by Ameera Steward
Elena Romero is an assistant professor in the Advertising, Marketing, Communications Department at the Fashion Institute of Technology as well as a TV correspondent for a show called LATiNAS on CUNY TV. But before she took on these roles, Romero was a fashion journalist covering the rise of Hip-Hop fashion for the Daily News Record from 1996 until 2002, and Women’s Wear Daily from 2000 until 2002.
Below are some of Romero’s reflections from that impactful time.
The Gumbo (TG): When recalling growing up in Brooklyn during the early days of Hip-Hop, Romero said discovering the brand Cross Colours in college was a critical moment for her, in terms of fully identifying with Hip-Hop style. She then explained why the brand caught her attention.
Elana Romero (ER): For me I think it was really the idea of solidarity, of unity, [and] of culture...It was the message that really connected me to Hip-Hop. The idea of having a connection to not only culture but [it] also addressed fit and function. So up until then many of the aspirational brands that many young people were looking at were, let’s say the luxury brands, or the preppy brands. But those brands were not created or designed to fit all body shapes and types. So, one of the things that brands like Cross Colours did was really promote and push a different silhouette and the guys from Cross Colours picked that up on a trip to New York. They were based in California [but] they would [visit] the subway in New York City and see how young people were wearing [their clothes]. And naturally, because young people couldn’t find the appropriate fit to adjust to their silhouettes, they would buy the clothes a size bigger or wider. And so that was something that they naturally incorporated. What you found with Cross Colours was that they might have had a true waistline but then it was a much broader silhouette when it came to the hips and the seat area for example, to give you that true oversized fit. It was fit, it was comfortable, it was style, it was the message.
When Cross Colours hit, it really became an overnight sensation and that was for many reasons. We had not seen a brand [specifically] market culture, Afrocentricity, to that level. You had support from politicians to celebrities, [and] they had runway shows in Paris — this was not a small production and it showed. Between 1990 and 1994 the brand did zero to one hundred million in sales, [and] it was distributed in chains that no longer exist like Merry Go Round and Chess King, those were major retailers. It was really the first time that we had a brand that spoke to our generation and it crossed racial boundaries. So, although it was centered around the idea of Afrocentricity and Black culture, it was something that every person of whatever background or culture could resonate [with] because it also spoke to the Generation X and that musical connection was definitely rampant within their marketing and promotion.
[It] was an automatic feeling of pride, of satisfaction that finally someone was addressing my standards of beauty, my culture, my roots and that was the beginning to many things that would come later, other brands that would follow suit up until today.
TG: What was your mission as a journalist from the Hip-Hop standpoint?
ER: I felt a personal responsibility indebted in gratitude. My journalistic career grew parallel to the market that I covered so I felt that I had a responsibility, as someone that is part of the culture who also helped document the culture through a journalistic lens, to continue to do so in an accurate way. And almost to some degree naming myself among the many guardians of that.
That’s where preservation comes in and working in conjunction with the university I work at, The Fashion Institute of Technology, to permanently have a collection of urban fashion houses within our museum. And then later to be able to do an exhibition to pay homage to 50 years of Hip-Hop style (in 2023, which will be the fiftieth anniversary of Hip-Hop). My goal is to also have an accompanied book to go along with it.
[This will] show the world that we are much more than just baggy jeans and tees, that we have influenced the world. And really showcase our designers, our people, our superstars, [and] our contributions to society in terms of style and fit, culture, and everyday normal life.
Young Romero wearing a Cross Colours hat, a Cross Colours T-shirt, Girbaud overalls, and Nike Air Huarache sneakers in 1992
Young Romero dressed in Marithe + Francois Girbaud jeans, and leather wallabees
TG: Walk me through the industry during the 80s and 90s, especially when it came to Hip-Hop.
ER: So, I’ll walk you even a little further back. I covered a market called Young Men’s and that was the label or category given to fashion that spoke specifically to male youth. Prior to the 90s, those fashion trends, and youth fashion in general flip flopped from East to West coast. So, in the 80s the young men’s fashion was primarily driven by the west coast – California [and] Seattle; we’re looking at more of a surf, beach-like style. With the entry of Hip-Hop into mainstream the fashion pendulum for youth fashion moved from the west coast to the east coast, and in part that was because we now saw the Hip-Hop persona move from local television to national television with the advent of MTV.
When Hip-Hop went mainstream, it gave Black entrepreneurs the platform to break into the business. They now were the voice speaking to that generation. We didn’t have brands that did that. We had aspirational brands that were inspired by Hip-Hop but not necessarily coming from the creators or the trendsetters. For example a young LL Cool J would wear a brand like Troop. Troop had inspirations of Hip-Hop, but it wasn’t necessarily created by people of the culture. What we then started seeing was designers like April Walker, Karl Kani [and] Maurice Malone who were a part of the Hip-Hop generation creating for [the] Hip-Hop generation – that’s the main difference of what we saw happening in the 90s.
