Hip Hop fashion originally came from African-American
, Latino and other cultures which were brought together in New York. There were a lot of other influences along the way which helped mould what we know today as hip hop fashion. There are a number of brands who have ventured into this market including names such as Nike, addidas etc and then followed items like bomber jackets, boots and sneakers.
When you think of hip hop fashion we are not just referring to the main clothing, a large part of what it is today is the accessories worn. Most artists wear sunglasses all the time and show of over sized chains and rings dipped in diamonds to show of wealth and prestige. In the 80's the chains usually resembled traditional African culture and as the 90's came in so did the baseball caps, neon clothing and I think we can all remember the legendary Kris Kross who actually wore their clothes backwards. This simply meant because it was a new genre there was a lot of room for creativity to come up with new trends.
The clothes wear always worn very loose and baggy however for woman this changed to a more fitting look and style. Many large brands like Chuck Taylors and Raiders promoted and put out many sneakers, baseball caps etc. There is a style that was created in the beginning of hip hop and still exists today which is the style of wearing pants low or "sagging" as it's called. This actually came from prisoners where belts were not allowed for obvious reasons and from poor urban areas where belts were not even affordable.
Hip hop as a culture began to interest many other major clothing brands as there was a large market and so in went names like DKNY, Supra, Calvin Klein etc who all created their clothes based on urban street wear. There was one brand who brought this fashion to mainstream and that was FUBU which stands for "For Us By Us". As time went on the focus changed on each item and still does, today there is a major focus on high-top sneakers and with brands now sponsoring artists to wear them the popularity will continue to grow.