Hip-Hop street fashion, identity, and cross-Cultural appropriation in the Asian diaspora

Authors

  • Eric Ing University of Toronto, Creative Director of Pardon Le Dopeness

Keywords:

asian, diaspora hip hop, north america, chinese, vietnamese, korean, cambodian, fashion, street,

Abstract

Hip hop fashion originates from black American youths in the 1990s. The style of clothing has replicated and evolved from street fashion in inner cities where ethnic American blacks are the majority, to suburbs where the white middle-class predominates. On a world scale, these fashions are evident not only in Asian-American and Asian- Canadian communities, but also on the streets of Japan, Korea, China, and other industrialized economies.  This paper examines whether (i) Asian-Americans and Asian-Canadians serve as a bridge to Asians, or (ii) Asians are adopting fashion trends directly.Ties run deep between the fashion styles in which a diasporic community dresses, and the hybrid identity in which they affiliate.  This pattern of behaviour can be framed as cross-appropriation in the disclosing of new worlds.  Contextual backgrounds are first provided on (i) clothing as a tool for identity, (ii) the origins of hip-hop fashion, and (iii) the origins of North America's diasporic Asian community.  The phenomenon of hip-hop street fashion in the Asian diaspora is then described.  Theories on identity and cross-cultural appropriation are outlined.  Potential trends in the future are then projected.

Author Biography

Eric Ing, University of Toronto, Creative Director of Pardon Le Dopeness

Majoring in Diaspora Transational Studies at the University of Toronto, Co-Founder, Creative Director and Designer at Toronto-based Street Fashion clothing label Pardon Le Dopeness

Published

2013-03-09

How to Cite

Ing, E. (2013). Hip-Hop street fashion, identity, and cross-Cultural appropriation in the Asian diaspora. Proceedings of the 56th Annual Meeting of the ISSS - 2012, San Jose, CA, USA. Retrieved from https://journals.isss.org/index.php/proceedings56th/article/view/1960

Issue

Section

Organisational Transformation and Social Change