New York Fashion Week Kicks Off With Urban And Hip Hop Fashion Exhibit

Article written by: Rodrick Rainey
Posted on: September 10, 2006

Fashion Week kicks off tomorrow and to celebrate, the Museum of the City of New York is opening an exhibit that tracks the influence of hip hop style on the fashion world. NY1 Cheryl Wills filed the following story.

Whenever and wherever there’s a red carpet you’ll likely see the influence of hip hop style. And now the Museum of the City of New York is rolling out the black carpet with a new eye popping exhibit called “Black Style Now.”

“The exhibition has over 70 dressed mannequins on display that cover black design and fashion from 1920 to the present with an emphasis on the last 30 years because so much has changed,” says deputy director and chief curator Sarah Henry.

Celebrities like Beyonce and Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs are not only heralded as fashion icons, museum curators say they’ve stirred up a fashion revolution.

“Mega stars like P Diddy and like Beyonce are able to parlay their celebrity into designing fashion and to really get a much bigger spotlight than any of these other people were able to get,” says co-curator Michael Henry.

An elegant sunny gown that Beyonce wore to a fashion awards ceremony is on display, as is Lil’ Kim’s show stopping strapless fuchsia velvet gown which turned heads at the Costume Institute Gala. Ladies love Cool James and the museum loves the cranberry leather monogrammed hat made especially for LL COOL J back in the eighties. Essence Magazine, the primary sponsor of the exhibit, says hip hop style has influenced the world.

“Hip-hop style is really a global phenomenon, so you see not only the styles from the streets impacting New York City, but also around the world,” says Essence Editor in Chief Angela Burt-Murray. “So from Detroit to Dubai, from Atlanta to Amsterdam, from Chicago to China, you see the influence of hip-hop culture infusing everything that the kids are wearing, how they’re styling their hair, what they’re doing with their make-up and nails. It’s really a global force.”

The styles of Lenny Kravitz and Kanye West are also featured in the glitzy exhibit.

SoJones.com, the 1st Urban & Hip-Hop fashions focused site on-line, est. in 2001, hopes to capture photos of the gallery for its website. The website is also offering photographers a chance to get their name published on the web site, allowing freelance photographers to submit high quality photos.

“Black Style Now” will be on display at the Museum of the City of New York until February 2007.