Black Culture’s influence on Fashion Trends over the years

Maeve Stacey, Reporter

Many popular fashion trends now were popularized by the influence of black culture. 

For example did you know that bucket hats became a trend because of the influence that black culture had? Have you ever accessorized with hoop earrings or wore baggy jeans with an outfit? These styles along with many others became fashion trends because of the impact of black culture.  

One of the many fashion trends that black culture has popularized is the lettuce hem, which is most often found on t-shirts. According to the article, “A Brief History of Trends That Originated from Black Communities”, the lettuce hem was created in the 1970’s by African American designer Steven Burrows when an editor asked for the color “lettuce” green. He was inspired by the “lettuce” thought and created the hem that is still widely popular today. 

In Angie Martinez-Tejada’s article, “8 Fashion Trends & Movements with Roots in Black Culture,” scripted necklaces have been a part of fashion in black culture since the 80’s. Scripted necklaces are still a statement piece today that can make any outfit reach another level. 

Acrylic nails are seen everywhere from fashion runways to highschool hallways. Acrylic and longer nails have been around for a very long time, but it wasn’t until the 1970’s when they began to be popular and were associated with 70’s black disco stars according to Jonquil Lawrance from Bricks magazine in her article “A Brief History of Trends That Originated From Black Communities.”  

In the 80’s, sneakers started to become a staple in outfits and people started to care about their sneakers matching their outfits, not just for athletic performances anymore. According to  Martines-Tejada’s article from PureWow magazine, popular rap artists started to care about their shoes and how they were presented. Many people were influenced by these artists and wanted to follow the trend. Sneakers quickly became a way to show your status, identity and were a way to connect in black communities. 

Sneaker culture is still very big today and most people are aware of the hottest and most trendy sneaker brands and styles. If you look around a room you will most likely see Nikes, Converse, Vans, and other sneaker brands that have made their shoes well known.      

Also recently becoming popular, making a comeback, are the 2000’s fashion trends and many of them were popularized by black culture. In the article, “Early 2000’s Fashion Trends That Were Made Popular By Black Culture” posted on Essence they go through the early 2000’s fashion trends that black culture had popularized. One of the popular trends from the 2000’s was gradient sunglasses, often showing up on the red carpet on Beyonce and Lil Kim, wearing colorful squared sunglasses.  

Velour track suits became popular in early 2000’s fashion and were seen on celebs and people everywhere. Black culture popularized this style and you could frequently see Megan Good and Alicia Keys sport different color velour suits. 

Also according to the article posted on Essence, Black culture popularized many more trends in the 2000’s including biker jackets, camouflage pants, airbrushed tank tops, and bra tops with baggy pants outfits.

Junior Sammi Robinson has said fashion is fun and likes to dress the way she does for the enjoyment of it. 

“I soon realized that discussing the resurgence of trends from the early aughts without acknowledging the influence by Black culture was nearly impossible,” said Shelby Hyde in her article, “Early 2000’s Fashion Trends That Were Made Popular By Black Culture” on Essence.

Beyonce in the early 2000’s wearing gradient squared glasses. photo found on pinterest