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Electroclash or hip hop

No star here laces

06:53 / 11.11.03

According to this (rather good) blog (november 7th entry) there are now only two choices in terms of clothing in London's fashionable emporia: hip hop or electroclash.

Now, take it as read that you don't need to assert what a fantastically individualistic person you are and you don't bow to trends or read fashion magazines, but instead stick it to the man by wearing a leather trenchcoat at all times.

Instead, imagine for a minute that this statement is literally true and that from this moment forth you need to decide whether, and for the rest of eternity, you will be clad in baggy branded streatwear, or clashing horizontal stripes (or whatever hip hop/electroclash cliche you prefer).

What's your choice?

Tryphena Absent

08:52 / 11.11.03

Definitely electroclash. Female hip hop stars dress horribly, frankly I wouldn't be seen dead in a tracksuit or whatever the fuck they're calling them right now. I have an aversion to them... my hatred of sport, I even refused to wear trainers until I was 18. Anyway the thing about electroclash is that you get stripes, piping, flourescent words scrawled across white cut up T-shirts, a variety of very nice shoes, ridiculous hair and fishnet tights. Skirts, trousers, electroclash can be dressed up or down. It's fun, funner than tracksuits or small knickers and 6" heels.

Goodness Gracious Meme

08:59 / 11.11.03

What do you mean 'imagine this statement is literally true'?

Sorry hon, both. typically enuff.

eg

Today and often: electroclash, i guess: jeans/black shirt/narrow red tie/plastic primary colour accessories.

buuuut, have a deep an abiding love of trackies/big trainers....my black cheapJapaenesefake Adidas tracky top is one o my prized possessions, and do the combat/corsets/diamante-dripping thing from time to time... have been searching for the perfect bastketball top for years... (much jealousy of the sadly-missed sfd and her wicked 'Redneck' one... *g*)

serve you right for setting up false dichotomies.

diz

16:20 / 11.11.03

i think there are mix-and-match possibilities there.

I'm Rick Jones, bitch

01:37 / 12.11.03

I'm protesting this by never wearing any clothes ever again.

Tryphena Absent

09:03 / 12.11.03

Now, now people, let's not rot too much. Is anyone else going to state their choice?

Dizfactor- any detail on how you would mix and match?
Radiator- actions speak louder than words and more to the point why would you even consider protesting a mindless piece of journalism?

Regrettable Juvenilia

10:17 / 12.11.03

As far as combining the two goes, surely this has been perfected already:

OR is Pharrell Williams' look purely Electroclash, and he just happens to be a hip-hop artist?

OR is his look purely hip-hop, but the yellow trucker cap has been appropriated by electrocrackers?

OR is this an indication of the way in which the extent to which sub-genres of fashion differ is gendered, eg it's easier for boys to occupy a neutral or borderline space? (Not sure myself, just throwing it out there.)

Char Aina

13:48 / 12.11.03

see, pharrel is 'skate'. he and the rest of the NERD boys all skateboard round new york, and have therefore coopted the style of their peers.

the trucker caps, the jeans, the t-shirts. even their watches.

go pick up a baker video, or look at the website for volcom, and you'll see the kids rocking the same kinda style. they've been doing it for ages.
(skaters seem to be one of the bigger influences on fashion, by the by, what with their almost every look becoming the streetwear norm about five years after it goes round the urethane addicts.)

oh, and i'm fitting right into that clish-clash bracket along wit'em.

pomegranate

14:51 / 12.11.03

i would say electroclash, cos you can do it much more cheaply. as i am a fan of more cheaper clothes, rather than fewer expensive ones, i must go this route. if you truly want to go hip-hop, you gotta rock the brands and logos like rocawear, phat farm, polo, etc. if you want to go electroclash, all you have to do is hit up the thrift stores for clothes from the 80's, cut 'em up, add some duct tape, buy a cheap pair of fishnets, and yr basically done.

Tryphena Absent

15:17 / 12.11.03

You're right he is skate but some kind of weirdo hip hop skate. Arrgggghhhh! Too much variation on a theme, the notes are all going crazy in my head!

Red Cross Iodized Salt

23:23 / 19.11.03

I've started noticing a lot of the hip-hop kids around Fulton Street Mall in Brooklyn (Biggie territory) starting to dress à la Pharrell...which is kind of odd, because its also pretty much the look (minus the gold) that the trust fund indie band kids of Williamsburg / LES are rocking. The hip-hop kids seem to have better taste in trainers though.

No star here laces

07:57 / 20.11.03

Hip hop fashion copying rock fashion = whole world turning upside down...

pomegranate

14:24 / 20.11.03

i don't think so, jefe. i remember in the mid 90's watching snoop dogg videos and he and his cronies are all wearing big flannel shirts and converse all star sneakers, and i thought, hmm, that's like copying off grunge from a few years ago.
also, don't forget, all the coolest kids like both rock and hip-hop. timbaland likes coldplay a lot. and what was the n.e.r.d. record, anyway, rock, or hip-hop? so fashion crossovers make sense.

No star here laces

23:36 / 20.11.03

n.e.r.d. record = whole world turning upside down

Thus proving my point!

The snoop stuff you refer to is probably more to do with them rocking Latino gangster styles from the late 80s (flannel shirts buttoned only on top button) than anything to do with grunge, fwiw.

Jack Vincennes

08:17 / 21.11.03

All my instincts say electroclash, but it can go wrong, and so horribly. Someone on my course has taken to it of late, and is curently demonstrating that there is indeed a fine line between the 'electroclash' look and the 'a Bleach Seagull shat on my head' look. It is something of a Cautionary Tale.

At the same time, the thought of spending all that money on what bascially amounts to sportswear means that I'm in no way on the hip hop side of this debate...

All Acting Regiment

00:27 / 17.03.06

So, is this debate still up and running? Has anyone changed their minds? Any new members got something to add?

Red Cross Iodized Salt

15:31 / 20.03.06

I believe that the options have changed slightly since this debate was initiated. The hip-hop option has become a little more restrained (but much more expensive...Kanye meets Pharell in an overpriced Japanese t-shirt) and the electroclash option is making the transition from drainpipe clad 80s rocker to Brokeback cowboy.

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