Exploring the Impact of Urban Culture on Fashion

Urban culture refers to any patterns, behaviors, or habits specific to towns, cities, and the people who live in them. It emerged with the creation of cities and megalopolises. The more people moved to these cities, the larger these megalopolises grew. This, in turn, helped urban culture grow and develop.

Urban culture was soon shaped and enriched by the lives, lifestyles, and preferences of city-people. In countries where there are a lot of foreigners and expats, urban culture has come to reflect the diversity and variety of cultures that can be found there.

It varies from city to city. For example, Los Angeles’ urban culture is different from the one in London or in Rio de Janeiro. In other words, urban culture is not static. It is a changing and moving culture that is constantly reinvented by people with different urban lifestyles.

The power and influence of urban culture(s) is undeniable. It permeates other industries and sectors and has become a source of inspiration for many industries and picked up by many creatives.

One, if not the industry that is most impacted by it, is fashion. Urban culture and fashion are so interlinked that they are often considered to be synonymous.

This article will explore how urban culture has impacted and continues to impact the fashion industry.

Urban culture and fashion: a historical overview

Urban culture has been around since modern cities exist. The earliest records of urban culture’s impact on fashion date back from the 1900s. Those who lived in urban regions usually changed their fashion style to move comfortably through cities.

Urban fashion has obviously changed over time. It changed as social norms and conventions changed. Nowadays, most people associate urban fashion with streetwear or athleisure. Streetwear appeared in the ‘90s and was largely inspired by New York hip-hop and Californian surfing cultures. Due to New Yorks hip-hop scene being so popular at the time, this fashion statement made headlines and went global.

Fashion experts refer to streetwear as a cultural phenomenon and not a trend.

Urban culture and recent fashion trends

Here are some modern urban culture fashion trends. These are perfect clothing items to recreate a streetwear look.

• Stacked jeans

Finding the best stacked jeans will help any aspiring ‘streetwearer’ create the ideal urban look. These trendy jeans are usually worn by musicians such as rappers and lead singers of popular bands.

• Hoodies

Hoodies and stacked jeans form one of the most common pairings in urban fashion. Both are extremely trendy and go well together.

Urban culture fashion icons

Here are some of the celebrities who have fully embraced streetwear and urban fashion:

• A$AP Rocky
• Bella Hadid
• Gigi Hadid
• Timothée Chalamet
• Rihanna
• Zendaya

Men looking for urban outfit ideas should look at A$AP Rocky’s incredible looks. The rapper knows how to combine colors and textures to create the perfect urban style.

Women looking for inspiration can look at Rihanna’s outfits. She has some of the best streetwear looks in the fashion world.

Her outfits are also pretty easy to recreate without needing to spend thousands of dollars. These are perfect for individuals with smaller budgets who still want to be trendy.

Will urban culture always influence fashion?

Urban culture has influenced fashion since the 1900s. Unless megalopolises suddenly disappear, which is highly unlikely, urban fashion will stick around.

Individuals will continue to influence and be influenced by urban culture. This influence will be reflected in their fashion choices.

Their fashion choices will, in turn, influence and inspire other city-people around them. This leads to the creation of fashion trends.

Final thoughts

Urban Culture made a mark on the fashion industry and has stayed as one of the top fashion trends since the 90’s. This is due to reoccurring fashion trends and fashion icons reliving the best decade. It is one style that is here to stay and will be relevant for the foreseeable future.