Street culture and luxury fashion

Doechii’s Thom Browne look at the Grammys bridged both By Pierre-Yann Dolbec American rapper Doechii turned heads on the Grammy Awards red carpet on Februay. 2 in a striking Thom Browne ensemble: an off-the-shoulder corset suit dress with exaggerated hips, paired with a crisp white shirt and grey tie. The look was both classic and undeniably subversive – a fitting image for the transformation of the fashion world since the early 2000s. Not too long ago, the idea of a rap artist spotlighting a luxury tailor’s creation would have seemed jarring. Streetwear and high fashion once lived in separate worlds. Luxury brands sold exclusivity; haute couture, hand-stitched gowns and fine tailoring. Streetwear, on the other hand, was about authenticity and everyday life, with deep ties to subcultures around skateboarding and hip-hop. While designers at major high fashion houses occasionally took inspiration from street style in the 1990s and early 2000s – for instance, borrowing stylistic innovations from hip-hop and grunge – high fashion brands kept streetwear brands and designers at a distance. When Harlem designer Daniel R. Day – better known as Dapper Dan – repurposed Louis Vuitton and Gucci prints into custom streetwear pieces in the late 1980s, luxury...