20 Years of Hip-Hop Fashion: 1994-2014
As with anything, fashion is always evolving toward bigger and (sometimes) better things. In the fast-paced world of hip-hop that phenomenon is pretty much multiplied to the 10th degree. Each generation has an era-defining style moment, whether it’s the rise of “bling-bling” in the early 2000s, the even earlier “Tommy-Hil-ice-rocking” movement in the mid-’90s, or the current Hood By Air trend that can be seen on A$AP Mob or Kendrick Lamar. Let’s take a walk through hip-hop history to revisit the biggest style trends over the past 20 years, starting with 1994 and ending in 2014. The throwback nostalgia may get a little too real for you, but try not to resurrect the ski goggle steez. Let’s keep that in 1998 for now.
1994: COOGI Sweaters
To start things off, 1994 was definitely a peak year for hip-hop. On top of getting debut albums from Nas, Method Man and The Notorious B.I.G., the latter of the three also ushered in a new era of fly guys that cared just as much about their gear as their bars on wax. For Biggie, though, COOGI sweaters were his thing, rapping about the Australian knitwear on classics cuts like "One More Chance (Stay With Me Remix)" and "Big Poppa.” By immortalizing his style on his records, Biggie Smalls has kept COOGI still relevant today.
1995: Vintage Ralph Lauren (“Lo Gear”)
Polo Ralph Lauren is one of the longest lasting brands in the history of American fashion, consistently captivating style seekers with its premium quality apparel. However, there was something about the now-vintage Polo gear from the ’80s and ’90s that resonated with urban cool kids back in 1995. The appropriately nicknamed “Lo Gear” consisted of windbreakers, five panel caps and Polo-branded clothing that had bold prints and an even bolder red and blue color scheme. Do a quick Google search for the Lo-Life Crew to see just how hard this style movement went.
1996: Tommy Hilfiger Gear
Looking back now, 1996 was a bit of a peak year for Tommy Hilfiger. Not only were some of our favorite artists, including Usher, Aaliyah, and Snoop Dogg, rocking the classic box logo, but the entire red, white, blue, and yellow color pattern also represented youth in America for a definitive period of time. Back then, anyone with even a slight sense of style was on the Tommy Jeans wave, and it’s even going through a bit of a resurrection right now with the current ’90s revival movement.
1997: Versace Shades
1997 proved to be a monumental year for The Notorious B.I.G. and the Versace brand. How do these two intersect, you ask? Biggie can be credited for bringing Versace’s high-end stunner frames to hip-hop culture. One glance at the “Hypnotized” video shows just how influential Big Poppa was with his Versace shades steez as he cruised through the Florida Keys with Puffy. The bold frames, gold emblem at the hinge, and dark lenses made them the perfect accessory for a low-key rapper like Biggie.
1998: Ski Goggles
The irony about the ski goggle trend in the ’90s is that most people who rocked them didn’t even hit the slopes. Peep DMX in the video for LL Cool J’s Phenomenon album single "4, 3, 2, 1” to see what we mean. We can almost guarantee that X has never been on a pair of skis or a snowboard in his life, yet he looked pretty comfortable in a pair of oversized goggles that always rested slanted on the top of the dome. In all honesty, someone might want to bring these back when Coachella swings back around next year. Those sandstorms are no joke!
1999: Avirex Jackets
A fly leather jacket was an essential piece to your wardrobe back in the day, especially if you were hitting the stage at The Tunnel on a regular basis. Avirex became the brand you had to have after they became popular for the premium quality and sturdy build. These jackets had a good weight to them, so you knew they would last you a good amount of time. Nas and Mobb Deep were just a few of the emcees who brought attention to the brand, and Prodigy even dropped a quick freestyle dedicated to the Avirex jacket trend.
2000: Throwback Jerseys
Take a look at a few photos from the year 2000, and there’s almost no denying that every rapper killing the game during that year was rocking a throwback jersey at some point. Whether it was Jay Z chilling in the Hamptons with Aaliyah in a Number 15 Warriors jersey or Snoop unapologetically donning a diamond-encrusted Lakers jersey, there was no avoiding the trend. Everyone swagged it out with a bit of individuality — a few rappers even opted to wear their jerseys backwards — but it definitely had to fit baggy.
2001: Velour Tracksuits
Velour tracksuits definitely had a good run in the early 2000s. Maybe it was the velvety comfort that made the oversized pantsuit a go-to outfit, but everyone was sweating to throw one of these on. Popular brands that sold them included Diddy’s Sean John, Russell Simmons’s Phat Farm, and Jay Z’s Rocawear, among others. Nas even threw one on for the cover of his 2001 Stillmatic album, proving yet again why he is now and forever will be “The Flyest.”
2002: Evisu
Back when we were just getting introduced to the joys of Japanese denim here in the States, Evisu was running things with their quality stitching and hard to miss design on the back pocket. Once Jay dropped that line, “These ain't Diesel. These is Evisu!” on his 2002 track “Show You How,” it was pretty clear what the new trend in hip-hop was about to be. That only opened the door for people like Jeezy with "Bury me a G” and T.I. with “ASAP” to name-drop the pricey denim line on their own songs.
2003: Trucker Hats
We’ll throw this trend all the way to Pharrell Williams, who was pretty much sitting at rap’s pinnacle in 2003 with his game-changing instrumentals. ‘Rell was on his skater steez for a good portion of this decade, usually rocking a Billionaire Boys Club tee and a dope trucker hat. He may not have started the trend — we’ll give that credit to Ashton Kutcher or an actual truck driver — but nobody was flyer than Skateboy P when he had one on.
