The Fashion Swamp: How Hip-Hop Got Past the Velvet Rope
Divya's take on 'Fashion Killa' by Sowmya Krishamurthy
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The piece you’re reading now is by Divya Venkataraman. Divya is a writer, editor and presenter based in London. She writes across fashion, culture, travel and sustainability for publications like The Guardian, Harper’s Bazaar and more. Previously, she was an editor at Vogue Australia, GQ and Vogue Living, and also contributed regularly to Vogue Australia’s print editions. She has also been a regular contributor to the Sydney Morning Herald. Her work has appeared in publications such as British Vogue, The Australian and Meanjin.
Divya writes for News & Reviews Magazine each month. These are her last pieces, from the August, September, October, November, and December editions:
Sowmya Krishamurthy’s Fashion Killa: How Hip-Hop Revolutionized High Fashion takes a look behind the music of the genre into the style, the drugs and the icons.
Hip-hop began in the ‘70s when the Bronx was in tatters from crime, suffering from the aftermath of the white flight. ‘From these ashes,’ writes Krishnamurthy, ‘hip-hop rose with break-dancers and street gangs that were succeeded by rap crews that traded physical fighting for verbal sparring while maintaining the same element of competition.’ It was mostly centred around the Black American experience, but immigrant Puerto Rican and Caribbeans communities were also core to it. And it was, for the most part, excluded from mainstream fashion.
‘Hip-hop wasn’t always on the runway. Or even in the room. For most of its history, gatekeepers sequestered it behind the velvet rope. Hip-hop fashion was categorized as “urban,” which was essentially coded language for “Black,” and was not afforded the same respect as its white counterparts.’
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