Hip-hop, as a music style, originated from early 70s. It was introduced and developed by African-American and Latin culture and grew out of RAP, with some R&B sometimes and was a kind impromptu and free music.
It used to refer the early form of New School street dance. Then it was gradually spread to the other places all over the world and developed to the meaningful concept as a kind of culture.
The typical hip-hop dance costumes of over-sized T shirts and low waist pants are for the convenience of free and difficult dance moves. So, the original intention of a hip hop dance costume is for comfort and it was then added with more stylish and personalized expression.
In this century, hip hop dancing is now in a transition period, especially because of the influence of all kinds of music styles and the influence and promotion of internet social media. But the costumes still keep the same style of 'thuggish look'. Today’s hip hop dancers still have the typical wears of baggy pants, low waist jeans, fat shirt, jackets, and heavy metal necklaces and bracelets.
But there are some small changes, too. You can see male hip hop dancers wear hooded jackets with the hoods on and also caps outside the hoods. And their sneakers sometimes are replaced by large boots. Some even have stud embellishments on the surfaces of the boots. Studs and rhinestones are not only applied to shoes, but also to shirts, hats,caps, etc, to give a stylish cool look.
As for women, they replace the old over-sized masculine clothing style with sexier and more feminine costumes. The baggy pants are cut into fitted and slim ones. The XL sized shirts are replaced by short and colored skirts. Some girls will put on tank tops, halter tops or camisoles.
The only over-sized clothes may just be harem style pants, which were first introduced from Arabian fashion and simplified by the fashion designers. Girls wear heavy make-ups to emphasize their cool and mystic characters. They have more opts for shoes, too. Except for the same ones as men, they wear high heels with all kinds of styles, campagus and sandals. The bling rhinestone or glitter is usually seen on the decoration of all the shoes.
Actually, rhinestones are now more and more commonly used for hip hop decoration. Not to mention the huge heavy jewelry, there are thousands of iron-on rhinestone patterns seen on the seductive places of dancers’ garments. These shiny designs match the jewelry accessories, and more importantly express the dancers themselves.
Now, because of the new generation of an Internet era, the big culture melting pot is radiating every corner of the world. So is it with hip hop dance costumes. Perhaps after you finish reading this article about the glance at the hip hop costume history, the very next second, a fashion designer finds a strange Chinese clothing style to be fun enough for the next fashion season, then we’ll chase another wave and find something new on the hip hop dancers' moving bodies!