2004: Baggy White T-shirts
Let’s not front like we all weren’t leaning and rocking to “White Tee” when Dem Franchise Boyz dropped the track in the summer of 2004. The white tee movement started way before this song was released, and continued way past the lifespan of the group’s success, but there was a moment in 2004 where it had an abnormal peak. Some kept them plain while others went the airbrush route. All we know is that for a good minute, hip-hop culture was obsessed with rocking XXL T-shirts that went past your knee caps.
2005: Grillz
Who would have thought that Nelly could hit number one on the Billboard Hot 100 by rapping about the perks of having an iced out grill? Jermaine Dupri wasn’t lying when he said they were about to start an epidemic with the grillz movement because sure enough, it caught on in a pretty big way. Grillz were pretty prevalent all over, but Southern emcees were really the ones to put them on the map. Along with Nelly, guys like Paul Wall and Slim Thug were showcasing an immaculate grill game. Gleaming for sure.
2006: BAPE
A Bathing Ape has been a part of hip-hop culture since Biggie was still rocking the mic, but the brand’s camo-centric style definitely had a peak period during the mid-2000s. Once Pharrell and NIGO became besties out of the blue, everyone wanted to rock Bapestas and full zip shark hoodies. Things only reached higher heights once Kanye West incorporated the brand into his daily style. Years later, both rappers would model for the BAPE Winter 2008 lookbook, which further strengthened the tight relationship between hip-hop and fashion.
2007: Shutter Shades
Kanye West was in another world, and an eclectic world at that, around the time he released the 2007 masterpiece Graduation. Everything was on point during that year from the singles to the style. Out of all the fashionable things he was doing, those throwback shutter shades from the ‘80s that he rocked for the better half of 2007 really gave the look a serious comeback. Eventually, they became a worldwide trend that ultimately got a little too oversaturated. Still, it was a pretty cool thing to rock for the time being.
2008: Skinny Jeans
At some point in hip-hop history, rappers started ditching the baggy jeans for a slimmer fit below the belt. The skinny jeans era was a direct result of hip-hop shifting to a younger audience. Most of the guys behind the mic weren’t that much older than the high school kids they were selling records to, and that ultimately affected the style as well. Even though he didn’t officially drop until the following year, Kid Cudi was one of the earliest trendsetters when it came to skinny jeans.
2009: Air Yeezy
No sneaker in recent history has caused a pandemonium quite like the Air Yeezy series, and much of that is due to Kanye West’s undeniable star power. Not only was he the first non-athlete to have an official Nike collection, but ‘Ye was also able to release the follow up Yeezy 2s three years later. The real beauty of the Air Yeezy was the cultural impact it had on celebrities, rappers, sneakerheads, and consumers in general. We’ll go out on a limb and even say this may be the greatest sneaker release of all time. We promise Kanye didn’t write this blurb, by the way.
2010: Snapback Caps
One of the biggest style trends to make its way from the ’90s into the 2000s is the snapback cap. We would be here all day if we sat and name-dropped every rapper who rocked these, especially since they became a part of the unofficial rapper uniform. Half the dudes on XXL Magazine’s 2010 “Freshmen” cover are rocking one on their dome, so that should say enough.
2011: True Religion
We already know from Evisu that hip-hop heads love their jeans. Over time, True Religion became that premier denim brand for rappers to rock from the streets to the video sets. Actually, the trend proved to be so popular amongst the hip-hop community that 2 Chainz dropped a T.R.U. REALigion mixtape in 2011. If you pay attention to the radio, you already know how popular that dude has gotten since then. Maybe there’s a benefit to rocking a fresh pair of Trues. Aspiring rappers, take note.
2012: Raf Simons
Harlem-bred rapper A$AP Rocky was on his high-end flow from jump, opting for ready-to-wear designer digs over the usual streetwear trends. One of his favorites turned out to be the Goth-tinged apparel of Raf Simons. As Rocky’s star power rose to the top of the charts, so did his fashion influence on the game as a whole. Eventually, haute couture became the standard for rappers in the game to follow. To add icing on the cake, A$AP Rocky got his own Raf Simons collaboration a couple of years later.
2013: Bucket Hat
Every rapper has to have his thing, and TDE’s groovy lyricist ScHoolboy Q chose to resurrect bucket hats as his style staple. Most of the time, you’ll catch him rocking one from Milkcrate Athletics, but the man of the year is always switching it up to keep his style fresh, current, and consistently innovative. It’s no wonder his debut album Oxymoron hit the top spot on the Billboard 200 in its first week of release.
2014: Hood By Air
Currently, we’re somewhere in the midst of sportswear-meets-high-end in terms of fashion trends in hip-hop. The alternative-urban style spearheaded by 25-year-old designer Shayne Oliver has made its way onto the backs of everyone from Kendrick Lamar to Rihanna and every current chart topper in between. Getting A$AP Rocky to walk an HBA runway show or seeing Kanye rocking one of their popular long-sleeved tees is pretty common nowadays.
As with anything, fashion is always evolving toward bigger and (sometimes) better things. In the fast-paced world of hip-hop that phenomenon is pretty much multiplied to the 10th degree. Each generation has an era-defining style moment, whether it’s the rise of “bling-bling” in the early 2000s, the even earlier “Tommy-Hil-ice-rocking” movement in the mid-’90s, or the current Hood By Air trend that can be seen on A$AP Mob or Kendrick Lamar. Let’s take a walk through hip-hop history to revisit the biggest style trends over the past 20 years, starting with 1994 and ending in 2014. The throwback nostalgia may get a little too real for you, but try not to resurrect the ski goggle steez. Let’s keep that in 1998 for now.