High fashion should incorporate more streetwear onto the runway

BY STACEY BERRY

Most will tell you that while they love luxury items, like Prada and Gucci, they are unobtainable.

While the collections may look good on the runway, there is nowhere to wear such items, unless you’re walking the runway everyday, but that is changing, as luxury items are becoming something that everyone can wear.

Look at runways for Chanel, Louis Vuitton and many other lines, and you will see items that once were looked down upon in high fashion, such as bomber jackets and chokers.

Streetwear is casual and fashionable clothing worn mostly by urban culture. Clothing lines such as Yeezy, Vetements and OffWhite show the minimalistic street wear apparel that hasn’t been respected by high fashion until recent years.

This was because streetwear wasn’t made for the runway. It is for everyday people, and high fashion couldn’t grasp the idea that casual clothing could be made special.

The recent collaboration between Supreme and Louis Vuitton is one prime example of streetwear brands getting the credibility that they deserve. Streetwear, whether high fashion designers like it or not, is now more mainstream and more accessible than they ever thought it would be.

Streetwear was only supposed to be a trend that would come and go, but as it stays relevant and the more attention it gets, it moves into the big leagues of being known as fashion.

While you may think that streetwear being referred to as ‘fashion’ isn’t a big deal, it is. For something to go completely unappreciated to being seen on all the major runways, streetwear is clearly moving off the street and becoming a global phenomenon.

Walking down the street, it is becoming more common to see someone wearing Chanel and Yeezy pieces together. The possibilities are endless.

This was not the case years ago, with urban culture wearing brands that most did not even know about. But now, brands like Supreme are so on the map that they can’t stop selling out of every piece they come out with. High fashion, while respected, is lacking what street style has, and that’s the causal effect.

High fashion sales have declined while street style is coming up, because it’s what everyone is wearing. In order to stay relevant, high fashion had to take a page from streetwear designers, making their lines more approachable and incorporating designs that are more mainstream.

To stay relevant, the fashion industry must evolve with the changing times. Streetwear is something that started out as a trend, but now it is more than that.

It is considered fashion, respected by the people that matter, and incorporated into runways that many never knew it could. Many great designs have come from the streets, and high fashion needs to take that into account with the new pieces that they come out with. While the pieces on the runway should stay at an almost unattainable level, fashion is evolving and streetwear is here to stay.