Gangstas, Grills, Guns and Georg?
The Application of Simmel’s Theory in Analyzing Hip-Hop Fashion

If fashion is determined by the elite upper-class and subsequently imitated by the lower classes, why do people imitate Hip-Hop’s style of flat-rimmed baseball caps and oversized jeans – a style that is typically associated with lower socioeconomic classes? Georg Simmel contends that the tension between wanting to imitate or conform versus wanting to distinct one self, dictates the future of fashion in an endless circle of styles coming into fashion and styles going out of fashion. Whether styles last or disappear, the constant remainder is fashion, propelled forward by the need of individuals to constantly distinguish themselves from others, but at the same time a desire to conform and be identifiable by others. I apply Simmel’s theory to the development of Hip-Hop fashion and culture and argue that Hip-Hop fashion originated from a need for distinction; that there is an important shift between imitation and distinction; and that there is a significant change in the type of elite who is imitated, especially in Hip-Hop fashion.
Simmel’s Theory on Fashion For Simmel, fashion broadly speaking “is the imitation of a given example and satisfies the demand for social adaptation. . . . At the same time it satisfies in no less degree the need of differentiation, the tendency towards dissimilarity, the desire for change and individual contrast” (Simmel 543). Additionally, Simmel saw fashion as primarily the prerogative of the upper classes, a means of preserving their own difference from those standing in a lower position. When the latter begin to appropriate their fashion styles and transgress established class divisions, the upper classes adopt new styles in order to reaffirm their distinctive social identity: “And thus,” says Simmel, “the game goes merrily on”