Streetwear is more than fashion, it's a full-on social movement

South Africa is steeped in a unique cultural flavour nuanced by disparate subcultures and a vocal youth culture, making it the perfect breeding ground and backdrop for the growth of a strong streetwear movement that has come to dominate the local fashion industry. 

As the South African fashion industry has grown over the past few years, local menswear, and streetwear, in particular, has taken over.

From Sol-Sol to Young and Lazy, to Floyd Avenue, local streetwear brands have been propelled from the street to the runway, proving that streetwear is a palpable fashion force that reflects a certain individual attitude and authenticity that speaks to South African consumers.

From the likes of Sol-Sol, which has made its mark as a go-to streetwear brand that utilises bold statements emblazoned on outerwear to resonate with youth culture, to Floyd Avenue, which redefines streetwear with boundary-pushing silhouettes and an amalgamation of cultural references, or Watermelon Social Club, which combines signature streetwear pieces with local cultural references, the streetwear movement is a tide that shows no sign of slowing down.

"I've noticed that Africa has become the narrative and inspiration of our street culture. We now see a prevalence of Afro prints, colours and silhouettes," says Thato Matabane, designer of Afrikan Swiss, a brand that subverts streetwear with a combination of denim and African prints.

WHAT IS STREETWEAR?

When you think about it, what is streetwear? Does it have a certain aesthetic? Is it sportswear? Is it high street? How do you define it? Who are its purveyors and what is their streetwear language? What inspires it? Is it a trend or is it here to stay?

"I would define it as a movement of people showcased through apparel. There aren't any
strict rules and it is always changing and evolving according to the street narrative. Streetwear influences and anchors a lot of subcultures," says Floyd Avenue's designer, Floyd Manotoana.

A lack of rules is something that rings true to many designers. The designer of Watermelon Social Club, Sthembiso Mchunu, echoes this sentiment in saying: "streetwear is the absence of rules when it comes to clothes. It is rebelling against the traditions of clothing."

For Shaylene Morris, designer of Bi Parel, streetwear has artistic influence: "I define streetwear as an art movement. The art of expressing what you want the world to hear."

Speaking to South African designers, it is clear the definition of streetwear is manifold.

On the surface it's easy to say streetwear can simply be boiled down to a casual aesthetic that consists of sneakers, sweatshirts, T-shirts, tracksuit pants with printed graphics and logos.

But if you look closely, streetwear is the merging of fashion and culture, making it a social movement that can take on new faces and shapes across space and time.

ROOTED IN SUBCULTURE

The emergence of streetwear as a fashion force is often pinned to the rise of brands such as Stüssy, A Bathing Ape and Supreme. And what do all these brands have in common? They were all influenced by a subculture, be it surf, hip-hop, punk or skate culture, and they each had their following, unified by their culture and clothing.

Stüssy, a surfboard-cum-T-shirt brand from California from the mid '80s, planted the streetwear seed, with a collection of graphic T-shirts influenced by luxury fashion, as seen with the Stüssy logo with interlocking Ss - in the same vein as Chanel's interlocking Cs.

In the early '90s, A Bathing Ape - later known as Bape, followed suit as a Japan-born streetwear brand rooted in Japanese indie hip-hop and became known for their ape logo and camo-printed hoodies and T-shirts.

Supreme, the New York skate brand, also flourished during this period and has since come to rule the streetwear industry.

BLURRED LINES

When the fashion system was more black and white, and less democratised, streetwear was its antithesis. It was the opposite of luxury - a realm of fashion so many were left out of - and it gave these consumers, a medium of sartorial expression, and a means to say something different in a monolithic fashion system.

Designers such as Virgil Abloh prove that streetwear has morphed into a fashion hybrid that transcends its own traditional connotations. Abloh's own brand, Off-White, is a testament to how much streetwear has evolved.

Off-White is a luxury streetwear brand that has not only captured the attention of streetwear enthusiasts and fashion-industry gatekeepers alike, with its luxe pieces that combine streetwear sensibilites and ironic typography, it has also solidified a place for streetwear on the runway at Milan Fashion Week.

"It's a sort of camaraderie, it's a collective, it's a community ... It's a collective consciousness. We're a world of young people, no longer just a niche culture", said Abloh in conversation with street-culture commentator Hypebeast.

The line between luxury and streetwear has become increasingly blurred. In 2018 it's hard to say where one begins and the other ends.

With Off-White bringing the two worlds closer together, and brands such as Supreme crossing over into the luxury sphere with a sell-out collection with French hertiage house, Louis Vuitton, it's clear that streetwear isn't just a trend, it's a movement.

Streetwear no longer exists on the periphery of fashion. It has become a fully integrated part of the whole that stands on its own as a thriving industry in its own right, while also existing as a constant movement that ripples through the fashion sphere at all levels and across locales.