose of the fashion house and that would be “Saving Luxury with T-shirts”. Known for his horizontal line print, Off-White’s vision took over the main runways of the fashion industry, proposing a fresh adaptation of already existing trends and bringing back some elements from the past. For instance, in one of his interviews for New York Times, he presents a modern version of Princess Diana’s wedding dress, explaining that his designs embody the idea of “COUTURE MEETS STREET”Italic text. His respects and appreciation for Princess Diana is reflected through many designs of his. Moreover, as it is mentioned above, Virgil Abloh is another fashion designer who sees femininity from a different perspective by introducing elements of menswear into the wardrobe of a woman – “the dickies pants”. Not only his dynamic approach over the fashion industry is the one who helped Virgil Abloh into growing his brand, but also the way he considers fashion as a work of art. Apart from the horizontal line print, Off-White is also known for the motif of the quotation marks. For example, one of its collection include a bag on which was written “sculpture” and a pair of boots on which was written “For Walking”. In this way, he emphasizes the idea that there is no difference between a work of art and a piece of clothing – both of them mean the same thing. In the same interview with The Guardian, it was highlighted his poetic personality – “He’s even called Virgil, like the poet” – especially when he explained the name of the brand: “Off-White is not black or white, it’s a conundrum. It’s not a colour. But it is a colour.” He pauses. “If you sit with me for a day, that’s how I talk”. From another point of view, there is also a negative effect of the phenomenon of the street wear era and that would be the issue of showing off – mostly described as “flexing”. As it was explained in the first argument, one of the purposes of Street Fashion is to rise self-esteem and encourage the idea of freedom and confidence, sometimes the message of street wear is misunderstood and goes over the limit. For example, the new on the market trap singers from Romania whose songs are mostly about owning a piece of clothing from a high fashion brand such as Gucci, Yeezy, Off-White and the list could go on. Of course, there are a lot of rap singers around the world as well who introduce themselves as an owner of a fancy car or a big amount of money and due to this factors, the real image of a brand could suffer. However, it is still discussed whether “flexing” is a good thing or not. Along with the street wear culture, there also showed up the hype culture (hybeasts) which is formed of people who are constantly supporting and following Street Fashion trends. According to an article from The Tower, “the art of flexing” is also perceived as a method of showing appreciation and paying respect to a favorite celebrity. For example, they would pay a great amount of money to wear the same clothes their idols do.

3. The Streets - the best setting for Fashion Photography
The street life represents a major source of inspiration for the street wear style, from the stories of a neighborhood up to the details of the details of the buildings and their color. As a result, because of the various designs and events such as Fashion Weeks, the street became also a perfect spot for Fashion Photography – it became the runways itself. At Fashion Shows, there are people who dress in an outstanding way and love to be photographed in an urban setting – for example, for New York Fashion Week there are many photos taken on the street of celebrities, designers, models, bloggers and even ordinary people.

However, the case of street photography rises another problem and that would be issue of “attention-seeking”. Sometimes street photography promotes out of the ordinary looks which have the tendency to be misunderstood, but on the other hand, it should not be forgotten that one of the main roles of fashion is to be fun.

Bill Cunningham was a great fashion photographer who worked for The New York Times and who introduced the concept of street photography in the media, known as the photographer “who made fashion fun”. Called the “the grandfather of street-style photography”, he was a simple man who surprised a lot of relevant details of the street through his photos, including people and places. He was hard not to notice at the Fashion Shows (due to his blue worker jacket and his bicycle) and his death affect a lot of people who admired his work, including the fashion industry. For instance, the editor in chief of VOGUE, Anna Wintour, stated that “We all get dressed for Bill”, along with Rihanna and Gigi Hadid who posted on social media: “We gon’ miss you in dese streets!!!”. Even though Cunningham has died at the age of 87, his legacy was alive since a lot of time because he was one of the many who perceived street’s settings as a work of art. To quote his words: “the best fashion is on the street – always has been, always will be.”

4. Conclusions
Concluding, Street Fashion should be considered haute-couture with a twist and not only for its collaborations with high fashion labels, but also because of its source of inspiration which comes from the day to day life. Streetwear brings a new perspective towards femininity, elegance and attention to the detail.