Rappers all around the United States had sagging, baggy jeans, similar to the style in prison, where belts are prohibited. There was also the influence of prison culture on gangsta rap. TLC rocking gigantic overalls to the American Music Awards in 1994 carried on the influence of Dapper Dan that made gigantic sized clothes cool.

XXL seemed to be one of the only size of clothing available to rappers in the 90s. The tracksuit of the 1970s came back in a big way in the 1990s, with popularization made possible by Run DMC and the 1992 Dream Team.īut then when velour tracksuits were introduced, the hip-hop fashion world went wild. You have to respect the commitment to a fashion choice made at 13. He even says he wore suit pants backwards. The late Chris Kelly (who passed away tragically in 2013, Rest in Peace Mac Daddy) said that he still wore his pants backwards all through his life even until 2013. That is tough to do, especially considering these guys were only 13 years old when they made this popular! It’s something that doesn’t cost any extra money and is immediately recognizable in fashion. But in doing more research into it, I have grown to respect this idea. When brainstorming ideas for this article, I thought this was a no-brainer. The brand faltered a bit in the late 1990s and was eventually scooped up by Nike, who had been trying to acquire them for years. In fact, there were several instances of people who were killed for their jackets throughout the United States. This made them quickly become a status symbol. The Starter hat gave way to the Starter jacket, which blew up in popularity to sports fans as well as hip-hop entertainers. Starter JacketsĭJ Jazzy Jeff and Rodney Dangerfield catapulted this brand into a household name with an ad that ran during The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air. The tradition of wearing jerseys has been carried on through today by what seems like every rapper out there. There are even some great custom made jerseys by Bad Boy, Master P, and Trick Daddy that pop up in some of the most memorable music videos. Snoop Dogg’s donning of multiple hockey jerseys in “Gin and Juice” was a powerful moment of connection between hip-hop and hockey, which was much more of an odd couple at the time. While used to differentiate between teams, jerseys have had an odd way of connecting people to hip-hop.Įverlast wore Larry Bird’s Celtic green jersey in House of Pain’s “Jump Around” video, but it was MC Brains who actually wore it 6 months prior in his “Oochie Coochie” music video. Jerseys became popular with rappers in the 90s due to the casual nature of the attire but also that they could give a silent shout out to a favourite player or a nod to a specific city. Best 90s Hip-Hop Fashion Timberland Bootsīorn in New England construction sites but tough enough to withstand the terrain of New York City, these boots become iconic in the 1990s with hip-hop artists countrywide. Here is our take on the best and worst styles of 90s hip-hop fashion. It is fun to look back to the fashion that was popular and hypothesize about what might come back in style, what never left, and what looks absolutely ridiculous by today’s standards. It was when hip-hop really infiltrated the mainstream culture through music, entertainment, and fashion. By extension, the Nineties probably seem more interesting to a lot of people as a result.Įxperience was more tactile, and also more linear. They were the last decade before digital proliferation. While the best carried over into the next decade, the worst has either been forgotten or unfortunately memorialized in various aspects of hip-hop media.

The best and worst of hip-hop fashion in the 1990s is not hard to spot.

Hip hop 90s fashion baggy