When designer April Walker launched her menswear line Walker Wear in 1988, she feared she would be fired if her streetwear line was run by a woman. He said he decided not to shout from the roof.
Walker went to his father, who worked in the music industry, for advice. “I remember talking to him,” Walker said in an interview for NBC News’ new documentary, “50 Years of Flight: The Rise, Decline, and Revolution of Hip-Hop Fashion.” ‘, he said. . I would like to call it walker wear. Do you think people should know that there is a woman behind it? Because I was a little skeptical that if they knew it was menswear, they would think, “I don’t buy clothes from women.” What does she know about making clothes for men? And he just posed a question. He said, ‘If you have to ask a question, you have already answered it.’ ”
Walker has worn many black celebrities in her designs, including Tupac, The Notorious BIG, Run DMC, and even heavyweight champion Mike Tyson, who once wore custom shorts from Walker Wear’s athletic line. In addition to her other brand collaborations, Walker is currently an adjunct professor at New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts.
“To me, my gift back is to empower the next generation of leaders, creators and streetwear brands, giving them the tools they need to stay alive and design the life they envision,” said Walker. said.
As hip-hop’s 50th anniversary approaches, the impact the genre has had on black culture is undeniable. And female designers, like the female rappers who entered the music industry in the early ’80s and ’90s, refused to be marginalized.
Like Walker, Kimora Lee Simmons has pioneered hip-hop fashion since launching Baby Fat from Russell Simmons’ Fat Farm in 1999. Known for their signature crop tops, jackets, sneakers and jeans, Baby Fat reached its peak in the early 2000s. And by 2002 he had reached $265 million in revenue, making him one of the most successful urban streetwear brands of the era.
Lee Simmons, who signed her first modeling contract as a teenager, said the brand’s identity stemmed from the belief that women’s fashion “should be sexy and dynamic.”
Lee Simmons said another important aspect of the Baby Phat brand is to offer consumers affordable fashion while being accessible to women of all colors, shapes and sizes. .
“I took it another way and started making something different. I thought that’s what women wanted,” said Lee Simmons. “Young women like me, young women where I’m from, young women across the country.”
This is not often the case in the fashion industry, with some designers refusing to cast black models for their shoots.
Lee Simmons, who is Korean, Japanese, and black, said he remembered a designer refusing to cast a black model. She also recalled that during her teenage years, she had trouble being accepted by those “outside the circle” because of her biracial background and her height. This was another reason she wanted her brand to be inclusive.
“I worked with so many young women that I can still name them today, and they came in and said, ‘This is the last casting,’ or, ‘The agency said my hips were too big.’ or ‘you’re too big,'” Lee Simmons said. “What Baby Fat stands for is different for many, but it embodies the same beautiful spirit of life.”
Fat Farm, Locawear, FUBU, Kahl Kani, and other urban streetwear brands have become “sick of” black consumers “shaming” themselves and trusting brands to serve their communities. Lindsey said it was born at a time when people wanted to create a brand for Editor-in-chief of Peoples, The Cut. By buying and wearing these brands, Peoples said she felt she belonged to “a community and a culture that really cares about me.”
“Even then, I think they felt like they wanted to support a brand that wasn’t just here, it was here because they cared about black people and they cared about black people. ‘Peeples said.
Brands like Baby Phat “created a lot of space for women” to feel like they belonged to “everything that’s going on in hip-hop culture,” she added.
“I remember Baby Fat thinking, ‘I’m going to have the best time of my life wearing this,'” she said. “It’s like, ‘This is the moment.'”
Despite the success of these brands, Peoples said the fashion industry could still feel “mountainous” for blacks decades from now. That’s why she co-founded the Black in Fashion Council in 2020 to help create a more equitable working environment for black people in the fashion industry. The organization works with brands such as Calvin Klein, Ralph Lauren and Tiffany & Co.
“I think people often want to move in and out of black culture when it feels convenient for them,” Peoples said. “That’s why I feel like inclusiveness has yet to be at the forefront of the industry.”
More than 30 years after starting Walker Wear, Walker said she continues to face challenges in business, especially as a woman of color.
“When it comes to conversations, opportunities, and men,” Walker said she is still sometimes seen as an afterthought in the fashion industry. “You know, it’s a reality I’ve grown accustomed to.”
Despite these challenges, Walker said he wants to continue empowering the community with his brand.
“If I had just sat there feeling sorry for myself, I wouldn’t have started anything,” says Walker. “I wouldn’t have really moved on and moved on. …Society will become society. Just do what you love and be yourself. And you’re not doing it for the praise.” I have never done this for validation of others, you know, I am not only doing it for the community, but it feeds my soul and makes a living. I am fully committed to that process and purpose.”
50 Years Fly: The Rise, Fall and Revolution of Hip-Hop Fashion kicks off Thursday at Peacock, airs on NBC News NOW at 10 p.m. ET, and on NBCNews.com and NBC News’ YouTube channel. It will be delivered.
