Hip Hop Fashion in the Late '70s and Early '80s

• The 1970s didn't have much hip hop fashion as the genre was still young. Accessories such as large glasses, gold chains with large medallions, Chuck Taylors and Adidas sneakers with the fat shoelaces, and Kangol hats created the look for hip hop in the early 1980s.
  
  

Late '80s and Early '90s

• As the late '80s approached, low- and high-top fades, jeans, designer labels, and the preppy look came into hip hop fashion. Songs like L.L. Cool J's "Around the Way Girl" gave the description for female hip hop accessories which included bamboo earrings and a Fendi bag.
  
  

The Mid '90s

• Hip hop as a whole took a turn towards the thug look when prison blues, baggy jeans without a belt and wife beaters became the uniform of preference. Hairstyles changed as well with men opting for more natural or "real" styles of their natural 'fro, dreadlocks and cornrows, while females began wearing hair extensions and weaves.
  
  

The Late '90s

• Designer labels began to come back with the emergence of the "ghetto fabulous" style near the late '90s. The gangsta look of hip hop now began to sport a suit, the Fedora, and gators along with fur coats and gold accessories, which included gold teeth.
  
  

Early 21st Century Hip Hop Fashion

• While the thug look still lurked around, ghetto fabulous turned mainstream with the emergence of the "bling" and "Baller" mentalities. Hip hop giants such as Jay-Z and Sean Combs began making hip hop apparel look more like high fashion with a street edge, sporting platinum and diamond jewelry.