How Streetwear is Modernizing Couture

Fashion silhouettes are transforming like never before, as popular streetwear brands and high luxury couture partners diversify and re-birth traditional clothing pieces with the demand of Gen Zers. 

Streetwear has often been at the nexus of hip-hop and pop culture fashion trends. Best known for unisex clothing, streetwear brands transform gender-fluid staple pieces like t-shirts and jeans.

As Gen Zers continue to trend toward diversified clothing, high-luxury brands like Balenciaga are taking notes from popular anti-fashion brands like Supreme, Stussy, and Rhude to adopt a cool and youthful look.

Couture, the craft of tailored clothing, has been making its way into streetwear in recent years, sharing the “untold” story not usually allowed in luxury fashion. 

Most notably, recent partnerships like Louis Vuitton x Supreme and Commes Des Garcon x Nike launched exclusive clothing lines, known as “capsule collections,” to represent a significant piece of culture captured by streetwear.

Earlier in 2021, Balenciaga also revealed a streetwear-like reboot, refining its couture through exaggerated cuts. The line created the signature cultural moment while staying true to the unique craftsmanship the brand made their name with.

Since its birth in the 1970s, streetwear has impacted west and east-coast fashion styles. Various fashion niches have taken streetwear’s staple pieces and woven them into their clothing lines and marketing techniques. This is best showcased through the creation of “drop culture,” which popular brands use to debut exclusive capsules only made available to a limited number of people on a ‘for-those-who-know’ basis. 

Consumers can expect continued reimaginations of streetwear and haute couture, as the creator culture rewrites the narrative around the ‘every-person’ wear.

Written by Franziska Pugh