Why we need to rethink the term 'streetwear'

Pyer Moss designer Kerby Jean-Raymond

When you’re a writer covering someone else’s work, the more guidance the artist can give you, the better. But when Pyer Moss designer Kerby Jean-Raymond tweeted a piece of simple advice in November, it marked a revelation. “To all the writers newly covering Pyer Moss, thank you and welcome,” the Haitian-American designer wrote. “Please refrain from calling us a streetwear company. It’s lazy and singular, we are more, you are more.”

In three short sentences, Jean-Raymond reignited a conversation about the term that hinges on one simple truth: the involvement of people of colour (either designers or models) is ultimately not the determining factor of whether something is “streetwear”. The always-shifting category, which grew out of skate, surf and hip-hop subcultures, has historically done what it says on the tin – represented the way that those resisting the fashion mainstream have worn comfortable, everyday garments outside in the real world.

Nasir Mazhar, who has designed pieces for Lady Gaga, was the first to launch a thousand think pieces on the racial dynamics of the term, pointing out the racially coded way the word is deployed by fashion writers in 2016. The milliner-turned-clothing-designer told journalist Ted Stansfield: “The minute people see black or non-white models and casual silhouettes, they think it’s streetwear.”

When it comes to what is essentially lazy racial profiling, fashion writers should do better. But in some cases, the haste to eschew the label seems worth interrogating, too. Beyond simply being incorrectly deployed, the word “streetwear” has been described as tacky, basic and degrading by many – but why? Fashion designers have also often positioned streetwear as the antithesis to luxury fashion, but does this have to be the case?


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