The brands did very well and were showing at a trade show called Magic in Las Vegas, that at the time was the show to be at. It would happen twice a year and these early brands would have small booths and were starting to check at retail. Retailers were going to Vegas and writing million-dollar orders – that had been unheard of up until that point. It came to a point where in the mid-90s what was [labeled] an urban brand at the time was making 5, 10, 15 million dollars at Magic. That was obviously a sign of the tide turning as far as where the direction to trend, and where the volley sales were; and it was evident that it was male youth of color that were now dictating the trends at retail. The trends were predominantly independent and regional specialty store based. Later we see department stores picking up on it and then it becomes mainstream, and it was that case up until the mid-2000s.
TG: When reminiscing on her favorite brands, Romero found herself explaining what women-led brands really meant for Hip-Hop.
ER: Each brand spoke to me differently, each brand had a different story. [For example], April Walker’s personal story of being one of the few women in the Hip-Hop space, making it in the men’s business, and finally addressing the needs of women in a very feminine style. Early on with Hip-Hop, women’s sexuality, and femininity didn’t really come into play until much later. Many times, we had to dress unisex, and in part women have always had to kind of prove themselves to the boys. And so yeah, we might have worn our baby hairs out on the sides of our ponytails slicked back and we wore our jewelry—those were our feminine accents — but originally when we wore Hip-Hop, we rocked it like dudes.
That came later where we could have our own space, our own lane and that’s why for me it was interesting to see how many of the brands in Hip-Hop spoke to men, they didn’t speak to [women]. We were always in solidarity with our men when it came to style and music. But then finally we broke off and created our own. At first the female styles came from the men, so those brands did OK, but they were being created from a male point of view. It wasn’t until later—Kimora with Baby Phat, April Walker with Dimes—that we started finally hearing our voice. The men realized ‘We better hire some female designers to create the women’s line and a great example of that [is] KiKi Peterson. [She] was the female in the male group designing at FUBU. Eventually she would head off the FUBU ladies where she finally gives women a platform to be able to dress sexy, provocative, and still have that same urban flare but now catered specifically for us with the same message.
Romero's brass buckle name belt, which she will be donating to the Museum of FIT to be apart of its permanent collection on Hip-Hop style.
TG: Do you think that was the biggest change you’ve seen in Hip-Hop fashion?
ER: There have been so many changes, I mean from a female perspective yeah. Our own brands, our own silhouettes, that’s big. It’s hard to really speak in general terms because there’s so much to talk about when we talk about Hip-Hop style – hair is its own lane, jewelry is its own lane, footwear is its own lane, apparel is its own lane. So, it just depends on what we’re talking about. I think there’s always been a fallacy of people trying to pinpoint Hip-Hop as just being casual sportswear and it’s always been more than that. Hip-Hop has early roots in dressing formal and casual sportswear came later. It’s been hard to convince, I think, the fashion industry [of] how intricate the style and influences are to the culture. I think they predominantly have tried to pigeonhole [Hip-Hop] to be baggy jeans, t-shirts, baseball caps, sneakers and oversized logos and it’s way more than that. The influences come from both the casual, sportswear side and the more formal, [dressy] side. Think about the early days of Rakim—silk shirts and sharp suits and dress shoes were always a part of the style. So, I think the industry [was] kind of stuck in a particular time period and never tried to move back. And you see it now in our celebrities, they’re not only dressing in jeans and tees, they’re wearing all kinds of clothes and that is cognizant of what the fashion style or trend really speaks to. We’ve always been influenced by a variety of musical styles and genres; we just remix it and make it our own.
TG: What was your favorite piece of clothing, shoes, jewelry from the early Hip-Hop era?
ER: I think of custom pieces because I think they’re so nostalgic. The only thing that I kept from my childhood [was] my memento of my brass buckle name belt. For me that had such historical significance, it’s like being able to capture something from a time capsule. And even though it’s a brass buckle name belt, it speaks specifically to that time of customization. I remember going to this little mom and pop shop to get that created and that was the same mom and pop shop where I would get my sweatshirt and I would have them put the felt iron Playboy Bunny on it with my name. Those were my early memories of me creating my own personalized Hip-Hop style.
Anything custom always speaks to me because [they’re] unique and they [speak] not only about a particular time period but there’s so much history just in a custom item. It really speaks to an individual’s personal style. This is why someone like a Dapper Dan has withstood the test of time, because he created these one of a kind looks. Whether it’s my name ring, or my name plate jewelry – all of those things to me withstand the test of time and they’ve even come back. I have a 14-year-old daughter who, when she turned 13, asked for [a name chain]. [It’s] like a rite of passage.
For more information on Elena Romero visit http://elena-romero.com/