Is Streetwear The New Luxury
What started on the streets in Japan in the early 2000s is starting to take over the fashion industry and it is just the start of how we portray fashion now, and in the future. There has been debate on what luxury was originally conceived to be, and particularly on what the future of luxury looks like. Old luxury is defined by price point, it was always about how much the item cost and what brand it was. Items were special because they were exclusive to a certain set of people, such as Hermes bags. Old luxury was all about status: “about belonging to a certain class and dressing the part”. Old luxury was seen as a piece of item to wear, whereas new luxury is more focused on knowledge and cultural value.
New luxury has a complete different meaning and value and we are going to see this in the coming years. We have already been seeing this with classic luxury brands teaming up with other brands to collaborate, such as Dior and Jordan. New luxury status is demonstrated by access to the culture represented by items. Luxury has become more about culture and how people represent themselves, especially for millennials and Gen Z. By 2025 , Bain&Company have said that 45% of the luxury market will be made up by millennials and Gen Z. Streetwear was always ruled out for not being luxury enough, however now we are seeing and we will continue seeing, that designer brands have adapted to the concept of streetwear.
We have to thank the late Virgil Abloh for being one of the biggest influences for new luxury. Abloh has changed the fashion industry, especially for streetwear and changing it into new luxury. Abloh founded the brand Off-White and was the artistic director of Louis Vuitton’s menswear collection before passing away. Abloh took streetwear to a different level, from doing his collaborations with Nike X Off-White (figure 7, Jordan Retro 4 X Off-White) and his first fashion show for LV (in figure 8, the Holographic patent bag S/S 2019).
We are going to continue seeing this in the future, especially with classic brands and streetwear brands teaming up together. One of the biggest collaborations we have seen this year in the summer of 2021 was Supreme X Tiffany & Co (in figure 9). A streetwear brand teaming with a luxury jewellery brand to create a collection together, which we thought would never happen. We have been seeing how millennial and Gen Z consumers are changing the fashion industry, and this is just the start.
Brands such as Supreme and Stüssy will still make their products accessibly priced. However, their messages and campaigns are on the same level as luxury fashion brands. We can see that luxury brands are now targeting consumers who are into streetwear, especially LV’s men’s collections. We will see now that Millennials and Gen Z will have a mixture of streetcar brands and high-end brands to create something new and change the definition of luxury, turning it into something unique. This is all driven more by knowledge than price.
The New Luxury (2019)
The Nike Jordan 4 X Off-White (2020)
Supreme X Tiffany & Co. Both Brands Some Shine (2021)
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