Hip Hop Couture

So, with Paris Fashion Week (for Fall 2008 collections) closing up a few days ago, one subject came up that caught my interest. Namely, the possible merging between hip hop fashion and haute couture.

It won't be overnight, if it happens at all. What interested me is rapper Kanye West being denied entrance to the Balenciaga show. Apparently the fashion (power)house felt that Kanye's hip hop look "wasn't right" with the tone of the show. I would tend to agree with that, simply because hip hop fashion has no place in the world of couture.

At least right now.

Jennifer Connelly for Balenciaga - Spring & Summer 2008

Japanese fashion is merging towards hip hop fashion, with their own style twists. It's cute and bubbly hip hop in its own way; completely unlike American hip hop (or gangster) fashion. Perhaps that's why it is accepted as a true form of street fashion in Japan, closer to haute couture than anything found in an American city.

High fashion has been one of the only mainstream art forms that has kept celebrities at bay (unlike, say, a famous singer turned into an actress... merely because she is famous.) With people like Rihanna, a contemporary R&B star, turning to couture dresses and outfits instead of traditional streetwear, this could mean the start of a new hip hop-infused high fashion culture.

Like I said before, this really caught my attention... and I'm wondering what everyone else thinks. Does hip hop really have any place in high fashion, or even in ready-to-wear lines?